Jude J

wow I cant believe I was the last person in here!!
Where is everyone?

geordie mandy

Not sure but the barbie bar is empty too

Hows things in your neck of the wood?
Mandy

poppets

i'm here, popping in & out today probably, raining outside, nearly finished christmas shopping & having a relax before school hols start

cottageinthesky

I'm here too, but only for about half an hour, then got to go and do some work - Poppets, I'm meeting sophie_wellington today for coffee - she arrived last week and has a job interview in Wellington CBD today. Also having brunch with Boopy tomorrow in Porirua. So a Wellington meet up is gaining momentum. How long do the school hols last? I've never had school age children in NZ, so have never got my head round school hols - still stuck in summer hols July to 1st week September mode! Also still struggle with my birthday month of September being Spring!

poppets

i know what you mean, my all our birthdays are may - july, uk summer, now in NZ winter
schools break up on fri for 2 weeks then they go back for term 4 (terms 1 (feb ) & 4 are slip slap slop, shady school terms) break up for christmas on 20th dec, til feb :scared:
give my best to Sophie & Boopy

Jude J

Nearly finished christmas shopping
Do you have lots to send to UK? I normally spend more on postage than pressies so this year I am going to try and buy on-line as much as possible.
My kids are easy this year, son needs money for his car, oldest daughter will have money as we are going to Oz christmas eve and she will want to buy something whilst we are there no doubt, and we wont be buying much for baby, we are determined she wont be the spoilt third child/baby of the family that I think people are expecting!

Jude J

Pretty good here. I'm at work but putting off doing anything until I have to.

Is the barbie bar usually busy then? I've never been in there, I hate being a stranger in a bar, and the aussies kind of scare me a bit. Dont tell them i said that.

Hows england?

poppets

yeah most is going back to UK, have sent Christmas cards already
kids will get garden toys as they've never had anything like that before, so maybe a playhouse or something
its been easy this year, tshirts, paua stuff, blah blah

Jude J

Yeah I'm thinking a slide or something for Lola.
I love christmas shopping here dont you? Nothing like the stress it was where I used to live in england.

geordie mandy

the bar is usually very busy. WE do morning coffee for the Uk lot in the morning while the ozzies are on the hard stuff
We are all friendly in there My usual pals have all just left for oz so im a bit lost

Its very windy here, a hurricane is on its way :scared:
Mandy

poppets

isn't it fab, my mum wants to go last minute shoping when she gets here (23rd dec) but still shouldn't be anything like UK

cottageinthesky

Will do - Brackley can't be far away - think they flew out of UK Wednesday and were doing R&R in Langmai/Langwai?? an idyllic island somewhere which I hope doesn't mean they have to route through Bangkok - bit of a shock to fly into a political coup, with tanks on the streets, etc.

poppets

yes that would be something of a surprise :scared:

Jude J

Just been reading about it on bbc news website. The piece I was reading was about a surf comp being held in Newquay when the big waves hit.
My folks live in Cornwall, was thinking of emailing them to go and check it out, but it's not really their cup of tea! Anyway, their cottage got flooded last time there were floods so I bet they are panicing a bit.

Sorry you are all on your lonesome, hang out in here for a bit
So, did you used to live in OZ?

cottageinthesky

I'm impressed too - I always ended up shopping for presents on Christmas Eve. After a few years, we gave up sending presents from NZ-UK or vice versa - I also resented the amount of postage! Jacqui Lawson email cards are much easier. Should point out, we're an all adult family ... we have a lucky dip on Christmas Day - each person brings a present to put in up to $20 worth. Have a horrible feeling it makes us sound like a family of Scrooges - however, what we save on presents, we make up for in booze!!