Blog

hello.  how do you do?

kezia had her athletics day today.  she did competitive high jump and social javelin.  i like the idea of a social version of sports. kezia was pleased with her performance i think and jane managed to get there to watch too

the weather this morning was fantastic, but got a bit worse throughout the day due to a southerly wind blowing in.

i had a meeting across the other side of auckland town centre today so i walked.  it was 40 minutes up hill and the same back (but down hill)

i passed this rather intriguing cafe which was set up in a shed in someone’s front garden, complete with rather fancy sofas.  i didn’t stop though

here’s a fancy salad pickerupperer that esther made at school

this evening we had a church music practice as both jane and i are doing music on sunday.  that will be the first time we’ve done music together in over 2 years i think.

usual day at work for me (but no chocolate so i’m in a very irritable mood this evening)

kezia had swimming until 7.30pm making for a late arrival home for her and me, and both girls had violin in the gap after school.

jane did coffee and school things and has got her reports all done now.  so that’s good news.

and esther got her school report which was very good. hoorah.

today has been all about performances

this evening kezia was in a 2 hour concert at a local theatre as part of a choir backing a famous kiwi singer

it was very good and our first official christmas engagement of the year

and my day started with a business breakfast in town where the two main candidates for Auckland – Nikki Kaye and Jacinda Ardern.    it was an interesting debate.  (only 11 more sleeps until election day, which is a week on saturday)

at lunch i went to find out about a pre-pay credit card for our english friends who are visiting in december and saw the legendary auckland santa has been erected.

and it’s starting to get nice and warm. so christmas is well on its way!

we had to drop kezia off at the theatre an hour before it started so jane, esther and i went for a walk down Takapuna beach where various races were going on.  it happens every tuesday evening apparently.  and amongst the racers was some olympic medallist.  so that was nice.

the girls went in the pool this evening and for the first time didn’t come out shivering.  i asked kezia if it was now the warmest it has ever been and she said ‘no, it’s warmer than that’.

good days at school i think for all.  jane still marking /report writing.

i had lunch with buzz today which was good and this evening a chum from church came round as he’s having an interview at Telecom tomorrow.

so that’s that

kezia had a swimming race this morning and had to be there for 7.45am, so jane and kez left home about 7.15 or something.  unfortunately the races didn’t start until nearer 9am so they missed church.

but kezia got a personal best time for butterfly and beat her speedy friend at breast stroke.  excellent stuff

esther and i walked to church which was good.  plenty of new people

after church esther and I took our friend Thomas to Greenhithe (a posh local village) for their open gardens afternoon

the gardens we saw really were spectacular

greenhithe is a lovely little place where we looked at renting when we first arrived.  it’s got quite a british feeling to it in many ways.  and this was reflected in the gardens which wouldn’t have been out of place in a national trust property

one place had wild bees swarming all over the place.  i can’t imagine this being open in the UK due to health and safety, but here there was a handy stick to warm you not to go too close.  hopefully the bees could read

we ate some honey off the stick which was very nice

here’s thomas and esther under an arch of roses

 

then this evening kezia had her flippa ball.  she was player of the day in her team and scored three of the team’s nine goals (the other team got none)

then this evening jane cooked us a lovely roast meal

we continue to pull together plans for our UK trip and the itinerary is coming together nicely!

girls had tennis and swimming at 8am.  then it was mostly household chores and report writing for the rest of the day.  jane went in the pool after mowing the lawn.

this evening we went round to janine’s for fish and chips with ‘the gang’.  we were originally going to go to the beach for our fish and chips but it was rainy.

and now it’s now.

absolutely gorgeous day today, and it seems things are warming up after the cold spell for the last week.  the pool is still pretty cold though (ask jane, she jumped in and straight out again this evening)

pictures are from my walk to work this morning.

esther went to a surprise birthday party for her friend amy and kezia had swimming

 

i love this walk to work.  all the clinking and clanking of ropes and sails

and fishing boats getting ready for their next outings to the high seas!

 

we had our lunch in a pub at work today, grabbing any moment we can as our team starts to split in different directions (separation is due at the end of this month), and desk moves (we move on the weekend of the 25th november).  that was nice

logan is staying with us this evening.  jane picked him up from school with kezia and they had afternoon tea, then went to mcdonalds whilst esther was having her tennis lesson, then came back for dinner.  we then went for a walk in the cemetery where both kezia and logan flew off their scooters and scraped their knees.  oops.  no lasting damage done to either though (i hope)

esther’s tennis coach was complimentary about esther saying she’s just made a breakthrough and has the makings of a decent tennis player, so that’s good

jane’s had a day of no lessons, but has continued to work through frustrating report writing.

and i got a replacement pass at work as my old one was peeling apart.  it’s a bit of a shame as i can no longer claim to be wearing a funky hat as the top of my head has returned.

you can always tell when i’m lacking in inspiration as i use the day as the post title.  sorry

 

jane’s been busy with report writing which sounds really frustrating as she can’t finish them off as she needs work in from some of the kids, but they haven’t been in school and it’s all a palaver.

the girls had their violins and kezia had her swimming until 7.30pm. 

i’m feeling a bit better but slept from 7.30pm last night to 6 this morning.  there’s a lot of it about as they say.

 

i’m moving desk at work, and hopefully i’m going to a get a window seat so that’s exciting.  will probably happen in the next few weeks. 

and my working week in london at the end of december is looking busy so that’s good. and jane’s busy coordinating the family diary for the rest of the time.  we’re looking forward to seeing you folks again!

Dave went to bed early with a stomach ache, so I am doing the blog, if I’ve remembered how.

Dave went to work and the rest of us went to school. Kezia has been making masks to do with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Esther has been studying fairy tales and I have been having a lovely day-dream while invigilating exams and a not so nice time starting to mark them.

 

That is all I think