Ah. So that was the week that was, was it? To be honest here folks, I was waiting until I had done something before creating a new blog. I haven’t really done much, but never mind. (Suggested music here.. ) Hum. It is, as some of you may have noticed, and as some of you may be aware the depths of winter here. Well, just beginning to see some signs of spring really depths of winter. After a couple of weeks of cold and grey and drizzly and generally gack weather, we have had three quite warm and sunny days. A wee bit frosty in the morning, but nothing too terrible. Both Mrs and Master S have had something of the winter sniffles recently, and despite working in a grotty classroom, with grotty germ laden kids and general grot, I seem to have avoided the worst of it so far. This upshot has been less time to do stuff and more time spent doing stuff. The early weekend mornings with Stuart and a cup of coffee are quite nice, the long walks in the fresh air so Mummy can have a nap aren’t terrible, but just not very newsworthy. Not worth the bloggosphere that it is written on I reckon. So, haven’t done a great deal of anything really… Work continues to be work. I could whinge at length about various aspects of it, but to be honest, it’d be preaching to the choir. You all know what work is like. You’ve all done it. You know the petty irritations and general ack that make up most people’s working day. So, you know, what’s the point in whining and whingeing about it? Especially now. You’ve most likely tuned in to read about interesting stuff. Like stuff. You know. Things what I does. To be honest, I’m not sure who reads this, why they read it and what they want to know about, so y’know feel free to leave a comment.
Hang on *checks back to see what last post was about* Flip, that was a time ago, well we deffo have done some stuff since then… Here we go now in no particular order.
We went here Te Papa. The big museum of New Zealandness in Wellington. Some very cool stuff. Although, I will say this here and now, just on the off-chance anyone from the museum is reading this. The so-called colossal squid is, quite frankly, not that colossal. The rest of the museum is quite cool though and well worth a visit if you are passing. I thought the best bit was the giant meat playhouse.
It is actually a life-size model of a Blue Whale’s heart. Well cool. The more astute amongst you may have noticed that Te Papa (Oh, whilst I remember; Not.Enough. Dinosaurs. A proper museum has more than three¹.. OK?) is in Wellington and we live in Timaru, so visiting Te Papa was always going to be more than a day trip. We flew up, stayed in hotel with no bath², then caught the ferry and train back. The ferry was awesome. We bounced around a lot, which Stuart enjoyed, then saw some dolphins, then went through the Marlborough Sounds. One of the more enjoyable ferry rides I have been on and a heck of a lot more scenic than the IOW ferry. So that was a few days in Wellington. It was nice, if a bit windy and a lot rainy.
We have also been to see the wallabies in Waimate. I did a mountain bike ride up and then down a local hill to see a local land mark, which a patch of horse shaped concrete painted white. It is called the White Horse. Here is a picture of it. The ride was okay. A sweaty hour up, then a chilly ten minutes down. Here is another music suggestion
It was a nice day out, as I then met Linda and Stuart for a picnic and a wander around the local park. Saw some wallabies. As you do. Also on the riding front, I have continued to ride around the Park. I keep discovering new trails and the construction is really, really clever for most of them. The only thing is that as it has been quite wet here, apparently very wet by local standards, some of the trails are a bit aggy and getting ripped up a little. So, the hint is not to ride them in the wet, but it is hard not to sometimes, and tricky to know when it is wet if that makes sense. Maybe it does. I haven’t been out much recently. That’s a lie, I was out loads and loads, just not really recently, say last fortnight or so. I have discovered quite a few more bits to do since last post, and am now riding a bit further. Most of the trails work both ways, so there is a fair amount of to and fro and stuff. In addition to the wet weather I have had a spongy front brake, and have tried bleeding it, but seem to have made it worse. I will get some more fluid and have anther go at it. It is a fiddly job, but reasonably straightforward, but I don’t quite know what I did wrong. Incidentally, after a deal of arsing about with a local bike shop, I have switched my allegience to another purveyor of shiney bits and bobs and finally seem to have the drive chain sorted out.
We have had two sets of visitors from the UK, which was nice. Jenny and Phil ‘popped’ by for a cuppa on the way home from Fiji. Which was lovely of them, and it was really nice to see them and catch up. They stayed a few days and got taken to a few local sites of big round boulders. A few days ago, a blonde-bombshell-blast from the past turned up, Josie Butcher and her husband Richard, who were spending three weeks here on honeymoon. Which they interrupted to come round for a cuppa and a chat. Flying visit, but lovely to see Josie again and meet her new husband. It had, for various reasons, been some time since I last saw her. The power of Facebook.. We also had some West Coast visitors, when Nick and his family passed through Timaru on the way to Invercargill. As you do. it was nice to see them and catch up on some gossip and meet Max the new addition. Also Hamish and family dropped by as well during the holidays, and it was lovely to see them as well. I possibly won’t blog again until after our next set of visitors have been and gone, but it gives me an excuse to take the bike to Hamner Springs for a few days. Yum.
Oh, yeah the other thing we have done a few times is take Stuart swimming. The local pool is too cold for babies, so we either have to go down the coast to Oamaru, or up the coast to Ashburton. Oamaru is a lovely swimming pool, and it is a really nice town. It is nice to take him out and do stuff. He stilL seems a bit indifferent to the whole swimming thing, but I did catch him smiling and splashing a little last weekend. Linda, who wasn’t swimming, was watching from the side. Mostly from behind her hands in horror. Still the boy survived, so I don’t know quite what she was worried about. The last weekend we drove even further down the coast to a place called Palmerston. You may hear more about Palmerston soon.. you may not. We have also been swimming a fair bit, twice a week at the local pool. One of us swims, whilst the other watches Stuart and then we swap. When you regulalry go to a pool, you quite quickly get to know the other regulars and the life-guards, most of whom have taken quite a shine to Stuart. Who generally seems to like watching what is going on. Especially the aqua-aerobics.
Reading has been a little patchy and hit and miss what with one thing and another. If I am being really honest, I haven’t actually read anything that really grabbed me for while. Whilst I am here and talking about books and stuff ‘The Black House’ by Stephen King and Peter Straub is, quite frankly bollocks. One decent character and a load of stoner bollocks,. Do yourself a favour and re-read ‘It’, ‘Salem’s Lot’, ‘The Stand’ or the Bachman books instead. Please.
Trying to think what else I have read recently. It was a really good book. I’ve read a lot that hasn’t inspired me,but this was good. Ken McLeod ‘The Night Sessions’. Very good and a Richard Morgan fantasy book ‘The Steel Remains’. Not as good as his sci-fi stuff, but worth a perusal. You know me folks, I read a lot and the fact nothing has really stuck in my mind in three months may indicate how piss-poor it has been. The only films we have watched have been ‘Blazing Saddles’ and the first half of ‘Young Frankenstein’. Sorry, ‘Young Frunken-shteen’.
Well, that’s all folks except to say if anyone out there owns a copy of this please could you let me know where to get it, or send me a copy please? Please?
1 Fair enough, there may be more than three, we didn’t find them though.
2 The whole point of the staying in a hotel was that it would have a bath. Something we lack. We even took bubble bath and a rubber duck with us. When we got there, no bath.
Hey dude.. i read and re-read your blog. – and wait eagerly for each and every update- always with an ale in hand. Today’s ale is Brakspear – Oxford gold.. music suggestion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQIrxhNkiAs. (although not the cheeriest cover ever it is what’s playing as write this) currently reading 3001 – Arthur C Clarke. weather in reading is really wet and horrible which cheers me up a lot cos its festival time
Ah, well if the local supermarket was open, I could join you in a Brakspears, and more recently a Hobgoblin. Fiddler’s Elbow anyone? (Mind you at $8-9 per bottle it isn’t the cheapest option. Best saved for special occasions..) And it is 7am here and although a beer for breakfast might be a fun thing to do, it probably isn’t sensible. Porridge it is then.
If you haven’t already read them, you could try Clarke’s ‘Imperial Earth’ and ‘Songs of Distant Earth’. They’re pretty good. Thanks for the comment Ade, nice to hear from you!
This one goes out to the Ventures, especially after the weddings and stag nights. Good times chaps.