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Springy springy spring spring!Posted on Friday 9 October 2009 at 08:54 - Post CommentAh, the joys of daylight savings, the wonder of freshias growing outside the front door, the green, the grass, the
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...?!
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