The Tuesday back at work

 Hi,

Turns out I forgot to blog yesterday morning. No idea how that happened apart from just being busy. But I rode in Tuesday morning in lovely weather and had to come down Murphy to avoid parliament (I usually ride right through parliament grounds). The hikoi was kicking off from Waitangi Park at 9am and heading to the Beehive for a midday protest. Massive crowds expected and public transport chaos. 

Early morning hikoi

I was early (6.30am) and saw a few early people heading to the park. Woot! I headed to the gym. Met Quentin. Did incline bench (25kg 4 x 4) then normal bench (35kg 4  x 4 ).

Back to Margies to have brekkie with Maureen. Then back to work. 

Caught up with Maureen after gym

Left work at 11.45am to head to the Beehive. Sally and Andrew were already there - staked out a bit of lawn nice and early. We couldn't get that close. The place was packed. And such a good crowd. Families. Elderly. Everyone in-between. Gang members walked through the crowds. We could not hear a thing from the grounds. Barely indistinguishable voices on the loudspeakers.

But I am so glad so many people voted with their feet against this Treaty bill. Let's all submit on it to let our voices be heard. The ruling government seems to be trying to diminish the way this feels to the majority of people that live in Aotearoa.

Lunch hikoi

So many people

Like, a lot

We were there

I headed back to work at 1pm. The crowd departed after their message was given. So proud of the way it was run.

After work, Mike and I went to Joes Garage for tea and he practised his Great Walks talk. Then we went to TTC clubrooms and he presented his talk there.

David from Nepal was there. He asked after Toby. We went to Nepal with him in 2015. He was the person that fell in his shower and broke his wrist 2 hours after landing in Kathmandu. But Expansion took him on his own tour and looked after him.

Hey David

Mike's talk was so good. Perfectly timed too. He got a book on the history of the TTC as a gift. Awww. People came up to me and said how good his talk was.

We walked to the bus stop in Courtney Place and got home just after 9pm. Fed the cats. Into bed. Slept so well.

Up at 7am. Showered. Washing done. Ate my cold soaked porridge (yum). And bussed into town. 

Hope you have a great Wednesday!

Love,

Angela

The migraine in Sydney

 Mike got a migraine at 4am after Tyler's 21st.  Luckily he was able to sleep it off ok. 

The Tuesday with a BBQ after work

 Hi,

Okay - I took no pics of the BBQ. I will have to explain it in great detail for you all instead. I noticed yesterday that the WCC Christmas tree has gone up on the waterfront. Yay!

Christmas is here!

PT session was hard. Bench. 42.5 4 reps x 4 sets. But I think I hurt my shoulder. Waaah. And I have a sore lower back from all the driving. Nothing is going well with my body this week. 

Iced latte with Mike

I also managed to convince Mike to join me for an iced latte before work meetings kicked in. That was nice. The weather weas lovely yesterday.

Sourdough

Rode home and put the bread on and got ready for the BBQ. Amy had a lot of venison she hunted to eat before her flight tomorrow. She is off to live in France. We met Matieu and some of Amy's friends from Warwick St (Isaac, Milly and wee baby Arlo). Janine was there and Andrew came too!

Mike cooked up a storm. The BBQ was running flat out for ages. With such a lovely evening, we had the doors all open. Once the sun dropped down it did get chilly. But by then wee Arlo was getting cross. So they took him home. Amy and Matieu and Janine headed away then too. We chatted to Andrew for a while. Hearing about his track work and discussing the stairs a bit.

But eventually he had to head away (I might have been yawning). He took a lot of leftovers. And the fresh sourdough.

Ange is coming to look after the cats this weekend. Better tidy the house tomorrow morning. We have a flight at 3pm. Mike will WFH and we can go to the airport from here.

Enjoy your weekend. 

Love,

Angela

The Monday back at work

 Hi,

Busy at work - but it was good to WFH. I tried the washing machine and it did not leak all over the place (Mike had moved it away for the renovation work and back again).

Also got to hang out with the cats.

Moxley with me in the office

Another coat on

3 coats on the top 2 steps

After work I did more coats on the stairs. We decided to fill them all - so I did that at the end. The risers are rough and look better with filler in the cracks.

I did jump out to see the dentist for my appointment at 6pm. And Mike grabbed some groceries and met me afterwards at the car. Good efficient planning.

Off to bed. And up for PT session this morning. My ride in was lovely. Nice and still here this morning.

We have people coming for a BBQ tonight at home. Woot. Amy is off to France.

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The weekend in Auckland for hockey

 Hi,

What an amazing weekend. Mike walked me to the car at 4.30pm (parked at the early bird car park by Bluebridge for $18) and I was off to collect Jill from Paraparaumu very soon after that. Easy drive out there. Found her house and then we were off up north.

Filled up in Levin and then got to Taihape and found the Gretna Hotel. It is an old building on the corner where the SH1 does a 90 degree bend as it goes through town. We found reception in the public bar and got our keys. The rooms were all upstairs with shared bathrooms.

Gretna Hotel in Taihape

My room for $59

We grabbed our gear and dropped it in the room. Checked the bar food out - but not a lot of vegetarian options. So off to Roast Cottage for a roast veg dinner.

Roast Cottage for tea

Back to our rooms for bed. I was ready for a good sleep. The room was clean and tidy. There was a big blowie in the room - but it settled down and didn't cause me any headaches. At 9pm there was a lot of noise as punters left the pub and chatted below my window on the footpath. They all then revved their cars as they left. Hahah.

Bye wee room

Up for a shower (good shower - with a front door as the shower door) and then met Jill and we left Taihape nice and early.

Iced latte

Great view of the maunga as we passed Waiouru. Good route up the Desert Road. Brekkie in Turangi. Where I had an iced latte.

Then into Auckland up SH32 and then SH1. Found the hockey stadium and enjoyed a great game against Germany with Erin's team finding their mojo in patches of good play. But it was 7-0 to Germany in the end.

Go Scotland!

Erin's team takes on Germany

Selfie

We chilled while Erin took an ice bath. Hahahah. Looked - cold. Then headed to our AirBnB in Browns Bay. The place was a wee self-contained flat under the main house. And at the end of their steep driveway, was a 150m walk to the beach. Across the road was Woolworths. And the wee town itself had a lot of outside pubs and cafes. So nice. Great spot.

View from Browns Bay

Shadows

Nice Air BnB

Relaxing evening eating and reading. Had a great sleep. Up for an early game for Erin's team against Australia. Erin was on fire! The sun was shining. The rugby was on (All Blacks v Ireland in Dublin). Magic day.

Erin's team lost 3 - 0 to Australia. But they kept them under wraps for huge passages of play. And the goalie was amazing. The Alliance team even had some close scoring opportunities.

I might need to crop this

Saturday morning v Australia

Roz and Oaklin

Roz turned up as we watched the kiwi men. I met Oaklin. She is a gorgeous wee pup in the Roz Guide Dog puppy training programme.  :-)  

She is so good

Watching with Erin

Anne turned up later too. So we all watched games together - really good to have Erin's expert commentary. Jill and I spent a lot of time wondering why penalty corners were given before we at with Erin to understand it more. Seems as though people's feet get in the way a lot!

Such a great time. Good to catch up with Anne and Roz. Erin and her team will continue to worry these other teams and they might get some upsets in by the end of the week. Woot!

Roz headed away after Oaklin was so good sleeping under her seat in the stands. Wow. What a good wee dog. And we milled around watching some games before Anne decided to brave the traffic to get all the way back over to the south eastern parts of Auckland. Good on her for getting there!

Said goodbye to Erin too. And headed back to Browns Bay for the evening. Relaxed again with some food from the sushi place and Woolies. 

Good sleep. Up early and away by 7.30am. Easy drive to Pokeno. Met up with Kaustubh and Arapita and wee Aaria. Aaria is a wee cutie. I got an iced latte from Kaustubh. Mmmm. God to catch up with them. They are off to India soon for their summer holiday.

Nice home made iced latte

Rumbly tums in Tokoroa

Our AirBnB in Browns Bay

We headed away at 9.40am and stopped for lunch at Tokoroa. And then nothing but petrol at Waiouru to stop us from getting to Wellington.

Dropped Jill home. Got home and heard about Mike's adventures with his half marathon Sunday morning on Kapiti coast. And laundry progress with Lewis.

Yay!

Mighty weekend.

Go Erin! Smash the teams this week.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday at work where it feels like I have been there for an eternity this week

 Hi,

Busy day at work on Melbourne Cup day. I was too busy to even give it a moment's thought. But the highlight of the day was walking home with Barb up through the bush on Te Ahumairangi hill. It was raining softly as we left work and continue to dribble out of the sky. Under the bush canopy it was still fairly dry.

Old quarry site

Thomas tunnel

This time we went in on Grant Road. It was steep up for a while before we turned left and went to the old quarry.

Phone flash fills in the wee tunnel - or is it a cave?

There was even a hole in the rock called Thomas Tunnel. I don't think it was really a tunnel. More like a wee cave. Guess they were excavating rock for something.

Love this part of the walk

Happy

Got home and Mike was not long after me. He made tea and I got the first coat of paint on two of the risers on the stairs. The coat is pretty thin, but I see potential for this to be a nice look. I know what I will be doing for the next week or so in the evenings.

Sourdough

One coat on - it has potential

Managed ot bake a loaf of sourdough. Yay! Off to bed for a good sleep. It was a surprise when the alarm went off at 6am this morning. Caught the bus in because I walked home yesterday. Still raining softly here. PT session was tough. 90kg deads on the stiff bar. 2 reps x 3 sets. A bit hopeless.

Another busy day. Hope you enjoy yours.

Love,

Angela

The Monday at work

 Hi,

No pics - not of the cats and not even of me drinking my Lewis Road iced coffee. You are all out of luck. Worked from home. I did clear out my closet during my lunch break. So satisfying. We now have a lot of old t shirts for rags.

Mike got home and we had tea. Burgers. Then we finished Agatha All Along, I made dough, and we chatted to my parents to sort out various holidays. 

Went to bed. Got cuddles from Mike. Fell asleep listening to one of his podcasts. He used one ear and i used the other one. Hahah.

Up early. PT session next. Windy day for my ride in. And it is supposed to rain by lunchtime. Oh well. I am walking home with Barb. Will leave my bike here and bus in for gym tomorrow.

Hope the US sees sense and votes for someone without any criminal convictions.

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela