Hi
everyone,
Strangely
enough, despite now being winter, the temperatures have not continued to drop.
We have had the fire on at night, but it hasn't been as cold as usual, which is
great. I am sure that the cold will come, but I am happy for it to stay nice
and warm for a while yet.
We had a
great weekend in Chch a couple of weeks ago. While the Rotary training that I
went to was a waste of time, it was well worth the excuse to go & visit
everyone - and to catch up with Graeme Robertson (ex-CEO of Cawthron & now
CEO for Lincoln University's research and consultancy arm, Lincoln Ventures) at
the Rotary District Assembly. Both he & Kirsty are well settled in Chch now
and Kirsty walked into almost exactly the same role in Chch that she had in
Nelson. I hadn't caught up with on the goss for two years, so it was wonderful
to see him.
Jan &
I spent some time with Megs & then had a wonderful night at Warren &
Trace's with everyone (and all the short people) and got a good look at the new
place Karen & Gary are building in Chch which was excellent. A bit chillier
in Chch, but that was to be expected. We had a very uneventful drive home.
However,
last weekend we flew to Awaroa for lunch, and - excitement of excitements! - we
flew home with the side door open and me leaning out taking photos! It was most
cool (actually, it was pretty chilly, but I didn't really notice the cold one
little bit at the time). It was also very cool on our way there to have a biplane
doing aerobatics right alongside. It was almost as if it had been laid on for
our benefit. I took some photos - a couple are posted here. We had a great
lunch, wonderful food and it was a fabulous, special day.
Neil
& Sari have invited us to their place next weekend for a Patagonian tooth
fish night (Kevin, Neil & Jan got talking about the rape & pillage of
the sea - hence the Toothfish theme, which they are all more than happy to eat
despite their deep discussions). There is also talk of a decadent weekend away
somewhere each year to catch up on all that chocolate and wine you forget to
drink and eat in the normal course of things... and getting six busy people's
calendars to co-ordinate will be a challenge! Enjoyable though if we get two
different people to organise it each year - we would always end up somewhere
different and challenging in some way.
Since the
weekend in Awaroa, Jan has been studying for his exam and I have been marking
student reports and trying to get organised for next semester. I am currently
writing some materials to be delivered in China, which is interesting. They
have to be able to deliver without a textbook as they cost too much for anyone
other than the University lecturer able to afford one. It makes it a challenge
to resource the course appropriately.
Jan's
schedule for the European visit will be decided by Anthon (the north German
company) and the Managing Director at Nelson Pine; and at this stage is likely
to be - at the earliest - late July. The timing is really bad; I start teaching
again for semester two on July 24, so it looks at this stage as if I won't be
able to get away and Jan will go on his own.
However,
if the trip is rolled back into late August or into September, I may be able to
organise someone to take some lectures for me and/or take advantage of the
mid-semester break. We hope to be heading up to Wllg for Otto's birthday in
September, but if Jan's schedule get pushed back another month we may be in
Europe then. We still have to wait and see for a while longer yet.
My folks
are in the UK, and hopefully are having a great time already. No doubt we will
hear from them in due course (and they need a lesson in getting onto webmail if
any of the UK contingent want to give them a hand!).
Right - I
think that's it for now. Take care & more next time. Alles liebe :-)
Sam & Jan
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