More on Modernising Medical Careers... (And a bit of honesty)

I know I'm not yet finished with the holiday postings but I thought this was a worthy topic for a break...
So, we have found that South Yorkshire (basically Sheffield) would like to interview Husbink for one of these great big seven year jobs. Tonight, he will call them and find out if they are willing to interview him over the phone. It is a long way to go for a 45 minute interview...
I feel quite confused by it being Sheffield that want to interview him as that seems to me like the easy option of the places we had selected. It is close enough to Leeds that we can still see people. We have one very good friend already in Sheffield and a number in spitting distance. We'll still be pretty close to both sets of parents. Generally, we mostly know what life will be like (approximately) if we end up in Sheffield. Which is really confusing. I was expecting it to be one of the harder options like Wessex - putting us close to various friends but not really close to any one - or North Western - putting us closer to Husbink's family and Mr & Mrs Scouse Dangermouse but further from my parents and generally further from most people... So yeah, I'm kinda unsure how I feel about the "easy" option - it has just thrown me a bit.
Of course, we are no where near there yet...we still have to persuade them that a phone interview is possible and that they then want Husbink (but really, why wouldn't they?!) and then do all the moving back again malarkey, but yes, it confuses me.
It also confuses me because I don't know what I want. Or what the right thing to do is. (And this is the honesty bit.) I realised that all our friends, and even people we don't know that well, over here know that we are torn about where we want to live but that I have been not really telling people "over there" that we might be a bit torn. I was thinking it all had to be cut and dried and I could only say "yes, we are definitely coming home" or "actually, we are staying for at least another year" or whatever it might have been.
You see, we miss you (those of you that are "over there"). And we miss the BBC. And we miss Britishness sometimes. We miss 56 Oriental. We miss the Cardy (or any form of local). But we would miss the attitude to life here (I'm sorry, I'm not sure I can explain it, I didn't really believe in it before coming here). We would miss our hills. And the bays. We would miss the cafes here. And of course, there are now people here that we would miss if we left them.
So at the moment, we are pushing doors both ways. If Husbink gets a job at South Yorkshire then chances are we will come home for it. If he doesn't get a job, chances are we won't come home just yet. Though then there would be all kinds of visa questions and so on. So who knows.
But I thought maybe I should be letting you know.
I guess after this evening and the phone call to the nice people in Sheffield, we may know a little bit more.
Wibble.

Whitianga

Post two...

So, we collected my parents from Auckland airport very early on Sunday morning. A brief pause to sort out the rental car and we were away. It was great to see them and not at all bizarre (I think if they'd arrived straight to Wellington and we'd had them in "normal life" straight away it would have been more strange...but taking a week to get them here made it less odd).

We made our way from Auckland to the Coromandel Peninsula, stopping for various photo opportunities and cafe breaks.

We made it to Whitianga (on the eastern edge of the Peninsula - which is the smaller sticky-uppy bit at the top of the North Island for those wanting to identify it on a map) early afternoon and found our B&B. All good. The rest of the day was mostly taken up with wandering and food. Food became a major theme of the holiday (no surprises there...along with wine...) and I need to be really good for a few weeks to stop feeling quite so sluggish and ugh!

On Monday, we went to Cathedral Cove in the morning. It was a pretty decent walk down (particularly when we chose to take some of the side tracks) and the cove itself was definitely worth the walk. We stayed and enjoyed the beach for a while, including numerous games of running away for me & Husbink - parents didn't quite get into the swing of that one! The only slight disappointment was that the weather wasn't fantastic - it was fine but not nice enough to sit on a beach or get properly in the sea at any point. Hey ho! So Monday afternoon involved more strolls on beaches that weren't warm enough to sit on and...more food!

On Tuesday we left Whitianga and started the journey to Rotorua. On the way we stopped at Hot Water Beach which was a highlight of the trip - at least in part cos I got to try out my new togs for the first time. :) So, what you do is...rent a spade, get down to the beach and start digging! There are thermal springs under the sand so if you get the right spot, you get lovely warm (or in some cases owwwww HOT) water coming up for you to sit in and enjoy - until the next wave comes in and cools it all down. There was one area that was the best so there were lots of people there - with all the men building up big walls around the area while the women reclined and enjoyed the waters. Husbink and I got in the hottest part for a while and then rushed to the sea to cool down, much fun until a crab latched itself onto my foot!

We then found an area just on the edge of the sea where if you dug your feet down into the sand, you reached the hot water pretty quick and then just waited for the next wave to cool you off. Was good.

The road to Rotorua was a heck of a lot slower and more wiggly than expected. So we didn't get to stop all that much which seemed a bit of a waste of a journey but as parents were still jetlagged the need to get to the next destination was pretty huge! And that shall be the next post...

The Overlander & Auckland

So...in my attempts to keep holiday posts reasonably sized, here is the first of several...

Just over two weeks ago Husbink and I took the Overlander all the way from Wellington to Auckland. We left Wellington at 7.25am and arrived in Auckland at 7.20pm having had a 45 minute break at National Park, half way. It was a beautiful journey and we saw some much of the country. But nearly twelve hours on a train is still a blooming long time. I've also had a slightly peculiar back pain since then so I don't think the seats were made for me...

The pics are of me and the Overlander at National Park and also a scene Husbink was rather taken with during the break at National Park. We took LOTS of pics from the train but they didn't work so well...

We stayed in the International YHA in Auckland which was tolerable (my days of hostelling are pretty much over...I may have said this before). On Friday night we actually had more energy than a 12 hour journey might imply so after a yummy Japanese meal round the corner from the hostel (quite Little Tokyo for those of you that know it) we wandered into Auckland and ended up having champagne cocktails and pudding. Yum!

Saturday we were a little slow deciding what we wanted to do and so missed the ferries to the most interesting islands just off Auckland. We did however take the ferry across to Devonport which is something I remember doing on my first visit to Auckland nearly 8 years ago. (I was very jetlagged and was guided around by my lovely friend who had been travelling a bit longer and was rather more alive!) The view is great and we had a lovely stroll, lunch, stroll and climbing of big hill before heading back over to Auckland. We then did much mooching in shops and managed to purchase Husbink's birthday present from his parents - a second lens for the camera with mighty zoom. Bet you can't wait for the bird photos...But for now, our ferry and Auckland will have to do!

The rest of Saturday involved baklava (twice), tapas, tio pepe sherry, spanish wine...It was really nice to be somewhere properly cosmopolitan for a wee while... (I was excessively excited at the sight of Borders on Friday evening. 3 for 2. Open til 10pm. Books. Ah.)

I forgot to mention the bit where I went on a swing. :) That was fun.

So that was the first segment of the holiday...the next day we collected my parents and headed for the beach...well, sort of! But that, as they say, is another post...

Back!

Hello!
So, yes, in answer to the Pom's comment at the end of the last post, we are back now!
We've had a great time rushing all around the country and have had fantabulous weather. We've eaten WAY too much (my lovely jeans are feeling a little less lovely this morning), enjoyed a range of wines and beers, seen lots of birds (including a kiwi - though that was in a sanctuary), done some crazy things (like the luge), avoided all sunburn, been bitten by a range of things (including a crab, lucky me) and taken hundreds of pictures (I was going to say thousands...I don't think it is far off...but a lot need to be culled!)
Mum and Dad are still here until tomorrow morning when they fly off to Sydney to see my bro and his lovely wife. Currently they are packing and Husbink is sleeping...well, I think he's awake but seems to be in hiding in the bedroom...
I will post properly some time in the next few days with pictures and what not (I will try to post multiple times so you don't just have one mahooosive post to get through) but thought I'd say a quick hello and that life is good.
Worrabout you? Life good?

Ciao!

Well, this is it. My last post.
No! Not ever! Just until we've been on our jolly holiday with my parents! Yay! Can't wait!
Tomorrow we sort and pack and clean and sort and pack (some of this hopefully involves a new swimming costume purchase...) and then on Friday we take the Overlander all the way to Auckland. That's twelve hours on a train. Oh my! Quite excited about it though, should be amazing. I'm just not so sure about 12 hours...
We then have Saturday to ourselves in Auckland before acquiring The Parents on Sunday morning. So much YAY!
So...since I last wrote...
Well, the sermon went pretty well. Lots of people said lots of nice things to me afterwards (including that they were very challenged. Which is cool. I also told them that I had written about it all on here and about ruthie g's and simon h's advice which also went down well :).).
On Monday, Husbink didn't start work until 4pm. We had lots of jobs to do so this was good. One of the first jobs required a trip to a garden centre to sort out our non-working lawn mower. While there, I spied a very reduced gas BBQ and was sorely tempted. But we decided to apply the "few hour rule" (no time for the 24 hour rule) and left it while we went and had lunch and a paddle in the sea (yes, I know I said there were *lots* of jobs...we did also purchase things required for the bit where The Parents stay here...). Having mostly decided to buy the BBQ, we went back to the garden centre. While investigating the costs other than the actual BBQ (like gas and covers and stuff), we bumped into a couple from church that we don't know very well but are very faithful people and pray every week for the service I coordinate. We mentioned that we were considering this BBQ and then all went our separate ways. As we got the BBQ into a trolley, they reappeared. And after a few preliminaries said "We'd like to buy you this. Call it a late Christmas present or a combined birthday present." I did an admirable impression of a goldfish. To which they said, "The Lord has told us to buy you this. You can't argue with that." And indeed, we found we couldn't. So, in possesion of a shiny new BBQ we made our way home.
And on Tuesday, a public holiday here, we had half our small group* round for a BBQ. Followed by some more time at the beach (poor Husbink had to go to work again and missed that bit). And in the evening we had a small group session which was just storming.
Aren't BBQs and people of such generosity just fab?!
See you in a few weeks. Ciao!


*For those needing an explanation of a small group - we meet together once a week as a smaller chunk of the church (in our case there are about 15 of us) and chill, do a bible study of some sort and pray together.

No longer procrastinating

Well, I just about have my sermon for tomorrow evening written now... I had been going to blog earlier when I was really struggling but the combo of a bit of exercise and a shower woke me up sufficiently to get my sermon mostly written.
Which has, unsurprisingly, set me thinking.
I'm talking about Jesus' character and lead into this by talking about the three words that we'd use to describe ourselves and how they compare to words used to describe Jesus. At the end, I'm going to challenge people to use the next year to try to become more like Jesus in one particular area.
And so it has set me thinking about what I want/need/should change about myself. I don't really feel I can challenge people to do something if I don't intend to do it myself.
At the moment, I think my three words for me are "hard working, enthusiastic and a worrier". Now clearly, I'd like to get worrier out of there. But what characteristic of Jesus do I want to replace it with?
I'm talking about Jesus' humility, creativeness and compelling personality.
I'd love to be more creative. I'd love to be a more compelling, attractive sort of person. But I'm not really sure if they are directions God would want me to be changing in? I'm not sure they are top of the list of things that need to change about Jen.
Humility could definitely be an option. I guess "not worrying" or "peaceful" could also be an option.
What do you think? Either about me (please be sensitive!) or about you? If you are a Christian, how would you want to become more like Jesus? If you aren't, what would you like to change about yourself this year?

Happy Things

Today I have done lots of achieving (washing, cleaning, shopping, sorting, list writing...) and so am allowing myself a play with photos for your enjoyment. (Well, for my enjoyment really, but I hope you enjoy too!)

So. On Saturday, after a slow morning pottering in the garden (and the skip being taken away, hurrah! Though I may have failed to blog about the roof men and the skip so that won't mean much necessarily, but be assured it caused great joy! We also saw this weta on our wall, quite impressive.)), we got ourselves all dressed up and headed round to Eastbourne (about a 25 minute drive from our house, on the harbour opposite Wellington) for our friends' wedding. It was lovely. The service was really warm and inclusive and lovely. Then we spent about an hour and a half in the church grounds sipping wine (or orange juice), eating canapes and cake, listening to the speeches and generally having a marvellous time. (Included in this time was trying to stay out of the sun as no one wanted to wear sun screen at a wedding!)

Following that time, the bride, groom and their families headed off for a family meal and a group of us made our way to the beach at Days Bay. As it had been cloudy and miserable in the morning, Husbink and I had not taken our togs but several others had and they were soon in the water despite its general freezing-ness and the rather large jellyfish that was coasting about the place.

Having remained fully clothed in our pretty dresses and shirts and ties, a few of us went to play frisbee. The wind was pretty strong (as usual) but I was getting the hang of aiming the frisbee about three feet to the left the person I was aiming at and it seemed to go pretty well! Unfortunately, one chap got a bit carried away and forgot about the wind. Next thing we knew, Husbink was trying to get the frisbee out of the tree like this:

Once everyone was dried off and warmed up and so on, we headed back to Eastbourne to a lovely little pub called the Lifeboat for tea. This was followed by a quick stroll on Eastbourne beach to watch the sunset before making our way to a restaurant called The Beach for the evening's entertainment. There was quite a comedy band so we had much fun dancing. The bridge & groom had taken lessons and impressed us all with their first dance - the groom had learnt how to shimmy very impressively! (I was glad Husbink noticed this too, I did not want to be accused of watching the groom's bottom!)

We made it home just after midnight, highly contented despite our car's complete failure to start without a jump all day!

Wargh.

So. Some of you will already know about this as it affects you personally. Some of you will already have heard others talk about it. Some of you will have no idea. I'll try to make this understandable to all!

So. We currently have a week (or just under) to make applications for Husbink's job next year back in the grand old UK. These applications can't be made to specific jobs but just to areas of the country in which there may be a number of jobs, some of which will appeal, some of which won't. The majority of jobs do not take into account that you may want a life outside work or indeed have a family who equally need lives. You are expected to move over really quite large areas every year or so, basically never allowing for you to buy a house, settle into a community...as most of these posts run for seven years, chances are we need to consider our children in this decision too. Husbink can only apply to four areas.

Today, I am sad because we have pretty much had to count Yorkshire out of being one of those areas. The actual jobs there just look so much like not what we are looking for that we don't think we can apply there. We may still because it is quite hard to say we won't.

The East of England jobs, i.e. near my parents, require a lot of moving about and so don't appeal.

The Northern jobs, near Husbink's parents, look like they could well be in with a chance. They *seem* to be fundamentally based in one centre with short forays to other hospitals for specific reasons. Should we even be as lucky as to get a job in the same city as Husbink's parents, I would have family to look after me when he went on these forays.

The South Yorkshire jobs are pretty good. All centred on one place (and that being a place that already has a good friend living there - we shall call her Anne (with an "e") and see if anyone can work out why :) ). South Yorkshire is the only definite so far.

The Severn jobs appeal. And there are other good friends in that region, we shall call them Mad Medea and Husband for fairly obvious reasons. But we start to be a long way from my parents.

And so it goes on. There is no "ideal" out there. There are also very few "goods" and rather a lot of "bads".

We at least have the confidence that God brought us to New Zealand for a reason and so He can take us somewhere else for a reason to. But we have to make the applications for Him to be able to act on them!

Apologies, this is perhaps the most boring post you've ever sat through but I needed to get it out of my system. So I shall leave you with a pretty picture from my garden to make up for it and a promise that tomorrow or the next day I shall write about the lovely weekend we have had with a wedding, frisbee on the beach and generally good times.

Sad

Today I had an email from a friend, let's call her Cherry, who I went to secondary and sixth form with to tell me that our head of year from secondary days, Ms Webster, died earlier this week.
I haven't seen Ms Webster for at least six years, probably seven and so in some ways it feels kind of wrong to be sad about her death. Ms Webster lived round the corner from my parents for a number of years and so I did know her slightly more than the average teacher - she used to drive my saxophone to school for me having seen just how alarming it looked in a bike basket! Cherry and I also had an evening drinking champagne with Ms Webster to celebrate our A Level results (two years after she had ceased to be our teacher and about six months after we had reached legal drinking age - never fear!). She was an incredibly encouraging woman, keen to ensure everyone did their best. I think probably the time I valued her most was during one of my spells of unofficial agony aunt/counsellor to a number of people...normally, these agony aunt times were teenage angst and love life, but in one particular instance I was ending up rather out of my depth with half-tales of abuse and so on. Ms Webster found out about it all and helped us through as much as was in her power, arranging proper counselling and so on.
I've just spent some time googling her to see what I could find out - she had become a deputy head of the school and was still teaching geography & humanities. (I also then had a bit of a browse through which teachers were still there in general - which provided me with a few smiles and a few sighs.)
My mum is going to go to the funeral on my behalf along with Cherry, her mum and another friend on Saturday.
As I understand it, she was not known to have been ill prior to collapsing on Tuesday so it must be a huge shock to those in her classes currently.
Another instance that reminds me how very blessed I have been - as yet, the only really close encounter with death I've had has been my dog. And that was pretty harrowing. People have died at this sort of removed state - someone who was my adopted grandmother while we were in the states died when we'd been back in England about five years; a guy I went to youth group with died when I'd not seen him for four years; and so on. Having a hope in heaven, I am not scared of death but I am scard of missing people. And of not having said all the things I should have said, appreciated people enough, scared of regret.
Sigh.

Ouch!

During January, the evening services at our church start with cricket and a BBQ (except that now building work has started on the cafe at church and that means no more BBQ. So just cricket then). Yesterday, I got there quite late and not much in the mood for cricket. But somehow, I was sucked in and very soon found myself chasing a ball with more "commitment" than usually display. Sadly this commitment was shown on rather slippy grass in pretty old, smooth soled trainers. I did a strange sort of splits and landed on my bottom. And twisted my knee. I wasn't immediately able to stand up but fortunately Husbink was there and did the doctor thing and all was well (apparently my cruciate ligaments felt a bit loose but nothing to worry about). By the end of the service I wasn't really aware that my knee hurt anymore. It twinged a little cycling home and I think I'll need to take care of it for a few days (which will be a bit tricky as it is a bank holiday here today and I'm going to the beach in a few hours for lots of sports...I think I'll stick to frisbee so I just knacker my shoulder instead!) but it will be fine.
On my way to bed last night I became aware of general stiffness over most of my body but specifically when I sat down. I put this down to the large number of hours spent sitting on the floor yesterday afternoon working on the embroidery of the pigs. When I woke up this morning and it had become continuous dull ache occasionally escalating to lots of pain all focussed on my right buttock, I realised otherwise. The initial concern was all for my left knee but really where the damage has been done is in the form of a large bruise on my behind. Fortunately, I don't think I have to sit down in public for a few days at least!

BOGOF!!!

Some of you may remember one of my early posts and my great distress at the lack of the BOGOF (or the buy one get one free) here in NZ. Well, today, I achieved it! I found a BOGOF and I made use of it AND it was on shoes. Oh yes! And they were very cheap shoes so I got two pairs of shoes for the princely sum of $10 (around about £3.50). It may turn out that they aren't the best quality in the world (ahem) but I really don't think that is the point now is it?!
You know how shoe shops give names to shoes that can appear rather peculiar (or make absolute sense depending on the day and the shoe)? Well, one of the pairs I bought today is called "Wapy Boo". Which I think is great. There was a whole series of "Boos"...Rappan Boo, Jivan Boo, Crumble Boo, Petit Boo, Gotit Boo...The list goes on and on. Although I did buy the shoes I wanted, I have to confess I was at least a little influenced by the name Wapy Boo!
I'm generally chipper today because I have been ACHIEVING. As well as the shoes, I've bought all the embroidery silks I need to finish off (when I say "finish" I really mean get beyond having only just started) the picture of the pigs (sigh, how I miss my beepling boopling guinea pigs), been to the library and acquired two new books (one that is the second in a series I read the first of a few years ago and have been very keen to read, t'other is the first in a series that has recently been recommended to me), bought a wedding present (for the wedding we are going to next weekend), bought apples (so I can make apple cake this afternoon), run the dishwasher (because it needed doing) and washed some clothes (ditto). So now I think it must be lunch time! Yum!

Summer is here at last! Quick, get inside!!

So yes, the sun is back out again today and I'm almost getting used to it being here. It hid yesterday and Sunday but we've had more days of sun than not in the last week. Which means now I'm studiously hiding indoors (as the forecast told me I should) until it gets to at least 4pm and it is safe to venture out again...
Today and yesterday have been a little peculiar. I don't feel quite at liberty to go to great lengths here as some of what I would need to say to fully explain perhaps shouldn't be in such a public realm (no, that doesn't mean it was really interesting and you'd really want to know...trust me. Dull as.). But the point is that it has left me feeling rather tiz-wozzy. All het up over nothing. This morning I got myself all in a tangle over some bagpipes (Rather a long story, best not to ask). Fortunately this particular incident was resolved for me. Phew. The distressing thing in this though is that I seem to have picked up my big bag of stress again. Which wasn't in the plan at all. The trouble is that there are rather a lot of things that aren't in the plan currently. Like where we will be living in 6 months time. What jobs we will be doing. How we will have made it from this point to that point (particularly around the 5 month point). Ugh. And thus the other things not in the plan like "picking up big bag of stress" and "fretting day and night over each possible option" seem to be squeezing themselves in through a back door.
Yesterday Husbink decided it was time to find me some challenges. An educational one, a sporty one, a crafty one, a spiritual one and a miscellaneous one. For the educational one, I am considering a night class in Maori culture and language. For the crafty one...hmm...I'm maybe going to borrow a sewing machine and attempt to make some covers for our sofas....MAYBE! The sporty one was languishing a bit as Husbink realised that actually he just had lots of sporty goals for himself and hadn't really thought of one for me...And we didn't get as far as the spiritual or miscellaneous goals. And then there is always the question of THE GOAL. What is my main aim? Snoo asked me this today too. And I kind of wonder if all these little goals (not these ones necessarily but similar sized goals) might be my big goal. For whatever reason, I don't seem to be able to beat the stress monster, at least not yet and so perhaps my goal needs to be always maintaining reasonable, achieveable goals. Not allowing the cultural need for careers and money-making and so on to over ride health needs.
I strongly suspect I'm not making any sense but it has been helpful to me to do the writing. Cheers!

Home again, home again, jiggidy jig...

I'm feeling a little un-waffly at the moment which is unusual I know...so this may just be a bit of news for you and some pics as I've been remiss on them for a while...
We got back yesterday from a few nights away in Martinborough - just an hour away from here but over the hills so quite different landscape and weather. And a boutique wine growing region. We were in need of a bit of a break for a number of reasons and so grabbed the chance and it was very refreshing. Wednesday was lousy weather here but it got a bit better, or at least a bit warmer as we went over the hill (once we'd come down from being in the clouds again...) and we were quickly settled into our little cottage.
We had a pootle round town and spent some time in the tourist information place trying to work out what to do the next day. Then we ate cake. :) Before a snooze. Before more eating. It was a good day!
On Thursday, we were unable to believe how nice the day was and so set off for a long walk between various vineyards with too warm clothing on and not enough water. But the vineyards supplied us with bottles of water and we stayed in the shade as much as we could and mostly survived. We tasted I think 11 different wines. All very interesting, really quite a different texture and so on to northern hemisphere wines. But I'll keep my wine waffle to myself and just say it was yummy and we were happy. We had lunch at one vineyard which was very tasty and whiled away the afternoon at another, sitting under the shady rose-covered gazebo.
Generally a very good break. Until we were just about to fall asleep on the second night at which point I suddenly became allergic to something. No amount of antihistamines or nose blowing could relieve me and it wasn't until we'd been home again for about six hours that I returned to feeling normal. That wouldn't stop me going back though.
We stopped for a brief walk on the way home on Friday but with my lack of being able to breathe, I wasn't really in the zone. Pretty flowers though.



Once home, Husbink had to go to sleep cos he's on nights this weekend (starting last night) so I had to attempt to make our costumes for a fancy dress party in the evening. We had to go as something beginning with F. We went as flies. This was Husbink's idea. I was initially unimpressed but ultimately got into it...we had six legs, wings, goggles for eyes and antenna. We accept this may not have been entirely accurate but felt we needed something on our heads...sadly, there are currently no pictures of me. So one of Husbink will have to do (we gave up on having the goggles on our eyes very quickly!)





Hmm, you can't really see much of the costume can you? Hey ho...I've uploaded it now and that has sapped half my life away so I'm not going to delete it!

Catching the sun...

It is officially the worst summer in New Zealand since...well, there are various different statistics being thrown around like "coldest December since 1946", "worst summer since records began", "average December temperature 2006: 12.9C; average December temperature 2005 17.9C", "Boxing Day 2006: 14C; Boxing Day 2005: 25C". You get the idea.
Apparently it is all El Nino's fault. In an El Nino year, Australia gets extra specially dry. There are more forest fires (particularly in Victoria) that mean that we end up getting south-westerly winds straight off the antarctic rather than the balmy northerlies that should be coming off Brisbane and the like for us at this time of year. Hey ho. (Note: I can't entirely remember where I heard this. It may not be FACT. But it makes me feel better that at least there is a reason.)
So I've been in big jumpers, the heating has been on...grump! (For those in the northern hemisphere, you have to remember, this ought to be our July...)
Anyway, yesterday, the sun did come out. If had been threatening for a few days and not quite making it but yesterday turned out glorious. So glorious that, when combined with the lifted weight of a sermon out of the way following Sunday morning, I suggested to Husbink that we cycle down the river path to Petone and go to the Screaming Turtle cafe for lunch and then play on the beach.
As we were still in the grip of a southerly, the cycle there was reasonably like work but not too hard. Lunch was yummy. And then we tried to go to the beach. But it was so cold on the front that there ended up instead being some hasty re-texting of friends to arrange meeting back at our house for garden cricket instead of on the beach for sand castles and "running away".
The cycle home was fantabulous. Wind behind us we flew along the river track. Much fun. And just my kind of cycle - mostly flat but with little ups and downs so you have to work very occasionally and then get a "reward". Ah.
Unfortunately, I'm slightly paying the price today. My ankles and toes have been thoroughly eaten by some local wildlife and while I was very good and wore my hat and factor 30'd my arms, legs, neck...I forgot the little gap you get on your back between t-shirt and shorts when cycling or sitting on the front step chin wagging. So I have a little semi-circle across my back that just looks lovely...It isn't too painful as long as I continue to wear clothes that allow the area air. And the risk of getting re-burnt!
Fortunately, it isn't summer again today so I should be safe...

new year, new you?

I'm not really one for the resolutions thang. I can't normally come up with anything precise enough to make it a resolution. But I do like to take the opportunity to take stock and see what might be a good thing to change, much as I do during Lent and around summer holidays.
So.
This time last year, I was very glad to see the back of 2005. It had been a not very pleasant year with the onset of the IBS and the general sinking further into OCD/phobia-ridden life was at its deepest. My resolution for 2006, were I to have called it a resolution, was to have more fun. Not in a self obsessed, pleasure seeking way but in a stopping worrying, starting appreciating the good things in life (especially Husbink), generally getting my perspective right way. And see where that has taken me!
This year, I'm not so keen to scramble out of the previous year. I did manage to "have more fun" in 2006. I've made leaps and bounds with the IBS and the phobias/OCD (to prove this point, I stuffed and roasted a chicken on New Years Eve without anything close to a meltdown. That won't mean much to some of you but others will appreciate the milestone nature of this!) But there is still ground to be made. It is still a cause for celebration when I manage to do normal people things without washing my hands. I still worry and stress more than is healthy. And thus I still have times of IBS. I still don't appreciate Husbink for all he is worth (will I ever manage that? He's worth so much!).
So I think my non-resolution for the next bit of time, be it the year or just until Lent or coming home when something else replaces it, will be to keep on the same track.
I also had some new home resolutions and hopes which have been coming together. I hoped that leaving a lot of possessions in the UK would help me lose some of the materialistic nature I'd acquired of late. (Brought on in part by the IBS: if I can't feel nice, I want nice things.) I have achieved some of that change of mindset but I have no idea whether it is a permanent change or a situational change: once I'm back with all my stuff, will I just want more?
I hoped I would find something to be passionate about again. I've certainly found a job I care about and enjoy for the first time. I think it is slowly forming what I will be passionate about but I don't know the answer yet.
I hoped I would work out what was really important to me and my life. Again, some progress but nothing really concrete yet.
And one final thing that wasn't in that original thinking but is becoming so again (thanks in part to Mad Medea's recent post) (it was something I was working on pre-IBS monster) is to work on my ethical standards once more. Be it recycling, not getting frightened by the checkout assistants who think I'm mad for bringing back my own carrier bags, buying more fair trade, buying more locally sourced produce, driving less, growing vegetables, writing letters about things that matter...
I'll keep you informed. Most likely more informed than you want to be!

Ridiculous!

So this morning I was a healthy human being. At lunch time I was a healthy human being. Around 3pm I started to sneeze...by 4pm I couldn't breathe, move around the house without the constant companionship of tissues, swallow, taste anything, think without cotton wool impeding my braing...etc etc. Normally, I find that I get some warning at the start of a cold. A sense of fuzziness, a bit of bunged up-ness, a tickly throat. Breaking me in slowly over a 12-24 hour period. Not a thirty minutes heads up you're going to be incapacitated... I took antihistamines in case it was hayfever which would be more reasonable for the rapid onset but no. I can only hope that this means it will disappear as rapidly as it started.
I have however been enjoying making use of the old wives remedy of "feed a cold, starve a fever".
As I haven't any brain, I shall stop there and not yet tell you about the lovely Christmas we had but it was grand and everyone was great and I managed to actually not be homesick at all once Christmas day got underway. Hope you all had likewise lovely Christmas times.

Parcels, presents, product placement...

I've been attempting to write a post for a few days now but failing miserably. Not wholly because of lack of time, mostly because of lack of time when I've also been in posession of my brain!
So just a quick one then to say thank you to all of you who have sent us cards and so on. Has been lovely to have that flurry of both post that isn't bills/junk and of communication with home! And what is even better is that we know of at least three things that haven't made it in time for Christmas so the flurry will continue for a little while yet. :)
And to wish you all a lovely Christmas and hope you have a marvellous time with whoever you spend it with. We are looking forward to speaking to various family members during the course of the day (and friends during the course of the week...book your skype time now!) and spending the evening with some friends and their family here. We've been more than a little busy of late (in a work-related way) and Christmas day/Boxing day is probably the best chance at some down time we've got.
The best thing about a southern hemisphere Christmas is that all our traditions are gone; we have no sense of feeling Christmassy so we can actually focus on the reason Christmas exists a little more easily. :)
Lots and lots of love to you
xxx

Lyrics

At the moment, there are two songs that I listen to a reasonable amount to which I cannot force the correct words to stay in my head. If I really, really think about it I can make myself sing the right words but if I'm just merrily driving along with the CD playing, I cannot, cannot sing the right words!
The first song is Valerie by the Zutons. The problem comes with the line "Well since I've come on home, my bodies been a mess. And I miss your ginger hair and the way you like to dress". Left to my own devices, I would sing "Well since I've come on home, my bodies been a mess. And I miss your ginger hair and the way you like to kiss". Why?! It doesn't rhyme! It doesn't make more sense! The strange thing is, Husbink also, entirely separately had this problem when he first came across the song. Anyone else?
The second song is Say Hello to the Pope by James Dean Bradfield. The title is in fact the line I have the problem with. See, I bought the album only knowing one song on it and just listened to the album a number of times through without reading the back and getting to grips with song titles. So I was getting quite confused as to put this particular song was about as the only words I thought I could pick out were "Say, who ordered the punch?" I thought it must be a song about the dangers of date rape drugs or something. Ahem.
There have been and will continue to be a great number of songs that I have similar problems with I imagine. Somehow, it makes me feel rather old and uncool...

How old am I?

Yesterday I was driving to the costume shop to organise the wise men, Mary, Joseph, the angel's wings and Herod's crown for the Christmas production at church. As I reached the end of the high street I became aware of the thud thud thud that accompanies boy racers with extra bass and giant speakers... It kept coming with me but I couldn't spy an appropriate car at all. It eventually was hurting my head so much that I shut the windows but it just got louder. By this point it was so loud that my car was shaking! As we've been having some car problems recently I was a little alarmed and thought perhaps it wasn't a barry-boy but instead was something very peculiarly wrong with my car. I was just approaching a big roundabout and feeling really quite scared cos the car was shaking and I didn't know what was going on and it was the kind of sound that was so inside your head that I was feeling disoriented and sick...when the culprit drove past me. (It was a really stupid looking car and not particularly racery at all but that is by the by). The car said on the back "If its to loud u r to old" (sic). I actually sat at the roundabout a few seconds longer than necessary letting it get away. And deciding that I quite liked my eardrums so was quite happy to be too old...
On the way home from said costume shop, I went to Pak 'n' Save to grab a few bits. And saw some outrageously cheap wine so thought I'd grab it while I was there. I reached the checkout and the girl was quite young so when she picked up the phone after putting the alcohol through I wasn't surprised. She then asked me to step to the side so that her supervisor could see me. I did. The supervisor looked skeptical. The checkout girl asked for ID. I gave her my UK photo driving licence. She said into the phone what ID I'd given her and the supervisor decided she had to come over. She looked at my licence and asked if I had my passport on me. Which I didn't. They looked back and forth between me, the ID and each other, clearly getting a little anxious. So I put them out of their misery and said I'd just take the chocolate and in-shower Veet (which is another story, very impressed, very smooth legs!) and not worry about the wine as it was a whim anyway.
And that was all fine. Until I was driving away and realised that they were attempting to claim that I looked 17. Or younger. Which just isn't believable really. Really.
The obvious conclusion to draw from this being that 17 is now too old...ahem.

Me. Apparently!

Quite handy this having been tagged thing (so actually I am grateful Welsherella!) as I was fancying a little burble but I'm way to shattered to actually think of anything. I gather it is meant to be one word answers. I'll try my best but no promises...

1. Yourself: loopy
2. Your girlfriend/boyfriend: Husbink
3. Your hair?: ridiculously soft these days
4. Your mother?: organised
5. Your Father?: funny
6. Your Favorite Item: new jeans
7. Your dream last night: no idea...
8. Your Favorite drink: gewurztraminer
9. Your Dream Car: I no longer know...but little and cute
10. The Room You Are In: bedroom
12. Your fear: vomit
13. What you want to be in 10 years: happy
14. Who you hung out with last night?: Husbink...and half of church
15. What You're Not?: relaxed
16. Muffins: mincemeat (so that needs explaining...after church yesterday they had made muffins with mincemeat stirred in to the mixture. SOOOOOO yummy!)
17: One of Your Wish List Items: a purpose
18: Time: 16:17
19. The Last Thing You Did: lost very badly at uno
20. What You Are Wearing: denim skirt, pink tshirt
21. Your Favorite Weather: proper weather (i.e. beautiful or a proper storm or snow or thunder & lightening or...)
22. Your Favorite Book: Too hard (LotR was there for so long but...it would have to be a comfort book - LotR, Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons, Cold Comfort Farm, Winter Holiday, The Lion, The With & The Wardrobe, HP 1-3 (the later ones aren't comforting!!!), the Thursday Next series or the Fourth Bear - The Big Over-easy less so... ok, too much!)
23. The Last Thing You Ate: Orange & Passionfruit cereal bar (pretty gross)
24. Your Life: improving
25. Your Mood: too tired to be sure
26. Your body: peculiar
27. Who are you thinking about right now? people
29. What are you doing at the moment?: this...and considering what form of laziness my afternoon will take
30. Your summer: just starting
31. Best part of your life: adventures!

So to tag...I pick Mad Medea and Jenny