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it was a lovely clear day today which meant a great view from my new window

but it also meant a cold start – 6 degrees on the way to the bus station this morning and the same temperature coming back from the church meeting this evening

as it was so clear i could see right out to the end of Whangaparaoa and the islands off to the side is Tiritiri Matangi Island where we went to look at birds over christmas. 

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Just so you can familiarise yourself with the geography, my office is just to the left of where the 4 motorways come together below the word ‘Auckland’.  We live near the word Albany.  And Whangaparoa is that spit of land off the right at the top (more about that below …)

at lunch time i went searching for a geocaches with a work colleague but we failed to find it.  although we did find this rather empty swimming pool. this afternoon some helicopters flew by.

my journey home from work was nearly a disaster though.  to beat the system i got a bus which terminates at Whangaparoa and i have to change at Constipation Station  However, i was listening to this podcast about the homing instincts of the common garden snail which must have neutralised my own homing instincts as i didn’t get off the bus.

i only realised as we were about to go on to the motorway to be whizzed up to the peninsula.  That would have added at least an hour to my journey home.  Thankfully the traffic lights turned red just as we got to the slip road and the bus driver took pity on me and let me get off in the fast lane of a busy motorway junction as long as i promised not to get run over (which i did and didn’t).  all was safe and i walked back to the bus station, waiting for a bus, and eventually got home in time to go to my church man’s meeting.  which was good and manly.

jane had a good day – it was her day without lessons today so she met up with another teacher.  and then she went running with another chum this afternoon and it was great and they had a really nice time.

then the girls went to esther’s new secondary school to get her registered and that’s the end of our chully day.

i woke up very tired after a night of not sleeping. jane had kindly cut my hair off meaning my cold head got even colder during the night so i slept with my beanie on.  and then around 3am there was a big thunderstorm so i got up to turn the computers off – NZ electricity is flaky at the best of times, but i needn’t have worried.

jane had a good day at school i think and her faculty meeting was cut short by a speaker no-show which was handy.  and the girls had a good time at school.  And jane’s friend debbie came round this afternoon too so all good.

i’m waiting for a nurse to turn up for another medical for my life insurance quote which is turning in to a rather long process.  i got them to agree not to take any more blood, so it’ll be interesting to find out what they are measuring today.

And this week’s assignment for me at work is to find out all about Singapore.  my first question was whether there was any budget for flights, but there isn’t.  so it’s a strictly desk based activity.  ho hum.

‘pips

update:  according to nurse heidi, i passed the test.  whoop !

church was particularly good this morning due to an excellent talk.  i’ll pop a link up when it’s podcastified.

after church we went to a cafe with church chums, then esther and jane went shoe and food processor shopping whilst kezia and i did computer work at home (me tax, kezia tamagotiching).  then esther had her flippa ball match, AND WON !

and then warren, debbie, courtney and laura came round for one of jane’s famous roasts which was lovely (home made yorkshire puddings as we’ve not yet found any frozen premade ones here).  we finished off with custard and lemon cake.  great stuff

jane and i labour on with our low level lurgies which we’re not giving in to completely.  par for the course in a kiwi winter it seems.  see ya

it’s been a rainy day which has been perfect background weather to my UK tax return which has proved rather tricky.  not only were we partially resident last year, but i also got redundancy pay, sold some share scheme shares and we became non resident landlords.  I’m speaking to an Accountant on Monday so am compiling my questions to ask him.  Anyway, enough of that.

whilst i was doing my sums, the girls went to orchestra, then played at home and did some baking.   This afternoon esther went to her korean friend Sunny’s house so kezia and jane went to kelly tarltons.  I’ll get her to write you her account tomorrow.

now it’s the evening and the grown ups are all spacey tired and feeling a bit peaky so everyone will be in bed by 9.  see ya

 

there was some amazing fog today.  i watched as it cleared and swept in repeatedly throughout the morning.  by mid morning my window was full of fantastic clouds fluffing by.  i could easily spend the day facing sideways.  but i didn’t.  instead i had to hit the deadline for sending some data (pronounced ‘darter’) to the regulator, which i did.

you can’t really see in the picture above, but the bright reflection in the slightly foggy sky tower made a straight beam as it cut through the clouds.  if only i had my other camera with me …

it was friday so i went out to lunch with simon and sasha.  i had a chicken katsu which i’ve just looked up and see it’s dipped in beaten egg before being deep fried which might explain why i’m feeling a bit weird this evening.

 

the girls had swimming after school and esther was very pleased to have swam 400 metres in 7 minutes 35.  I’ll let jane update you on her life now:

i went to school, had lunch with a friend and went back to school. The did some prep – now done for the week-end, went on the tramp with the girls, watched them swimming, had dinner in the mall, put girls to bed, fiddled on computer, going to bed.

 

 

good news.  the sun came out this afternoon meaning i could take a photo of the view from my desk.

there’s a sort of flat roof outside on floor 10, which means you can’t really see directly down, but the view is still quite spectacular

i even get to see the odd passing bird

that tall building is on the other side of the harbour and the bridge below gets you there

it’s the only direct route so it gets quite busy

and here’s sky tower.    i went for coffee with a man from the national cable company today which was good. he’s a fellow pom. my coffee was a hot chocolate, seen here with a marshmallow in it

esther (oops) kezia went a chum’s house after school and they went swimming.  jane and esther used the free time to go geocaching and were mostly successful.  now jane’s gone out to crafty chucks

the server on which this resides is being upgraded tonight (wed) and tomorrow (thurs) night by the fine gentlemen what keep it running.  apologies if the site disappears for a while over the next couple of days. 

normal service will be resumed soonly. 

 

well, spring is in the air.  it’s certainly a lot warmer than it was a couple of weeks ago.  i’ve even slept without my socks on for the last two nights.  so there.  however, it has been really wet and quite humid too so not all blue skies

we’ve all had a good day today (despite the weather).  true but not very exciting.

here are some pictures i’ve been saving up for you.

this blossom was on a tui tree in the sculpture garden we went to at the weekend.  i don’t think a ‘tui tree’ is a type of tree.  but it did have a tui in it

tuis are great.  they are much loved and really funny to listen to and watch.

you can read more here and here’s a video of one making some of its funky spacey noises i found on youtube

amazingly they can even mimic humans.  this one is in a bird recovery centre up north from where we live.  definitely on our to do list.

here are a few pictures i took of the tui extracting nectar from the blossom.  he wasn’t quite so talkative !

 

see ya

i felt a bit peaky this morning which lasted most of the day.  we’ve so far avoided swine flu which was going to kill us all last year, but now looks just to involve a few days off work for most people.  anyway, you didn’t come here to hear about that did ya.

no, you wanted to know about my annual review at work, which went very well thanks for asking.  my boss seemed quite pleased with how i’d settled in and had become a core member of the team, so that’s all good.  a few areas for improvement of course, but all positive stuff.  a real contrast to my previous employment.  hoorah.

now you may remember i told you i’d been asked to take some photos for our work magazine about tidying our desks in anticipation of our new office ?  well here it is in the latest edition

and here’s my new office layout. and here’s ian my jolly over the desk mate.  it’s all very nice.  unfortunately the new office does seem louder than the old layout for some reason so i’ve been wearing ear plugs when i’ve been on conference calls so i can hear what’s going on !  that’s the only problem i’ve experienced so far and it’s not a problem

i was on kitchen duty today too which meant a lot of dishwasher filling

jane’s had a good day at school and then parents’ evening which went ok too i think. 

i met the girls at our the anderson’s house after work and we ate pizza before coming.  when jane got back both girls had done their homework, bathed and were pjyama’d up. result !

 

early nights for all tonight.  see ya

all went well with my desk move.  i was going to take a picture of my new view, but it was a bit too dark and rainy out so i’ll save that for a better weather day. instead here are some cakes that the moving company left us to help us adapt to our new surroundings.

after work i went along to a after work (!) drinks for the people who’d been involved in a previously secret project, which still remains mostly a secret so i won’t say any more about it (but instead i’ll point you to a news article which contains the public info)

everyone is quite tired so it’s early to bed for all.  especially as we’ve got a busy week ahead.  see ya