Visitors, work, house and stuff

Posted on Sunday 8 November 2009 at 05:07 - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Fireworks

It is so wierd having fireworks night when it is 15 degres outside.  The first year we went to Brighton Beach where they launch a great public show from the pier.  That year it was just like the UK - a stiff breeze, about 3 degrees (or so it felt) and driving rain!  This year was a completely different story - a lovely sunny day was followed by a still evening which meant the warmth was held around the city.  We headed up to a friends house on the hills, let some fireworks off there, and watched the Brighton show which was as impressive as ever.  The only diff is that here in NZ air rockets are banned, so there are no 30 quid missiles to fire into your neighbours back yard.  Which is a shame ;) 

Triathlon

Since I ran the 1/2 marathon I've been lax - no training and lots of eating (all in spite of Toni's amazing weight loss efforts - I have severely failed in the role of supportive husband!) has meant that my fitness has nosedived.  In spite of this, my mate Brent decided midweek last week that he and I should do the 'BlokesTri' series (www.blokestri.co.nz) which I did last year.  So with no running behind me I dug out the runners on Thursday and went for a jog.  Well it nearly bloody killed me, and so I tried again on Friday.  That went slightly better, but I was still gasping when I finished that one.  The Tri itself was this morning, and I was a little dubious on how I would do.  Still, come the race I put in a good effort and completed the 200m swim, 15km cycle and 4km run in a smidge under 1hr and 4 minutes.  A good 20 minutes (!!!!!) behind the winner, but I didn't die or cough up a lung so my fitness is still there lurking which is good news.  The next is mid December and so rest assured I'll be doing a few training k's between now and then.

Work

Toni's high value is still being recognised at her current teaching placement.  She was originally offered a 2.5 days a week contract with the school thru till Christmas, however this has now been made a full 5 day week which is great for both Toni's involvement with the school (she is now teaching choir, in addition to the usual day to day) and our income.  Woo hoo!  There are murmers of permanent roles being made vailable for next year, and T has firmly got her eyes on one of those prizes, however we've been here before so will take it as it comes all the while keeping out fingers crossed.

My work is improving as things take a turn up economy-wise, plus we always get busier towards Christmas.  As the world stops turning in NZ over the festive season, everyone wants to get their orders filled and wok done before knocking off on December 24th, many not to return untill the 19th of Jan.  Nice!  Shame it's not like that in the UK for you lot eh? ;)

Visitors

We have just kicked out old buddies Andy & Christie out after they came up from Dunedin to stay with us for the weekend.  We've had a great - and very relaxing - time.  Went to the beach on Saturday, followed with some Christmas shopping in town to get a head start on gifts to send to family in the UK.  The afternoon was great - relaxing in the garden, sun bathing, and then having a great feed of lasagne before heading out to a couple of parties to watch more fireworks and eat / drink far too much.  It's been great seeing them both - this house is made for visitors and we look forward to maybe seeing them again over Christmas.

Oscar

Bless little Oscar.  He is the sweetest cat, and this must come across when he is fronting up to other cats in the area.  A few weeks ago he got his arse well and trul kicked, and has been healing from a number of nasty bites and scratches.  Just as he is starting to come right from them, he now seems to have some other sickness which has put him off his food and drinking way more than he used to.  We're going to give him some anti-biotics, and if he's still not right come Tuesday then it's off to get ripped off him checked out at the vet.  Hopefully it's just something he's eaten recently and that he'll come right soon.

Get well soon Oscs!

Hens

Thechooks are going great guns, with us having between 2 and 3 fresh eggs (or should that be iggs? ;) every day.  They do seem to be getting a little bored in their enclosure though so if anyone has any chicken enrichment ideas then I am all ears.

Veggies

Whilst we are on the subject of self-sustinence, the veg patch has been relaunched this spring. It has beans, peas, beetroot, radish, cabbage and tomatoes in there so far, with room for some corgettes and possibly chillis still to go.  I continue to follow in my old man's footsteps in this - I find growing and eating my own veggies almost as satisfying and catching and eating my own fish.  The cauliflowers planted over Winter have just been harvested and they taste brilliant.  We have put so many tomato plants in that if even 1/2 bear fruit then we will have them coming out of our ears.  A great opportunity to knock up our own sauces etc - and I am looking forward to it!

Movember

I don't know if this is something that's covered in the UK, but Movember is proving to be a winner each year here in NZ & Aussie.  Each November, blokes raise money and awareness for The Cancer Society and the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand.  The idea is that you start the month clean shaven, and then throughout Movember, you cultivate your mo(ustache) into a truly awesome sight for all to behold. 

My slight issue is that I have never had to shave more than about once a week, and there is a large question mark over whether my upper lip can support anything more than an embarrasment!  To keep a track on progress, and donate to this cause (PLEASE - I am currently on a feeble $0!), visit my Mo page: www.nz.movember.com/mospace/380246/

Otherwise, that's about it from us really.  I got up to Kaikoura for a spear fish a few weeks ago and got a decent haul.  We've just eaten some fish, a cray, and a paua for lunch today and it was very tasty.

Springy springy spring spring!

Posted on Friday 9 October 2009 at 08:54 - 2 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Ah, the joys of daylight savings, the wonder of freshias growing outside the front door, the green, the grass, the ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

 I rather like spring.  To say it is my favourite season would be a little bit of an understatement.  Birds are tweeting, little wee lambies are running around the hills, and the long cold nights are almost a thing of the past.  I always get a bit glum towards the end of Winter and so to have it as light and lovely as it is now is a real tonic.

After the extreme warmth of a month ago, things are now much more par for the course.  Rain, showers, a bit of sun, and 12 or so degrees.  Suits me though, as with the gardening coming on and me truly turning into my dad, I now think 'bit of rain's good for the garden'! 

Anyway, enough eulogising about the changing seasons.  I can tell you are absolutely gagging to hear about our lives these past few months, and not wanting to disappoint, here's the latest.

Finger

I don't think I posted on here about the develpments in my latest interest - spearfishing.  Further to T buying me my 90cm gun, I have recently bought a purpose made 2-piece wet suit.  This is different to your 'usual' wetsuits in that the neoprene on the inside is 'open cell' meaning that it doesn't have a layer covering the foam and so it sticks to your skin really well.  This in turn means that it keeps you super-warm, allowing you to spend a lot more time in the water.  Previous to now I've had to get out after an hour or so due to the onset of hypothermia - with this bad boy the only limit is my stamina!

So, all keen to try out my new toy, Ton and I head off to Kaikoura during an especially calm period of weather about 2 months ago.  We went up on the Friday night, and settled into a motel ready for the spearfishing fun to begin the following day.  As I was all excited, I spent an hour or so getting all my gear sorted out and this included using my newly sharpened dive knife to trim some rope.  This knife is all stainless steel, and reflects light across it's entire length.  Those who know me can probably see where this is going.  Those who don't, well read on and see find out!

Having finished up I pack all my gear away from the bed, and put the bag on the floor.  Then I notice that the bed is covered in sand and bits of shit, so I use the flat of my hand to brush then onto the floor, rapidly sweeping it across the sheets palm down.  On the second or third sweep my hand hits something that flies across the room, and at the same time I feel huge pain in my right hand ring finger.  Yep - I had swept my hand right across my freshly sharpened dive knife!

You know when you've hurt yourself badly, and this was one of those times.  I clenched my hand into a fist to stop my finger pissing blood everywhere, and told Ton to get some help.  She ran off to the motel reception and got directions to Kaikoura's equivalent to A&E - an oncall doctor called to meet me at the medical centre.  Whilst she was off doing this, I went to the bathroom and had a quick peek at the finger.  Oh dear - lots of bloody flesh and not much skin - I swiftly came over a bit wobbly and had to have a sit down. 

Ton came back with the directions to the med centre and off we went.  After only 5 minutes the doctor arrived (how's that for service!) and started cleaning things up.  Almost immediately she asked us 'so where's the bit you'vecut off?'.  Erm - what?!  Yep - it seems that I had succeeded in cutting off the entire pad of my finger.  Toni was sent to go and hunt for it at the motel whilst the doc prepped my finger for some surgery.

10 minutes later Ton was back from 'the most disgusting thing I've ever done' with my bit of finger which the doc rinsed off and then proceeded to stitch back on.  Those of a nervous disposition, look away now.

The before:

The immediate aftermath:

3 weeks on:

You'll be pleased to hear that the surgery overcame the odds and my finger is now back to about 80%.  I don't have much feeling in it but that should come back over the next few months as the nerves re-grow. 

Just to add insult to injury, the next day was so gorgeous that the conditions were perfect for spearfishing - yet I was stuck on the beach.  Still, T and I had a great walk along the headland, and here are some pics:

Seal in the carpark:

View of the Kaikoura Ranges:

And a quick bit of vid on Youtube, and I swear I don't sound this gay in real life - it must be the codeine or something:

I did eventually get up there, and managed to get a feed of fish and some rather hefty paua, and I can report the the suit works an absolute treat:

Anyway, enough about me.  The missus has been busy too, with a recent 6 week teaching contract going so well that they have contracted her through until Xmas with mumblings that this may become a thing that will run through to 2010.  A great improvement has been seen is T's income and happiness and so these are both 2 very good things.  Although the school is a challenge it has given T a great opportunity to showcase her skills and talents and these are really being appreciated which is great news!

Also good is T's latest fitness drive.  She wanted to lose the Winter weight and so joined weightwatchers about 3 months ago.  To date she has lost 10% of her body weight and is looking HOT, so leaving me to play catch up.  I reckon it's just to give her an excuse to buy  heap of new clothes as her old ones don't fit anymore.  Go Ton!

To celebrate her recent Birthday we help a 007 James Bond birthday party.  This was a roaring success, and went on till the small hours, with martini's (shaken, not stirred of course!) served all night.  Everyone really got into the swing of things, with folks turning up in  their top-notch dresses / suits or fancy dress.  It was a brilliant night, and I was so chuffed to see so many people make the effort.

We've also had some developments in a return trip to the UK.  With T's income secured till Xmas, we've spanked the credit card and secured some bargain tickets for a trip back to Blighty for Spring next year (as I love spring!).  This will be my first visit back to the mother land in over three years.  I am pretty excited, and so is T.  It will be interesting to see how I feel about it all, as I feel that my rose tinted glasses of our life in the UK are well and truly on at present.  I am really lookin forward to seeing my sister and her family, as well as my old mates in Southend.  Should be a giggle!

Seeing as we were booking that, we also decided to sort out a Christmas trip as I have a lot of leave booked.  As a result we are going to head to the North Island for some sun, sea (and of course speafishing!) for a couple of weeks which will be - in true Kiwi fashion - AWESOME!  We just need to book the ferry and all will be sorted.

www.atmosphereplanning.co.nz is going well for T.  She has a wedding coming up in three weeks, and is also planning and running a 250+ cover Christmas event which is getting a great response and so that is all really encouraging stuff.  Seeing how she loves doing this stuff s great, and I know that both events are going to go brilliantly for her.  Certainly keeping her on her toes I can tell you that much!

The bulk of the house refurb is finished - YEAH!  Overall the place looks great, but we still have loads of painting to do as ALL of the woodwork needs filling, sanding, and repainting.  And that is a LOT of woodwork.  There is also a lot to do outside too, and the list of things to do gets ever longer.  Itreally is a matter of finding the time and motivation - I mean who wants to paint when there are so many other things to do?!

Finally, as I mentioned in a previous post the chickens were all gone.  Well, we have now got three more, all girls, and all in laying condition.  They are great fun, and we have already had our first eggs from them - and the eggs are massive.  We are well chuffed, and if they continue on as they have been we will have around 10 to 12 eggs a week to use and trade - and all for $10 a month in feed and some kitchen scraps.  Bargain tastic!  We just hope they don't start smelling too bad, as they are currently in a run beside the house.  This is fine for us, but the neigbours may have an issue as the summer comes on and so I am already making plans to re-home them to the end of the garden if flies/ smells become too bad.  Maybe we can bribe them with eggs...?!

This that & the other

Posted on Friday 14 August 2009 at 08:57 - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

I saw the first daffodils today, and it led me on think about all the related 'green shoots' similies people are using at the moment about a possible up-turn in the western world's economic goings on.  It also made me realise that's it's been a while since I've updated this so here's a wee catch up.

All in all it's been a busy few months, but then isn't that always the way? 

First off, T is currently working on her first Atmosphere wedding which is going well, and that along with the encouragement she's had from the business community is leading her to stick with it.  She's just got a 6 week teaching contract which will certainly help us out on the financial side of things. Woo hoo!  She celebrated with the purchase of a new pair of boots.  An why not :0)

My work trundles along.  As you can imagine, the recruitment industry doesn't exactly thrive during a recession and so it has been a long slog.  We are still making progress, but it will be a while yet till we are out of the woods.  It has been a real lesson in the fact that it is relationships that matter here in Christchurch, as all business has come from long standing relationships, or referrals from those relationships.  Everyone knows everyone in the Garden City!

The house has been... interesting shall we say.  Just as Winter really started to bite, Toni decided that enough was enough with the cold house, and that with an injection of funds from the good old Bank of Mum & Dad, we could get it insulated.  (it had zero insulation - nothing at all).  After looking at all sorts of different options, the route we took was to completely gut the interior, install insulation, and then re-plaster board the place.  A builder gave us a decent price, and away we went.  Well, he (the builder) hit trouble at the first hammer blow.  Rather than the plaster board or 'gib' as they call it here, it was old skool lathe and plaster - throughout.  Not only does this take longer to remove, it also creates a godawful amount of dust.  So much so, that for over a week we decamped to the in-laws as we couldnt stand it anymore!  We are now on the downhill slope however, with all the final fix going on around us.  I have had about a gutsfull of it though, as I've been flat out every weekend for the last 3 months and so this weekend we are off to Hamner for some much needed R&R.  Here's some pics of the house:

Believe it or not, this pic is actually in focus - the floating stuff is all of the dust! 

The dining room:

Haha - and here's T's first pie:

The chickens have now either been despatched to the great coop in the sky, or despatched to Kel & Carls.  Shortly after sending the sole remaining chook to Kel's - the bugger has started laying!  We can't believe it - and the plan is to get some more as spring come on strong.  We want eggs too!

So much more to type, but so little time.  Still, it's a start and I'll try and get back into the blogging habit.

A tout a l'heur mes amis

Just call me Hugh.

Posted on Sunday 7 June 2009 at 10:27 - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Fearnley-Whittingstall that is.  As today, we completed the circleof life by despatching, dressing and then eating our not-quite-a-hen.  You see, we have heard in the past that chicken sexing is a bit tricky.  And it seems that the person who sexed our three hens had a 2-in-3 strike rate.  Yup - one of our hens was a cock, and as they grew from sweet lickle chicks into somewhat more robust pullets, the start of a crow came to our notice.  To begin with, we were unsure which of the three it was, but some close attention at sunrise (not much fun in the recent spate of frosty mornings!) revealed that it was Penni who was the culprit. 

Oh dear - poor Penni, who was she - I mean he - to know that the crowing would be the end of him?  We only want girls and eggs, not boys and girls and the chicks that result, therefore something had to go - and that was Penni.

T and I are big fans of the 'River Cottage' series, featuring Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall who leaves the big smoke of London to become a small-holder in Dorset.  Part of this process involves growing veggies, as well as rearing chickens and pigs for slaughter and personal consumption.  We love his relationship to the land, and the way in which seasons are marked by the foods that are available, and that his animals are both enjoyed in life and death.  Being here in NZ has allowed us to really become more involved in this aspect of food creation that was alien to us in the UK.  Keeping livestock in the UK was a big no no - both in law and in society.  Here, keeping chooks (chickens) is normal, and the odd house with a pig run out back is not unheard of.  The laws welcome both, and as a landowner here, you can have whatever you want so so long as the treatment is humane and the neighbours are tolerant!

Anyway, as Penni had stepped us over the good neighbour line, I despatched him with a swift neck wring followed by a throat cut today.  He's had a good life, running around his run, and escaping regularly to poo all over the back garden with his 2 female friends.  The brutal act itself was pretty full-on, but it was quick and after plucking and preparing, Penni graced our table for roast dinner this evening.

And actually tasted very good!  Really (and excuse the phrase here) chickeny, if you know what I mean.  He was only young, so didn't have a whole load of meat on him, but enough for the two of us with plenty over for a meal tomorrow.

All in all, most satisfactory.

In other news, Toni has just returned from a 4 day business trip to Queenstown to develop business relationships there.  She got back to the news that she has just secured her first wedding to plan.  Yep - the first is here, and she is on her way to global domination I'm sure!  Queenstown went well too, and she sees a lot of potential there judging from the people she has been in to touch with.

Whilst she was there, Kel & Carl went away on a 3 day adventure to Rotorua, which left Uncle Andy looking after the home fires as well as Jack and Jasper.  I really enjoyed playing uncle, spoiling the boys rotten, and doing all the stupid stuff that boys love no matter how old they are - we ran around the house like monkeys, ate loads of sugary foods, stayed up way past our bed-times, and generally had a great time.   Now that they are 4 and 2, they are so much easier to have fun with that I love having fun with them!  Kids are great when you can give them back, eh?

Finally, we are on the verge of investing several thousands of $$$'s into the house, which will see us remove all the ceilings and walls, then install insulation along with new dry wall throughout.  It means that we may soon be in a house where heating input doesn;t have to be huge in order for us to not see out breath throughout the place!  Then again, it may not.  4 weeks of pressure, mess and discomfort will tell the story, but it won't be for a short while yet.  Let's see how we go.

Ah well, a new week awaits - hope you all have a good one.

Believe it or not, I've just run a half marathon!

Posted on Sunday 31 May 2009 at 02:24 - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

No, really, I have!  People who know me realise that 3 years ago this was simply not even in my sphere of conscience, let alone ability.  Shows what a change of location and a change in self motivation can do, backed by living in a country where stuff like this is simply what folks do.  Amazing.

Just a short one as I'm off to see if I've won a prize at the prizegiving, so will stick up some more later.