The Tuesday with a snap level 4 lockdown from midnight

 Hi,

Well, the Tuesday was just trucking along like a typical Tuesday.  We went for lunch at Yoshi.  We did typical meeting stuff.

Then word got out of a community case found in Auckland.  And the day took a different turn.  I went home like usual on the bus.  Waited for Mike.  He braved the little Countdown in Lambton Quay as we had no essentials as we'd been away all last week.  

Got home as the Prime Minister was sending us all into Level 4 lockdown for at least three days. That's the hardest lockdown we have - basically, don't leave your house for anything. Pharmacies and supermarkets are the only businesses that can open.

Smudge on my lap

Moxley on my... head!

PM on the TV

Mike made bread for this morning. It's a lockdown tradition.

Mike and I are working from home.  Toby went to Tessa's place to stay with Steph and Sam.  Let's hope we can corral this outbreak.  Good luck.  Kia kaha.

Love,

Angela

The Monday back at work

 Hi,

We are back.  But my first day back at work yesterday was so busy I couldn't get a blog post out.  And, tbh, I still haven't read all my emails in my inbox.  Oops.

Work iced lattes

Theresa and I had a late work meeting and we were going to go to the gym.  But the heavens opened and it hosed down.  So we did an online session in the workshop.  Funny.

Mike came in to pick me up - and took Theresa to the station so she could make the slightly earlier train.  That worked a treat.  Then when he came back to get me - he also took Barb home.  He was the Uber man.

When we got home, we tried really hard to get the Focus into the upstairs garage.  But despite a lot of juggling, we missed by probably 15 cm.

Close fit

And... it didn't work!

Moxley enjoying the sun on Sunday

But now I have a project.  I am going to buy right angle shelving brackets and put all our crates onto shelves.  Then we will get the car in.

Excited about that.

We went into the house after our  failed car fitting exercise and I had some dinner (leftovers from the freezer).  And off to bed.

What a wild night - so windy.  Off to the gym in the morning for leg day.  :-)

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The Thursday with fishing out the ski gear

 Hi,

The last day before our ski holiday.  It has been such a long week.  Easily 6 days at work by the feel of it.  Busy.  

Thursday did see us having an awesome lunch at The Green Man pub for cheesy fries.  A bunch of us braved the drizzly weather to meet there.  Ange, Roanne, Celia - and I brought along Barb and Juliet and Roanne brought along Mike.  Great bunch.  And the fries?  Mmmmm.  Comforting goodness.

After work I rushed out to catch the 13 and head home.  Mike had Thursday Tipple but was the only punter (rain might have kept people away) so he went to get Fancy Feast for the cats and our house/cat sitter, Penny.  I drove down to collect him and his bounty.

We hauled the ski gear down from the loft when we got home.  And put the Focus to bed in its garage once more.

Tonight we need the clothes sorted and some linen for the house (towels and tea towels apparently).  Then we're off tomorrow.  Cannot wait.

Have an awesome week.  And weekend.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with work followed by a gym session up the coast

 Hi,

Busy at work ahead of the week away next week.  I did meet Sally (from my last work) for lunch.  We visited Higher Taste as it is a shared fave place for lunch.  :-)  She is good - keeping on top of things.  We also got through our backlog of quizzes.  Woot!

Got home after work and had a quick tea before leaving Mike to meet Penny (our house and cat sitter next week).  Penny schmoozed with Moxley.  

I left to collect Theresa from her house in Paraparaumu - it took 50 minutes to drive there.  Wow.  Anyway, collected her just after 7pm and we went to City Fitness Coastlands.  it is just around the corner from her house, really.

We did bench and other arm work.  Theresa is a machine.  She was benching my working weight without any previous bench work.  And doing higher reps.  Wow.

Left her at 8.30pm at her house and was home just before 9.30pm.  Fell into bed.  Up for more bench this morning.  Hahahah.  Planning fail!

Sunrise was spectacular.  The pic below was after its peak of a wonderful orange glow across the whole sky.  Stunning.

Sunrise this morning

Work iced latte

Busy day today.  When I get home I need to pack for the week ahead.  Have an awesome day.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with quiz night

 Hi,

Despite the freezing southerly that kicked in yesterday (yay for snow down south!) Preeti and I braved the conditions and met up for a scone and a hot chocolate.  It has been ages since I saw her.  She has a 6 month old wee boy now.  That is how long it has been.

And apart from missing her family like mad, I think she is winning at the parenting thing, alongside Pritesh.  Good on them.

Caught up with Preeti

After work, Ange, Mike and I Ubered home together.  Mike and I ate some tea and then I got ready to go out for quiz night with Celia and her friends.  Picked up Ange and a woman called Kate from not too far away and we drove out to Lower Hutt and went to The Crooked Elm pub.  

This woman (Toni someone - maybe Kane??) ran the quiz for the Community garden charity event.  They raised enough to buy glasshouses to raise seedlings all year around.  They are doing such a great job in the community.  Awesome.

We had a great time.  Celia's friends have a great deal of general knowledge.  We were neck and neck with another team all the way through.  The final round was a music round.  Name the artist and song.  And the intro to The Mockers song Forever Tuesday Morning meant we missed that point.  And lost by one.  Gah!

However, the prizes were great. Second place was not too shabby an effort.  And I brought home a bottle of wine for Mike as well as a deerstalker style hat made out of the old woollen blankets we all used in NZ as children.

Yes.  I will give the hat to Toby.

I was buzzing when I got home at 2230 (waaaaaaaay past my bedtime) and read until midnight before falling asleep.

Up for shower and a bus ride with Mike to enjoy brekkie at The Lab with him.

Iced latte with brekkie this morning

Off to work.  Still a freezing southerly.  Brrr.

Have a fantastic day.  

Love,

Angela

The Monday with spin

 Hi,

When I got to work, Helen popped over with a tasty breakfast treat.  She had made some traditional kaya (egg with coconut cream) spread.  She'd made some toast with it for me.

Turns out it is pretty close to have honey on toast.  It was really rather yummy.  Thank you for the culinary taste of your home country, Helen.  Mmmm.

Half gone - kaya on toast

Iced lattes with Theresa

Managed to get an iced latte at work with Theresa.  And she got me a t-shirt with the word:  Fierce  

Yes - that is me.  Fierce.

Hahahah.

Maybe sometimes.

Walked Theresa to the station after work (she has a moonboot on!) and continued to the gym for Spin class.  When I asked Theresa what I should do as I was early for my 6pm class - in fact I was on time for the 5.30pm class - she said I should do both.  Back to back.  90 mins of Spin later!

Mike collected me and my tired legs.  I bumped into Yingjie too.  Then off to drop off a cable to Allyson in Jville and then a car wash to see if the Subaru is leaking (we got a bit of water in last week in the deluge).  No leaks to be seen.

Anyway.  Tonight is quiz night with Celia and some of her mates.  Woot!

Enjoy your day.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with loads of things on

 Hi,

What an awesome weekend.  Saturday was so lovely - the best sort of day.  Boot camp was hard work.  Then we drove to the mechanics so they could switch the tyres over on the van.  Mike wants to use the tyres that came with the van as new extras, keep the best option that remains as a spare and dump the rest.

As Mike stayed at the mechanics, I wandered down Cuba St to find a coffee for Mike.  

Stunning clear mornings

Retrogrove do an awesome iced latte

I ended up at Retrogrove.  Harry the barista was chatting to a customer as I approached.  He took my order then went back to the customer and apologised for interrupting her story.  She searched her memory for where she was up to - and I said I could start her off if she didn't remember.  So I said:  Yesterday at the park...

And she said:  I ended up jamming with this guy that I met on Tinder

Yep - I was totally invested in this story already.

Turns out she was from Melbourne and a musician.  She asked me if I knew what Tinder or Grindr was.  I must look really old.

Went back to the garage to discover the machine that fitted tyres had broken so we had one tyre done and left.

There you go!

Headed to the vaccination centre for Mike's covid jab.  He was an hour early and I tagged along, curious.  They let him in early as they were not busy.  A seamless check in process.  Andrew the vaccinator chatted away to Mike as he jabbed him.  Asked if he'd had his mole on his arm checked too.  And then asked me if I had my jab or an appt for one.  I said mine was on Tuesday.  He said he could do it now if I wanted.  So I said yes.  A jab in the arm is worth two in the bush.  Or something.

So we both have our covid jabs now.  Woot!

Manic pair

We got vaccinated

\Went to Tony's Tyres afterwards on the off chance they could do finish the tyres.  They could.  If we waited for a bit.  So we did.  By the waterfront - enjoying a sunny day.

Feet over the harbour

Sat here reading for a while

Wee shag at our feet

More feet

Blue sky

Grabbed the van after its tyres were all sorted and headed to the supermarket for an impromptu picnic with Sally and Andrew in Eastbourne.  They were out and about on their bikes.  Perfect timing.

Red delicious strawberries from Queensland

Picnic on the beach @ Days Bay

Lovely

The refurbished wharf

Went back to their place and watched the Olympics (trampoline bronze!), a movie (The Tomorrow War) and more Olympics (Black Ferns 7s).

We got dinner - turkish Deliver Easy.  Mmmmm.  Home quite late.

Sunday saw us stay home all day.  I did the waterblasting and got the steps all clear of grimy muck.  Yay!

The week stretches ahead.  Busy.  But on Saturday we do go skiing for a week.  So there is that to look forward to.

Bring it on.

Love,

Angela