Thursday, August 31, 2006

Sunburn, the demise of the BOGOF and sanitary education

Well. Where to start? We almost entirely have a place to live sorted now, including offers of a bed and table and chairs to get us started on the furniture front. I have quotes for insurance, phone, broadband and, umm, something else... I have been a productive little bunny!
So now time for some oddments from the last few days, a few bits to tickle you...
Oddment 1: On Saturday it rained like I've rarely seen rain before. Yesterday (Wednesday), I managed to get sunburnt...lying on my bed, through glass, through my jeans, in under an hour! As Andy keeps pointing out, the sun is as strong here as Spain - if only the wind would stop long enough to let you feel it! (Being fair, we have had several days of glorious weather now which has been mightily helpful on the settling in front.)
Oddment 2: It's strange what you take for granted about the way "home" is. And strange what you miss! But one of the most striking things I've found so far in supermarkets is the almost entire lack of the BOGOF. Yes, it is true, I have not been able to buy my shampoo and get my conditioner free. Nor have I been able to get two bottles of wine for the price of one. And worst of all (though a slight detour from the BOGOF), book shops do not appear to have cottoned on to the all powerful, all splendid 3 for 2! (And books are really rather expensive here. However, a second hand book shop or two and the library will be doing well out of me!) Returning to the point, perhaps it is just that Morrisons has been our "local" for too long but I am rather startled by the prospect of having to do most of my shopping at full price!
Oddment 3: I'm afraid we have to briefly plumb the depths of what is acceptable for public consumption here to be able to tell you some peculiar facts I have gathered these last few days... The brand of sanitary towel that I am currently experimenting with in NZ (always has been one of the most distressing things about changing locale...if anyone wants to post me some Always...) have lots of little facts on the pull of strip. Todays facts included: An average woman's skin is an area of 17 cubic metres, expanding to 18.5 when pregnant; Termites go through wood at double the rate when listening to heavy metal music; When a glass breaks, the cracks spread at a rate faster than 5000kmph; A woman says an average of 7000 words a day, men weigh in at just over 2000!!! And that my dears was why you had to listen to the waffle about sanitary equipment. What would be more interesting was how many of the 7000 words were aimed at men and how many were aimed at women!! Answers on a postcard...
There endeth the oddments. I shall attempt to be a little more illuminating soon with tales of houses and churches and house groups and maybe even jobs. (I *might* get bored if I never did any work...)
Kiss kiss

9 comments:

SuzySnoo said...

1) Big yay for having place to live.
2) We miss you.
3) Cresent is quiet and lonely
4) apart from the bat
5) and all the cats.
6) I couldn't be bothered to find a way to post a comment without revealing my own blogger blog and therefore inermost thoughts etc... I don't know why it's ok to share everything with complete strangers, but feels weird to share with people you know. Hum.
7)Love you both.
8)Why do I feel like I need to get to ten?
9)I'm not going to though! Ha.

Suzy

Pomgirl said...

Hahaha...when I moved to Oz I asked The Boy about the absence of BOGOF and he said something about it being illegal in Australia. Hmmm. I might have got that wrong though (it's been known to happen!) he might have been talking about something else, but no BOGOF in Oz either. I can't work out how it could be illegal? Perhaps it's against trading standards or something? Perhaps I'm making it all up?

Still in total shock at you actually being in New Zealand and loving your blog posts. Good luck with the house/church/sunburn/shampoo/conditioner etc...

*fluffy hugs*

Px

Mad Medea said...

Love the sanitary trivia - particularly the termites, will remember that if I ever wish to destroy someones wood products.

Still can't believe you're on the otherside of the world - meep!

Hello to Snoo - fellow M.E. sufferer! Jen must have kept you a secret (or is my brain fog just obscuring the memory)

R.xx

P.S.

Ha Ha! I've set up a blog as well so you can hear my ramblings!

SuzySnoo said...

I agree. I can't believe how for away you are!!

Hey Mad Medea, Jen mentioned you to me I think. Nice to finally say hi!

PS I forgot to mention the rats.

Mad Medea said...

Gonna hijack Jen's comments section again and announce that

I'VE JUST MADE A MENTAL CONNECTION!

Snoo, you and I have met before - well virtually - as your profile looks remarkably similar to that of a former sleepydust post-er. Oh whatever happened to sleepydust?

R.xx

AdventuringJen said...

I turn my back for a few moments and suddenly the place has a life of it's own! ;)
Hello Snoooo! (Apols for additional oo, just seemed necessary for the distance) lovely to hear from you and we miss you too. And if you don't want us to read your blog, let us know. I've looked at some pics (very cool) but I haven't read anything indepthly yet so if you don't want me to, say! Oh and are you now mentioning rats because they rhyme or because there really are? Eeek! (Though I always had my suspicions that the tap dancing mice were making too much noise...)
Pomgirl! Hail to thee of almost in the same time zone! I shall have to do some research into this illegal BOGOF thing. Seems most strange...I did eventually manage a 2 for $9 deal on shampoo...
Mad Medea, hurrah and huzzah for joining the fun! I think I'm managing to not believe I'm on the other side of the world. Once I've done some work and have a house that might be different...
xxxxxx to all!

SuzySnoo said...

Mad Medea - COOL!!! You are right, I was a fellow sleepyduster! I morn the loss. Have found new forum at brainfog.org, have you heard of it?

Jen - Sorry for hijacking your blog! Just laughed a lot at Andy's email! Also just been to pub with Trickeys. We thought of you and it was strange. I don't mind you reading my stuff as long as you understand that most of it is brain farting, and not indicative of any current mental state. It actually is that rhyming around here at the moment. Well we assume it's a rat, it might be a mouse with really big feet.

AdventuringJen said...

Snoo - never fear at hijacking!
When Andy told me that you'd been to th pub with the Trickeys...well, first really homesick moment! Ah, the sticky tables and wobbly stools...
I shall remember the warnings when reading your bloggings.
xxx

Amy said...

I still miss the pub too - after two years! And I very much miss the Trickeys and you, Snoo and Mr Snoo. Such lovely Friday evenings... I am going to set up a Friday night pub club in Fairyland! Remember the live mobile phone link ups we had when I first moved? Sniffle.
xx