The Saturday exploring Mike's Sydney

Hi,

Mike and I got up early an caught a local bus (751) to Blacktown and swapped to a bus service replacing the rail network for the weekend.  Yep - engineering works weekend.  The bus was great - n express coach all the way to Wynard station - no stops.  Better than the train service.  Hahahah.

Mike took me for brunch in town (close to our work's Sydney office) and then we went shopping.  The tourists were out in force.  We bought postage stamps at the post office and the chap behind the counter said "Even though they are stamped at $1.65, I'll give them to you for $1.60".  Very odd.  Felt like haggling.  Mike thinks he should have tried for $1.50 now.

From there we walked to Darling Harbour and had an iced coffee.  Mike showed me his haunts from his Sydney trips.

On Pyrmont Bridge

Just missing Sally and Andrew's feet at Darling Harbour

Then we caught a taxi to Randwick and Mike took me all around the University of New South Wales campus.  He was so enthusiastic.  He's very cute.  From there we walked to Coogee beach - bit of a meandering walk.  But the beach was lovely.

Surveying the beach - see Wedding Cake island on the horizon?

We sat on the grass under a tree and enjoyed the view.  A public announcement was made while we were there.  It went like this:

Due to strong winds (Mike and I queried defining the gentle onshore breeze as strong), there are some bluebottles coming ashore (oh - we were expecting announcements about sharks or rips).  If you get stung, just relax.  (Right - of course!  Relaxing is a great idea.  Best remember that).  Come out and have a cool shower.  Pull the stingers off with your fingers.  If it is still sore, see a lifeguard.

This is a typical Australian approach to its creepy crawlies.  Nothing about evacuating the beach.  Just relax if you get stung.  Don't inconvenience anyone by panicking and having to get rescued.  Just relax and have a cold shower.  Hahahah.

We caught a local bus (M50 - Prepay only - Mike sorted them out - crazy, fragmented public transport system!) to Central, waited for a coach back to Blacktown and enjoyed the bus ride.

Caught the 752 from Blacktown to Quakers Hill, all foretold accurately by the bus nerd at Central station (he knew the Quakers Hill bus route from Blacktown and even what "Stand" to catch it from once we got there. Freaky!).

Home to a great dinner from Karen and watched some Vampire Diaries with her.  Mike and Scott have been having B grade movie fests.  Iron Sky one night.  Piranha DD the next night.  No idea what the movie was last night but Mike thinks I may have made it to about 10 minutes before giving up!  Must have been a good one.

Today is Sunday and we're off up to Scott's mother's house for New Years.  Can't wait to swim in the sea.  Wish I had togs with me yesterday at Coogee.

Love,
Angela

Boxing Day celebrations

Hi,

Boxing Day had more of the same weather as Christmas Day - but less rain and less thunder.  Scott's family all arrived around 11.30am and the food was coming out of our ears.  It was great to catch up with Scott's family.  They have two fresh babies (Troy and Chad have both had recent babies) and the older cousins are now looking really tall and older.

The food highlight for me (apart from the tray of mangoes that Troy brought around) was the huge sides of salmon.  It was cooked to perfection on the BBQ and was something to behold.  In fact, I think I have lived on salmon and mangoes since then.  Is it possible to eat too many mangoes?  I think I have easily eaten 10 mangoes in the last three days.  If I had a coconut about now, I would be well on the way to my tropical island fantasy (imagine a Samoan beach, with nothing to eat but fish, mangoes and coconuts and you have my getaway dream!).  I am now intending to overdose on mangoes and iced coffee by the time I leave Sydney in two weeks time!

Gorgeous Kittos

On Thursday we braved the crowds at the local shopping centre.  It wasn't too bad really.  We even ate sushi at Sushi Bay with a real sushi train.  Toby ate sushi for the first time - he likes teriyaki chicken sushi!  It's a start!  And one I am happy about.

Look at those plates stacking up!

You chose fruit, Tyler?

The sushi was fabulous!  We wandered home and Tyler convinced me to swim in the new wading pool they got for Christmas.  What a great way to unwind.  Mike and Karen read their Kindles while I soaked in the pool with Tyler and Toby bounced on the trampoline.  Wee Abby was at a birthday party.  Toby bounced so much he got a bit of whiplash - solved by bouncing even more to build up those muscles!

Toby and Abby slept in Abby's room that night.  They were so cute reading together before the light went out.

Reading time!

Friday saw us up early and off to Luna Park for the day.  What a fantastic trip.  We caught up with a whole bunch of Karen's friends.

Iconic photo opportunity!

The Rotor was an amazing ride at the end and I took some good photos of Abby, Toby and Tyler.  You'll have to believe me when I point out that Toby is in the yellow shirt with Abby to his right and Tyler to his left.

The centrifugal force has stuck the kids to the wall. 

When we got home we were all grotty, so we flung the kids in the bath!

Yes - Toby is eating an iceblock in the bath

Tomorrow Scotty is off to play golf and Mike and I hope to train into town to see some sights.

Great fun, eh?

Love,
Angela

The Christmas in Sydney

Hi,

What a fantastic Christmas lunch we had here in Sydney.  The weather wasn't very nice - in fact last night was the first night we used our duvet at night.  Downright cold.  Hahahah.  Well, hardly.  However, Wellington had a glorious day - reaching 29.6C at the airport.  Unheard of temperatures.  The Stuff article I read said Wellington had "extremely hot" conditions.

Anyhow Karen cooked up an amazing roast leg of pork for lunch, with all the trimmings.

Christmas lunch - taken expertly by Abby

The kids had their lunch on the trestle table next to us.

Kids Christmas lunch

We were all very full after that and the lunch blurred into dinner really.  I also had two naps during the day.  Not too sure why I was so tired.

Shona called and we chatted for ages - she had a good day down in Geelong with her kids.  Eventually we caught up with Ma and Dad after their Christmas lunch at the club.  Ma is still sore and finding it hard to be as mobile as she should be.  Poor Ma!  Hopefully it comes right soon!

All the adults then drank into the night while playing cards.  I was heading to bed to read when they (well, Karen and Mike) asked me to stay and read with them.  So I did just that.  Finished my book (not the book full of ridiculous similes that made me guffaw out loud - this one was an out and out romance book and I am sure this is the most boring genre on the planet!  I was hoping for a massive influx/invasion of werewolves or vampires or aliens.  Anything!  But, no.  In "The cottage by the sea" the only thing that happened was love.  Yawn!) and wandered off to bed to start another one (a Young Adult one that is a sequel to another I read recently - it might prove a little more interesting than a boring romance set in Cornwall).

I kept my party hat on for hours - it drove Scott crazy as it slipped constantly over my eyes.

Apparently Mike was plying Karen with lots of wine and she was within spitting distance of winning their card game when she declared herself drunk and went to bed.  Hahahah.  Not too sure if they kept playing or not.  Mike came to bed and I think I may have noticed.  Maybe.

Boxing Day - more of the same weather.  Perhaps not quite as torrential as yesterday.  The thunder yesterday was amazing.  This is the big family day here.  We'll get a huge influx of Kittos (well, some might argue it is more exciting than werewolf invasions!) and eat lots and catch up with people we haven't seen for ages.

Given we slept in until 8am, I suspect we have a bit of cleaning to do in the next hour!

Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

The Christmas Eve with 40C

Hi,

The Christmas carols at the local high school were fabulous.  We had front row seats and the singers were very good.  I was in fine form, singing carols loudly (and poorly - but hopefully no one could hear my tuneless singing).  Everything was free - lollies, sausages, cupcakes, bouncy castle.

Christmas Eve was one to remember.  We walked over to a local park with Tyler's bike, a netball and tennis racquets around 10am.  Karen said it was hot and I said it must be about 30C.  It seems my temperature gauge has got a bit wayward since living in Wellington and anything over 25C is just "hot".  It was an amazing 41C here in Sydney.  So, yes - it was "hot" in anyone's language.  I gave Karen a hard time for taking us out in 40 degree heat to play tennis, even though when I thought it was 30C it was perfectly fine.  Hahahah.

We then nipped out to Karen's friend's house to collect eggs and check on their chooks.



Gathering eggs from Liz and Paul's chooks

We found their cleaner cleaning their house.  Well, that was what he told us.  We hope he was their cleaner.  He also seemed happy that we were just checking the chickens!

Toby also jumped on  the trampoline for a while.


Jump!

In the afternoon, Scott's mother, her husband Len and Grandma arrived.  After settling them in and having dinner (Aidan - you may be interested to know that Mike and I accidentally ate Toby and Karen's food - it's not just you that loses your meal around us to ravenous Gilberts - they had to eat something else entirely) we walked around to some friends' house and sat on their front lawn while a thunderstorm lit up the surrounding sky with lightening. 

After the drinks on the lawn, we walked around to a local street that decks out the houes with amazing lights.  Of course, the celestial light show was still happening as well.

Back home to put the kids to bed.  They all went to sleep without any bother.  Mike and I followed suit.  Howver we were woken up at midnight by Karen who had got upset at the size of the presents in Toby's stocking compared to her children.  She rummaged around in cupboards and before you knew it, Toby's stocking was just as full as her own children's stockings.  My sister loves my son!  We're so lucky!  It is a bit hard to co-ordinate these things when you travel at Christmas.

Christmas morning was such fun!  The kids woke at a respectable 6am.


Just starting



Watching the chaos



Front row seats



Look what I got from Toby - can't wait to use this voucher

Scotty is putting together toys - don't think he has finished yet!  Hahahah.  We're having roast pork - an amazing leg of pork is in the oven.  I opened the door to get a better look and apparently this may have ruined the crackling.  Oops.  I'll let you know.
I hope your Christmas is a lot of fun!  Missing you all. 
Love,
Angela

The Sunday in Sydney

Hi,

Our flight over on Saturday morning was one of the best trips over I have had.  It may have had something to do with me making it through an episode of Father Ted and getting 5 minutes into "Big Bang Theory (which I have never watched before and still can't believably make that claim) before I fell asleep with my headphones still on.  I only woke when Toby started changing my programming.  Well, actually, he had changed my programming already and I slept through that.  But when he turned up the volume quite loud on a Coldplay song and then got a bit too excited at the thought of finding a Justin Bieber song to serenade me during my sleep that he woke me, I realised I was only 45 minutes out from Sydney and where had the flight gone?

The day passed by with seeing the Kittos - it has been ages since Toby and I were here.  Over a year.  Last November we watched Tyler just starting to learn to ride her bicycle.  This year - she is amazing.

And then she gave me a go - good fun!

After an amazing sleep where Mike and I made it to about 8pm before hitting the wall (apart from those raucous Australian birds screeching outside our window at 5am) we eventually got up and made breakfast.  Then Karen and I went and did some last minute shopping before the crowds.  And it worked well.  So well we even got Yum Cha.



Please note the plate of green veges in the middle of the table.  

We drove home and I drank another iced coffee while we wrapped presents.  Scott and Mike took the kids to Wreck It Ralph (movie) and got the Santa photos taken.  Our kids look huge now with Santa.  We're going to have tea and then wander around to some Christmas Carols at the local high school and then look at the fantastic houses that get all decorated each year.

Tomorrow is all about prepping for the big day.  But there should be time to relax as well.

Hope you're having a great time in the lead up to Christmas.

Love,

Angela

The Saturday in Sydney

Hi,

I am typing this in boiling hot Sydney.  Hahahah - Karen and Scott say it is a relief for it to be so cool.  Apparently they had a 41C day a few days back.

I have overdosed on iced coffee already.  One of my favourite brands now has "Extra Shot" - wow!  Are they trying to lure me back to Australia to live?  Fortunately for me (and my bank account), New Zealand now makes suitable iced coffees easily available in the supermarkets.  No moving for us, thanks.

Karen and I have been swapping books (the electronic versions our respective husbands are only too pleased to note - no reason to extend bookshelf space!) and chatting about them.

Mike and I doubled up on the croissant order for Christmas Day when we popped over to the bakery.  12 is plenty - 24 might be a bit too much to munch through.  Reminder to us - ask Karen before making any hasty Christmas purchases.  She has everything in hand.

Okay - time to head off and get some shopping done.  Something healthy?  What?  Really?  Hahah.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with Toby

Hi,

Mike had a bit of a late mission at work and so we were horribly late home on our frantic evening.  Unfortunately with a deadline at the airport to collect Toby, we had to miss popping in to see Vivienne and John.  A neighbour came around while we were scoffing our tea (yummy stir fry - ta Mike) and talked for ages to Mike.  But eventually we got out the door and went to the airport.  Wee Toby is not really that wee anymore.

Yesterday was an absolutely stunning day here in Wellington.  We caught up with Sally and Andrew for lunch int he sun trap and as you can see, we had to sit in the shade.  Well, all of us except Sally who works in an ice box and was thawing out before the afternoon's freezing session!

Toby was very pleased to see us.  And I was so excited waiting for him to come off the plane.  Of course he was last with all the other kids travelling for Christmas so the wait was quite long as the plane emptied out.  Home to watch some television with him and then to bed.  Mike and I were asleep in seconds.

Mike has a day at home today - he has a half day leave and will look after William and Toby (and William's brother) then swap.  Or not.  Turns out William's mother is in hospital and the plans are very fluid.

We're also going to Waikanae today to see our friends.  Aidan's mother and stepfather are over - well, they arrive today.  We're going to watch them both fall asleep in their dinner.  And we're up at 3am tomorrow to catch our flight to Sydney.  Woo hoo!  Can't wait to relax in hot Sydney.  Beaches, here I come!

Have a wonderful Christmas.  See you in 2013!

Unless the Mayans were right.  Hahahah.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with dinner and tramping club - kinda

Hi,

The day cleared up yesterday from misty beginnings to a mighty awesome day.  And today is even better - no wind at all.  I loved my ride into work this morning.  Spectacular.

I had lunch with a client yesterday and she gave me a Christmas tin full of baked cookies.  How nice is that?  She says I helped her heaps.  Hardly - she was great all on her own.  Apparently she says the tin has to come back full.  She hasn't tried my baking before, obviously.  Ma - I need you!  Hahahah.

Went out for dinner after work with Sally and Andrew and Mike joined us.  We went to the Hop Garden and I ate Eggplant stuffed with quinoa and artichokes.  It was yummy!

I drove Sally home and had a nice cup of tea and then came back for Mike and Andrew.  We dropped Andrew home and just to prove beyond a shadow of anyone's doubt that I do enjoy driving, Mike and I went home the long way via Haywards and Pauatahanui.  It made it a late night (11pm when we got home) but the evening was made for driving and singing!

We collect Toby from Wellington airport at 8pm tonight.  I can't wait!  I am very excited.  I wonder if it will make today race or crawl?

Have a fabulous day.  One more working day left for the year.  I might try to blog over Christmas and New Years, but I am hopeless at that!

Love,
Angela

Bicycle, car or bus?

Stuff, NZ's online newspaper, just asked the question "How do you get into work - cycle, bus or drive?".  This is my response, that they published a few days later.  So now congestion charging in Wellington will be my fault.  Note that motorcycles or trains are not acceptable ways of commuting in Stuff's world.

I probably ride, drive and bus into work about evenly, so I'm keenly aware of the pros and cons of each.

The car is by far the easiest of course, and I turn to it whenever I'm running late, have to run errands during the day, or get stuff in or out of work.  But of course, it's expensive.

The bus is ok, for wet weather, but it's uncomfortable, claustrophobic and runs to its schedule, not yours or even Go Wellington's (but the metlink website has made a huge difference in this regard).

The bike is free and I just feel so much better after a good ride.  It's my fitness regime too, it baffles me why others drive into work early and go straight to the gym!  It's uncomfortable in the wet though, and Wellington's lip service to bicycles really, really grates.  It's easy to find reasons not to bike - the weather offers some excuses but the infrastructure certainly provides lots more.

What to fix?  Make commuting by car more expensive but in a targetted way (toll roads and congestion charging), offer real alternatives to driving, and make the expensive driving experience superb when you need it.  Think about integrated travel options not just one mode at a time.  For instance, recognise that the cheapest way to fix the urban motorway would be to put a proper bike path in from Porirua and Upper Hutt, if you could get a 5% reduction in car commuters it would be like driving during the school holidays every day!

The obtuse fragmentation of public transport make it unusable for many, too.  A friend once showed me the 15 or so different tickets he had to carry, all at once, to use the various public transport modes at various different times to get from Newtown to Trentham and Porirua.  Again, it baffles me why with the 9-figure sums being spent on trains and stations, implementing Snapper or an alternative integrated system at the same time wasn't part of that.  Or why I have to carry a different ticket for each train line, plus a snapper card to get from the railway station to my final destination (and pay twice, of course).

For example?  I moved here from Melbourne where I needed to commute out from the CBD to a Johnsonville-like mid-way suburb every day.  It was a short 10min drive on near-empty motorway - for $7 each way in tolls.  Ouch!  Or a $3.50 train ride.  Or, a 45min cycle, on purpose built cycleways completely separated from traffic.  Expensive - but way cheaper than adding another lane to the motorway, for instance.  Services like that meant something like 14% of commuter traffic was by bicycle, which equated to tens of thousands of cars off the road (making driving extremely pleasant when I needed to).

In Wellington there's no joined-up thinking.  I don't think the designers of the cycle tracks here have even seen a bicycle or used one to commute, what with the broken asphalt, power poles in the middle of the path, and blind driveways feeding into the Old Hutt Rd cycle path in particular.  A modern road bike has tyres about 5mm wide and cruises at up to 50km/h - it needs a better road surface than a roadway, not a worse one.  The funniest option is the short piece of green paint right in the middle of the old hutt rd/Ngauranga Gorge/Hutt Rd lights, where you have to somehow swing across two lanes of 80km/h traffic to access, and then sit between two fast flowing streams of traffic!

Fixing cycle tracks and even more so fixing public transport is expensive.  But adding lanes to the urban motorway, building tunnels and flyovers, and increasing parking and local road capacity in the CBD is orders of magnitude more expensive, not to mention disruptive and degrading to Wellington's unique village feel. Tax some motorists off the road, but offer real alternatives to the road and provide great motoring experience in return, and everyone wins.

The Tuesday with my last Cubs night

Hi,

I have officially retired as a Cub leader now.  Toby has one more year of cubs and I will take the time to smell the coffee on Tuesday evenings.  I am attending the next planning session just to ensure they don't roster me on for parent help every Tuesday!  Hahahah.  Last night we had a great session at Makara Beach. I was intending to ride my bike there but the dodgy weather (rain, wind and fog - but warm!) put me off.  We walked around the beach, made some small conflagrations, and cooked sausages.  All very safe.

I caught up with Aidan briefly in town yesterday.  She was on a few missions so our catch up consisted of walking around the CBD quickly to get it all done in her allotted time.  Not a bad option considering.  I'd rather walk than be cooped up in a sticky cafe.  The weather is so humid here at the moment and of course no one runs any air conditioners here.  Mike is blaming the cyclone over Fiji for our weird weather.  Some might be blaming the impending end of the world on Friday.  But how can it end here on Friday?  It would still be Thursday in New York, for instance.  Did the Mayans not understand the International Date Line?

Home to read for a bit.  I am reading a book that is pretty average really, but has some fantastic one liners in it.  I don't know how the author can get away with liberally dosing the text with such classics.  Last night's line said this:  "My breathing was shallow, like a doe that's been shot."  Ridiculous.  Enough to make you snort out loud and guffaw.  Great stuff!

Wee Toby is looking forward to coming home tomorrow.  And I am looking forward to seeing him.

Fell asleep in seconds again last night.  Something is working well!  Well, actually, I hardly ever have any bother sleeping.

Love,
Angela

The Monday with nothing

Hi,

After a frustrating day at work, riding home the long way was just the right medicine.  The strong northerlies meant I was two minutes slower than my fastest time - but I am sure I will get faster soon enough.  Even into the teeth of a galeforce northerly.  Just have to keep trying.

Mike cooked a lovely meal (stir fry beef) and we had a bath.  We are nothing if not clean since the bath was installed!

Went to bed and read for a while.  I fell asleep reading and Mike rescued my Kindle and turned out my light.  But he wanted me to stay awake and chat for a few more minutes while he finished some emails.  And although some part of me was willing, the sleepy part took over and I was asleep again in seconds.

The weather is warm and wet today - with wind.  So we piked and caught the bus.  But if it clears up I will ride to Cubs tonight.  It is at Makara Beach so would be a great ride!

Have a wonderful day.
Love,
Angela

The weekend with The Hobbit and no Toby

Hi,

Mike and I did not do a huge ride when we got home on Friday.  It may have had something to do with his after-work wines.  We watched Sherlock instead and thoroughly enjoyed season 2.

Saturday we lazed around watching more television and slowly getting ready.  A bath may have featured.  Anyhow, we went to get lunch on the way to take my newly acquired road bike to Sally and Andrew's place for a good examination.  With Mike and Andrew combined, most of the seized up bits are working again and it looks like it might be a great wee bike.  I rode it up and down around the streets and slowly got used to the road bike riding position.  I might need a shorter handlebar stem to bring the handlebars a little closer to me.  My arms are long but I am not built like a gorilla.  The frame is probably a wee bit big for me.  But it'll work perfectly.  Just need to take it into iRide in early January to iron out the back derailleur and possibly the stem.  Then I can ride it!

Home to get ready for the work Christmas party.  Yeah.  Ummm.  Some frantic pawing through Toby's old costumes found a couple of salad bowls, katana swords and masks.  So we went as Ninja Turtles.

Te Papa was a great venue - we got to wander through the new video gaming exhibition - Mike played old games from his childhood.

Home relatively early and had a good sleep.  Sunday was another lazy start followed by lunch with Sally, Andrew, Josh and Aidan at La Boca Loca in Miramar.  Yummy food and then we all went to see The Hobbit at the Roxy.  Christine, John and Tom turned up just in time.  We all enjoyed the movie as did Toby at the very same time in Auckland!  Woo hoo!

Then off to Chocolate Fish in Shelly Bay for an iced coffee and a walk up to Massey Memorial.  Followed by a quick dinner at the Thai place next to the Roxy.

Home to bed.  We watched a You Tube television show - a new Battlestar Galactica spin off.  But the two times Mike has put it on, I have fallen asleep almost immediately.  Oops.  I have now seen the first episode and the last.  No need to keep awake for the middle ones.  Hahahah.

Christmas week!  Roll on Friday.  Well, Thursday - because I see Toby then!

Have a fantastic week!
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with user group and no Toby

Hi,

Mike and I stayed for the user group session last night after work.  Then we rode home the long way up Ngaio Gorge.  The head wind was a lot stronger than yesterday and I think that accounted for my thirty seconds longer ride than yesterday.  But it is a great ride.

Toby went out to see War of the Worlds last night in Auckland.  I think he would have enjoyed that a lot.  I didn't hear from him after he was at the fish n chip shop before it.

Friday is a social whirlwind for me.  Breakfast with Roz before she heads back to Auckland.  Morning tea with Aidan T.  Lunch with Margaret before she heads back to Sydney.  I'll have to work late to make up the time.

Margaret arrived yesterday from Sydney and gave Mike 6 Krispy Kreme donuts of his very own.  So we drove out to Sally and Andrew last night after we got home and had a cup of tea and ate them.  Very pleasant.  And the weather was so lovely that it was a pleasure in the wee green car.

Weekend looming.  I want to try and sort out the road bike.  And we need a costume for the work Christmas party tomorrow night.  Oooo.  Pants!

We have a working piano at home now too - thanks to Mike's parents.  I am hoping for a Friday night Christmas Carol session.

Have a fantastic weekend!
Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with Toby's birthday and no Toby

Hi,

Wow - what a day for Toby's birthday.  And today is also stunning here in Wellington.  I did get some texts from Toby indicating he was homesick - after 10 hours away.  Uh oh.  Mike on the other hand got text messages indicating Toby had to eat lots of birthday cake!  Hmmmm.

I went to the work client Christmas party and tried to grab Mike and escape for dinner.  In the end we found Fran (old work) and went to dinner at Vista on Oriental Parade with her and Roz (down from Auckland).  It was such a pleasant meal.  My salt and pepper squid tapas was yummy and I tried the pate and fish croquettes courtesy of Fran and Roz and they were good too.  Then straight to dessert.  Espresso ice cream and some chocolate terrine.  But it was all about the coffee ice cream for me and that was brilliant.

Dropped Fran off home and then dropped Roz back at her hotel in town before heading home.  What a late night for us mid week.

Up this morning.  Weird routine without Toby.  Rode in together and had a great time.  Got caught behind a car coming down the hill.  But my ride home yesterday was great.  Took the long way and did just over ten kilometres, up Ngaio Gorge, through Crofton Downs and up to home.  Thirty minutes (and thirty seconds) - but that includes two minutes waiting for traffic lights in town first.  The stopwatch was ticking.  So I need to do that regularly and see if I can reduce the time any between now and late February.  The race course is flat and 12 kilometres.  So if I can do 10 kilometres with gear up and down hills, I should be right for the race day.  Apart from riding with loads of people.  And the 500m run to my bike.  Hahahah.

Have a simply marvellous day.  I think the piano will be operational today.  And I hope Toby has a great day up in Auckland.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with Cubs

Hi,

Happy birthday Toby!  12/12/12 and he is 10.  And what an amazing day here.  Not a breath of wind - blue skies.  We were all up early as Mike and I had hidden a present for Toby in the house a month ago.  And.  Well.  We can't find it.  We looked for about thirty minutes, turning closets inside out.  Now I have some tidying to do when we get home tonight.  Lucky for Christmas presents stashed away.  Toby now has a Kindle - for his birthday.  Because we have lost his true birthday present.  Hahah.

He is also now at Wellington Airport heading to Auckland for a week with Jack.  He is going to be happy - they have a pool.  And they accidentally switched the temperature of the spa with the pool.  So the pool is hot, hot, hot!

I am riding the long way home tonight - to start training for the Kapiti fun and games in Feb.  Oh yeah!  Bring it on.

Mike is flat out at work.  Poor chap.  He'll be working late tonight.

Cubs went really well.  Last den night for me.  Next week is on the beach.  Choice.  I invested three Cub leaders, one Cub and gave out about 15 badges!  Woo hoo!  Busy.  We also ran the Entertainer Badge night and it was amazing.  Three piano concerts, three plays.  All pretty good.

Have a marvellous day!
Love,
Angela

The Monday with dinner out

Hi,

John contacted me saying Jack was bored and could he play with Toby for the day.  When I said that Toby was in a computer course for Mon and Tues, I thought that the chap running it would probably be fine with an extra boy turning up.  Sure enough, Jack is now on the computer course too.  Choice.

Mike and I rode home together up Glenmore and then Garden into Northland and home along Pembroke and Mairangi.  I love that route.  You can fly along the top easily - even with a strong headwind like last night.

And John took us all out to dinner afterwards.  We went to Heaven Woodfire Pizzas in Cuba Street and they were lovely.  Pretty sure it is the same pizza place that the Waikanae connection uses whenever we eat pizzas up there.  Mmmmm.  Can I book in pizzas on the beach on a hot summer evening again?  Haven't done that for a while.

When we got dropped off back at John's place I spotted a road bike hanging up in the garage and asked if I could try it out for the Taupo and Kapiti adventures next year.  John said he was going to get rid of it, so it is all mine!  I have a road bike now!

Happy about that.  It is possibly a little tall for my legs, but only just.  And it is an old bike, so it has a heavy frame compared to a more modern bike.  But it has proper skinny tyres and handlebars to allow me to hunker down.  It needs some grease and a service.  But I am hoping it will do just fine.  Time to practise - lots!

Cubs tonight.  Should be good fun.  Second last one of the year.

Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela

The weekend with Toby's party

Hi,

I was late to Toby's family birthday party on Friday evening because of a work party.  I got away just after 8pm and got home in time to drop people off home.  Oh well.  And I missed Vivienne and John entirely.  But Toby seemed pretty happy.

We had moved Toby's party to Sunday morning because there was a suitable movie on at that time.  So Saturday was tidy the house day.  Which took ages.  Maybe because I had a bath mid morning when I really should have been tidying.  That bath!  Still not over the novelty of it, obviously.

Jack came to play in the afternoon and William came to play for the evening and a sleepover.  Nice fun for Toby.  I went grocery shopping quite late for Sunday.  At least there was no one in the supermarket.

Sunday morning up early to get ready.  We caught up with Aidan and Josh (who are both looking well after their holiday) and they went out to a date movie.  Mike and Christine took all the boys to Queensgate to see "The Regular Show".  Unfortunately it was not a movie, but cobbled together episodes.  Toby was disappointed.

I got the party ready and it kicked off as soon as they got in.

Missed icing the cake with Karen!  Hahahah.  Toby opened up his presents and was very pleased.  He especially singled out his t-shirts (Minecraft - ta Emerson and Duncan) and a Skylander toy (ta Thomas).

Had a cup of tea with Josh, Aidan and Christine afterwards and then we went to buy a Christmas tree.  Toby and I put that up while Mike popped into town to do some messages.

Then we gave Toby a birthday present of our own.  Toby now has a cellphone of his own.  His number is 022 4TOBYG1

Hahahah.  He loves it.  Text him a hello!

Time to get stuck in for the day!  Have a wonderful week.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with a work dinner

Hi,

Mike is picking up the slack from his wife's social whirlwind week.  After work I went to Leuven for dinner with work colleagues and had a great time.  I ate my way through three quarters of a pot of mussels.  Yum!  Drove a colleague home and headed home to my boys.  They had cooked up a storm (and left the evidence in the kitchen - but that's okay) and were watching a fascinating documentary on Curiosity on Mars.

 To bed - woke up early though - 4.30am.  Oooooo.  Bit too early.

Nice ride in.  And I need to get a bit of riding in over summer as I have said yes to a cycling leg of a duathalon with Aidan T in late February.  Hahahah.  Bit of fun.  It is quite short so it'll be absolutely fine.  Apart from the 500m run I have to do at the start.  Uh oh!

I have another work function tonight that I will try to get away early from.  It's Toby's family party tonight.  Whoops.  Yes - I have accidentally double booked.  But Mike will salvage it with takeaways.

And I think we're having Toby's party on Sunday morning now due to a suitable movie on at that time.

Have a wonderful weekend.
Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with nothing

Hi,

Well, not really nothing because it was our wedding anniversary day.  I was on the early Toby (and Alex) pick up from the library.  I cooked tea and then read a bit while Toby played on the computer.    Mike went to tramping club after work so Toby and I drove in to get him and caught up (briefly) with Ilske (freshly back from her holiday to Italy and Netherlands, the upshot of which she is now freshly single).  Then the three of us went to Strawberry Fare for dessert to celebrate.

Toby had an awesome chocolate madness, Mike had chocolate/lemon cheesecake and I had banoffee pie (which was lovely but I could only manage half of it).

Back home and a very pleasant sleep, despite seeing a massive spider crawl alongside the bed fleeing from the horrible weather outside.  Didn't keep me awake.

This morning is lovely (if still breezy) and my ride in was great.  I have a Christmas dinner tonight after work for work, and another function after work tomorrow (and yes, it is family Toby party time tomorrow and Mike knows he'll have to run the show).  Then a hectic weekend.  Well, a hectic Saturday.  Sunday is free!  Free!  I might do some Christmas shopping and get most of it over and done with.

Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela

The Tuesday that feels like Monday

Hi,

I had a bad case of Monday-itis yesterday at work.  After my fantastic three day weekend it was hard to knuckle down.  However, eventually reality seeped in and I got my work done.

Happy anniversary to us today.  13 years married (and twenty years together).  Yay!

Tuesday evening is Cubs night so I rode home early-ish and battled a vicious head wind.  So much so that I was completely worn out by the time I got to the bottom of the hill, let alone the top!  Christine passed me on the way up and it was a tired (but happy) "hello" that wafted up in her wake.

Cooked tea for me and Toby (and leftovers for lunch today) and off to Cubs with Jack.  We were up on Wrights Hill in the gale and occasional rain.  Jo and I "volunteered" for making hot chocolate and nipped back down the hill to make litres of the stuff.  A perfect Cubs night.  Toby had a blast playing Capture the Flag (or CTF as he called it).

Dropped off Jack, picked up Mike (he was working late) and home to bed.  We slept so well.  Great!

This morning's ride was hairy in the wind and slightly damp roads.  But it is supposed to dry up towards the evening.  Good!

We have a piano in our house now.  Mike called up a piano removalist and tuner chap and it was installed yesterday.  He took away the action (whatever that really means) and is re-conditioning that piece and then we're good to go on Friday.  I can't wait!  I may have to take lessons too!

Have an incredible day!
Love,
Angela

The weekend with three days off

Hi,

Happy birthday today to Tyler!  Woooooo hooooo!  Nine years old today.

Wow - what a great weekend!  Can I have them like that every weekend?  Friday night I left from work and dropped Mike home (I needed sunglasses and tea bags) and drove straight to Feilding to meet Christine.  I eventually found her among fifty million other horse people and their horses (slight exaggeration).  She had already put the stretchers up in the horse float and it did look comfy.

We went into town to an Irish pub and I had a scrumptious beef and Guinness pie and Christine ate her way through a Guinness (yuck) and an eye fillet.  Back to the horse float and bed!  And I slept well.  No complaints about sleeping in a horse float.  I'd do it again.  And possibly that might hap[pen Wellington anniversary weekend in Levin.  Hahahah.  Next horse event.

Up early and sort out Victor.  I tidied up his stable and got him a big tub of water.  Driving back to Christine in the wee green car with the roof down and driving very slowly over the rough road to avoid sploshes in the passenger footwell, I got wolf whistles from young men in a ute.  They don't get out much in Feilding, do they?

I walked Victor while he ate grass and Christine cleaned his saddle.  Then I held him still (well, I tried) while Christine plaited his mane.  Apparently she wants me back for more so I can't have been hopeless.

Jumped in the car and drove back to Wellington!  Lovely.  Had lunch and a shower and then off to my day spa appointment.  We had to cancel the BBQ we'd said yes to because we had to buy presents and make things for the family dinner.  I walked into town and Mike met me and we bought some things.  Home to wrap them and make salad.

Then into the car to Sally and Andrew's house for the most amazing dinner I have had in ages.  Scallop mornay starter, Beef Wellington main and cheesecake dessert.  I am still recovering from the excesses.

And they put on a great fireworks display in the backyard afterwards.  Well, the Lower Hutt City Council did.  Awesome!

Home to bed!

Up Sunday to do ... something.  What did we do Sunday?  I tried to tidy the house.  It got a littler tidier.  William came to play.  I went grocery shopping.  The day past.

Monday was our day off to celebrate twenty years going out (and 13 years married).  We got Toby away to school and then drove into town for an iced coffee at Joes.  Oh yeah.  Met up with some folks from the client site to say hello.

Went to see Skyfall and we both enjoyed it.  Then off for lunch at Eastbourne.

I got my first bit of sunburn for the summer.  Oops.  Never mind.  Dropped in to see Mike's parents and have a cup of tea and then home for a nice BBQ dinner.

Great weekend!  Such a lot of fun.  And the week looms.  Last week of the year for Toby.  He got his literacy award over the weekend so he should collect that!  Good on him!

Have a wonderful week.
Love,
Angela