(Mum, the title's for you. :))
My third load of laundry for the day has just finished ... tomorrow I must wash my walking trousers before next weekend's long weekend trip to Nelson. Luckily it's yet another beautiful day with some wind so perfect for drying.
A fairly busy week at work, although yesterday really felt like a Friday afternoon. Very tired for some reason. At least the weekend is here to recharge batteries (and do washing, and cleaning, and food shopping).
There was an interesting article in the Grauniad yesterday I noticed about ways of reducing rubbish. One of the suggestions was charging for special rubbish bags, which is the way they do it here. I have to buy special yellow Wellington council bags from the supermarket - I think they work out as 15c each - and also recycling bags, which are a bit more expensive. For recycling you can also use old supermarket bags. I don't create a lot of rubbish, living alone; in fact the yellow bags are a bit big and I only throw one away every two weeks (hurrah for airtight bins). But I can see it would be a good way on getting people to cut down a bit. It's nice to be encouraged to recycle too, as back in London I had nowhere to put a recycling bin, which is what you were supposed to have.
Saturday 26 May 2007
Sunday 20 May 2007
Another week over
I got back earlier this afternoon from Levin, where there was a fun swimming meet. I didn't taper for this one - it was more a case of getting fit again after a week off with that silly cold - but swam considerably faster than in Chch. The meet was lots of fun, with relays and plenty of good-humoured support, and we all did okay so everyone was happy. Afterwards the social turned out to be a good one, with decent food and an excellent band who played lots of cheesy covers so we danced all night. Also there was a running paper aeroplane fight through the evening, with the paper placemats used as aeroplanes. Highly amusing.
Today we went and had a leisurely brunch before browsing the bewildering array of factory outlet shops in Otaki, which is south of Levin on SH1. I have no idea why there are so many outlet shops there. I found a lovely merino jumper for about half-price in the Icebreaker shop (they sell clothes designed for walking and so on) which will be good in the winter. I only really have one casual jumper here so I needed another.
Now just vegging, as I'm fairly tired. I slept okay but it was a late night and everyone got woken up at 5am by the regular train rushing through Levin.
The wind's really got up. It's properly howling.
Today we went and had a leisurely brunch before browsing the bewildering array of factory outlet shops in Otaki, which is south of Levin on SH1. I have no idea why there are so many outlet shops there. I found a lovely merino jumper for about half-price in the Icebreaker shop (they sell clothes designed for walking and so on) which will be good in the winter. I only really have one casual jumper here so I needed another.
Now just vegging, as I'm fairly tired. I slept okay but it was a late night and everyone got woken up at 5am by the regular train rushing through Levin.
The wind's really got up. It's properly howling.
Sunday 13 May 2007
A nice weekend
The weather has been kind this weekend. It might be autumn, but it's been pretty warm and mostly sunny.
I decided I'd had enough of being ill with a cold yesterday morning so made it to swimming. I felt a bit stuffed up still, but managed to plod down a decent number of lengths. And surprisingly enough I felt much better the rest of the day.
Went to the library as I had some books that needed taking back. Picked up some more, and in the middle of searching for the Haydn mass the choir I'm joining is singing I (unsuccessfully - it's "in processing") I found an album of anthems sung by the Christ Church Cathedral Choir - Oxford version, not the Chch NZ version! I rented it, and it's lovely. I also borrowed the Da Vinci Code movie, which was predictably cheesy but quite good fun too. Good cast at least, even if the plot was utterly rubbish. I enjoyed watching it while eating a very good dinner of a sort of bolognese/chilli thing I did with lots of vegetables and beef mince, washed down with a really nice wine from the local liquor store, followed by Kiwi figs and yoghurt. :)
Today I took the bike out to Scorching Bay and the Chocolate Fish cafe. 40 minutes there, not too much wind. Apparently all of Wellington and their dog (a lovely golden retriever, as it happened) had had the same idea, although most had driven. The cafe was packed, so I got my iced mocha as takeaway and drank it sitting by the beach. A man was playing a guitar nearby and it was rather lovely.
Cycled back, and discovered that the bread dough I'd put on to rise had for once actually risen. I may have cracked the yeast problem I've been having - namely, not enough action from the yeast resulting in dense bread. Today's has risen, and it rose again after I knocked it back, and is looking pretty good in the oven at the moment.
I'd better go and rescue my washing. It looks like it might rain.
I decided I'd had enough of being ill with a cold yesterday morning so made it to swimming. I felt a bit stuffed up still, but managed to plod down a decent number of lengths. And surprisingly enough I felt much better the rest of the day.
Went to the library as I had some books that needed taking back. Picked up some more, and in the middle of searching for the Haydn mass the choir I'm joining is singing I (unsuccessfully - it's "in processing") I found an album of anthems sung by the Christ Church Cathedral Choir - Oxford version, not the Chch NZ version! I rented it, and it's lovely. I also borrowed the Da Vinci Code movie, which was predictably cheesy but quite good fun too. Good cast at least, even if the plot was utterly rubbish. I enjoyed watching it while eating a very good dinner of a sort of bolognese/chilli thing I did with lots of vegetables and beef mince, washed down with a really nice wine from the local liquor store, followed by Kiwi figs and yoghurt. :)
Today I took the bike out to Scorching Bay and the Chocolate Fish cafe. 40 minutes there, not too much wind. Apparently all of Wellington and their dog (a lovely golden retriever, as it happened) had had the same idea, although most had driven. The cafe was packed, so I got my iced mocha as takeaway and drank it sitting by the beach. A man was playing a guitar nearby and it was rather lovely.
Cycled back, and discovered that the bread dough I'd put on to rise had for once actually risen. I may have cracked the yeast problem I've been having - namely, not enough action from the yeast resulting in dense bread. Today's has risen, and it rose again after I knocked it back, and is looking pretty good in the oven at the moment.
I'd better go and rescue my washing. It looks like it might rain.
Wednesday 9 May 2007
How the wind howls!
It's a bit blowy today. Nothing hugely spectacular, but one of the windiest days I've seen since coming to Wellington. I suspect worse will come at some point. I am wondering though whether the rubbish bags I put out earlier will have stayed where I put them. The paper/cardboard bag at least could have blown away. I'm not going outside in my pyjamas to find out though!
The crazy thing is that yesterday was utterly glorious, a really beautiful day. It was warm and sunny and I spent most of it on the phone, which at least gave me the chance to look out of the window while people waffled on (in between taking notes, which I did).
I went down to the rowing club tonight and for once found someone there, a couple of friendly guys who said nothing much was happening at the moment. They recommended emailing the captain again, and I got one of their email addresses in case the captain fails to respond (again). Anyway apparently things get going again in about a month. Thank heavens. I have boat-withdrawal symptoms. It's not good.
The crazy thing is that yesterday was utterly glorious, a really beautiful day. It was warm and sunny and I spent most of it on the phone, which at least gave me the chance to look out of the window while people waffled on (in between taking notes, which I did).
I went down to the rowing club tonight and for once found someone there, a couple of friendly guys who said nothing much was happening at the moment. They recommended emailing the captain again, and I got one of their email addresses in case the captain fails to respond (again). Anyway apparently things get going again in about a month. Thank heavens. I have boat-withdrawal symptoms. It's not good.
Sunday 6 May 2007
That's why!
I spent the weekend in Christchurch, which was rich with autumnal colours and looked terribly English. Yesterday I swam at the NZ National Masters Swimming Championships - very slowly, compared to what I used to be able to do, but I enjoyed it and came away with three gold medals because I was the only one there in my age group for those events. Oh well. I made the effort!
Today I met up with my friends Jen and Victor and their utterly adorable 14-month old Timmy, and they showed me round. We wandered the Botanic Gardens for a while - Timmy likes trees and birds - and watched while he attempted to scale the things in the playground meant for much larger children. Then lunch, in a nice garden restaurant. Then it was Timmy's nap time, so we drove to see views. Unfortunately it was a bit hazy so we couldn't quite see the Southern Alps properly, but nevertheless nice views across the Canterbury plains. During the drive Victor explained bits of history and so on and threw light on the mysterious Manchester thing: it's because NZ wool used to go to Manchester to be turned into linen and stuff, so when it came back it was known as Manchester goods. Tah-dah! Mystery solved. :)
We finished up at the cathedral, where the choir was rehearsing for Evensong. A nice plain Anglican cathedral with lots of light. I felt some kinship with the place; Christchurch was founded by a group including 18 old members from my college, and the crest was all over. Halfway around the world the House still has some influence.
Before we went to the airport, we plopped Timmy in a pile of autumn leaves and he played happily. His first proper autumn. I threw some leaves at him and suggested he threw some back at me, which resulted in a hilarious few minutes during which he kept giving me handfuls of leaves. I couldn't refuse them, not with his happy little smile. Apparently nobody else can refuse Timmy's smile either; everywhere we went he had admirers, including a group of Chinese tourists at the airport who thought he was fantastic. I wasn't about to disagree.
Lovely day, anyway.
Flew home, collapsed.
Today I met up with my friends Jen and Victor and their utterly adorable 14-month old Timmy, and they showed me round. We wandered the Botanic Gardens for a while - Timmy likes trees and birds - and watched while he attempted to scale the things in the playground meant for much larger children. Then lunch, in a nice garden restaurant. Then it was Timmy's nap time, so we drove to see views. Unfortunately it was a bit hazy so we couldn't quite see the Southern Alps properly, but nevertheless nice views across the Canterbury plains. During the drive Victor explained bits of history and so on and threw light on the mysterious Manchester thing: it's because NZ wool used to go to Manchester to be turned into linen and stuff, so when it came back it was known as Manchester goods. Tah-dah! Mystery solved. :)
We finished up at the cathedral, where the choir was rehearsing for Evensong. A nice plain Anglican cathedral with lots of light. I felt some kinship with the place; Christchurch was founded by a group including 18 old members from my college, and the crest was all over. Halfway around the world the House still has some influence.
Before we went to the airport, we plopped Timmy in a pile of autumn leaves and he played happily. His first proper autumn. I threw some leaves at him and suggested he threw some back at me, which resulted in a hilarious few minutes during which he kept giving me handfuls of leaves. I couldn't refuse them, not with his happy little smile. Apparently nobody else can refuse Timmy's smile either; everywhere we went he had admirers, including a group of Chinese tourists at the airport who thought he was fantastic. I wasn't about to disagree.
Lovely day, anyway.
Flew home, collapsed.
Wednesday 2 May 2007
Why Manchester?
I'm puzzled. Why do Kiwis call bed linen and towels and so on "Manchester"? It doesn't make much sense. Equally, why "togs" for swimming costumes? Generally, though, they're fairly sensible about the correct use of the English language over here.
It's raining again. Steadily. The water's gushing out of the pipe outside the kitchen window and also off the edge of the roof above my front door. Pretty noisy. But at least I'm warm and cosy inside watching ER.
It's raining again. Steadily. The water's gushing out of the pipe outside the kitchen window and also off the edge of the roof above my front door. Pretty noisy. But at least I'm warm and cosy inside watching ER.
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