Monday, October 6, 2025

The weekend in Christchurch helping Toby shift flats

 Hi,

What a huge weekend. I need a rest after all that.  I did see Ed on Thursday though in my lunch break. So good to catch up with him. He is almost fully recovered from his broken ankle and settled into his new role (9 months now I think he said). Yay! Can't wait for the next catch up. Maybe after our trip to the MotoGP.

Ed and iced latte

Sourdough for Christchurch

My Jane Goodall Barbie from Karen

Early Friday morning saw Mike and I driving the Forester to the airport (it may's well be the one that sits in the salty air for a few days). We had enough time for a quick brekkie before a fast flight to Chc.

Friday Wlg iced latte at the airport



Couple of hours later, Chc iced latte at strange Bandit

Iced latte

Iced latte

We left Mike at work and headed to Toby's old Brodie St flat to continue the work to box up all the things. There was a lot of stuff but Tessa had a plan and Toby and I just tried to execute the plan. 

It did mean Toby and Tessa were by far the most organised out of the flatmates. Lucy had no one to help her so we all pitched in as we could. Mitchell had work so was out of action.


Rolandbrau bottle

Going to try and save the sticker for Katla

Cleaning old room

Toby driving us

Poms for tea Friday night. Steph and Sam joined us too.  Calm before the storm.


Mike in the shower in the Accor room

For this weekend, we stayed in the Breakfree Accor backpacker hotel. It was nice - but not sure I would stay there again. Tiny. Clean. The bathroom was just obscured from the main room by curved frosted glass.

The bed was somehow too soft.


Rain outside

Wide angle of our tiny room

Their new place in Worcester St ("Wooster St" as Google Maps pronounces it) is lovely. Fairly new. Heat pump. Toby and Tessa have 2 rooms in the 4 bedroom place. Mitchell has the master with ensuite. And Lucy is in the only downstairs bedroom. Toby, Tessa and Lucy share a bathroom/shower upstairs but there is a single toilet next to Lucy's room.

Mike had got up early in the pouring rain to collect a covered trailer that Duncan (from work) had available. It was 30km north west of Chc. But it was so worth it to have a huge, covered trailer.



New flat kitchen

New flat lounge

The whole day was spent ferrying and carrying stuff from Brodie to Worcester. It was a lot. Plus a full trailerload of bin bags full of rubbish to the dump. A bunch of people turned up to help. I was happy to get Toby and Tessa's bed set up so they finally sleep in their new place. Especially with Tessa having work on Sunday.


More stuff arrives at the new flat


Steph and Mike

Toby and Tessa have a bed to sleep in

Old room all cleared

Old place at Brodie St

They say goodbye

3 years here

In the evening the four of us drove the trailer home to Duncan's place out on a farm. We then stopped off at Platform - some pub in the middle of nowhere - and had some nice pizza.

Sunday saw brekkie/brunch for me, Mike and Toby at Little Poms with a quick trip to Brodie to get that last rubbish collected. Yay!

New desk built for Tessa

We found and built a desk for Tessa to replace her old, falling-apart one that wasn't worth trying to reassemble.

And managed to squeeze in a trip to Silky Otter to see Prime Minister. All 3 of us really enjoyed the documentary - a real good look at a crazy amount of history shoved into 5 years.

Prime Minister at Silky otter

Little Poms iced latte

Tessa got home after work and we ran out of time to eat somewhere. They dropped us off at the airport. We caught a wee plane home. Drove home and fed the cats and went to bed.

Mike was up for gym with Quentin and he is tuckered out. No wonder. He did a lot of driving and lifting.

Week looms. Grey and cold here. Let's see what happens. Thank you Ange for checking the cats.  xx

Smudge warmly greets Ange on her visit
Love,
Angela


Thursday, October 2, 2025

The Wednesday working from home

 Hi,

We got news of the restructure and my position is fine. A change in reporting line as suspected. I will be the only NZ-based person in my new team. So let's see how that goes.

There was a big shock for my friend with no role in the new structure. That makes me really sad and I am not sure if they realise what they are losing in that space. 

Yesterday was sad too. Vivienne's passing anniversary. I wasn't really in the right mood to catch up with people, but Mike went after work to John's place and caught up with them all - Sally and Andrew were there too.

Then this morning, news came in that Jane Goodall has passed away. She was on a tour of the US and died of natural causes. This is the passing of one of my heroes. Up there with Sir Ed. And David. I know there are others coming through that can take on the work that Jane has done for raising the public awareness of the role we play in shaping our environment and the future impact. But for now, I am really saddened by this loss that surely will be felt around the world.

Cats hanging out with me

Toby at karate aged 4 or so

Mike found a pic of wee Toby yesterday where he looks so cute at karate. It was Dad's birthday yesterday and I sent him this as I know he enjoyed seeing Toby at karate.

So yes. A mixed bag of emotions as October kicks off this year. But we are off to Chc tomorrow to see Toby and Tessa as they move into their new flat. That will brighten up my sombre mood.

Take care of each other.

Love,
Angela


Wednesday, October 1, 2025

The Tuesday with planning

 Hi,

You know it is planning day when blogs are not forthcoming. Hahah.

We did get news early yesterday of a restructure announcement coming today (Wed) - so that is some excitement today. Let's see what they propose. My bet is for around 5.5 years here I will get my 6th manager. I hope it says something about the way people restructure than how anyone wants to manage me.

Hot potato, hot potato...


V beautifully presented by Shane

Walked home with Barb

Mike suggested walking home after work and it turns out Barb was planning on that anyway. So we had a great catch up as we walked through the bush. We split off at the top to our respective homes.

Stunning view of the best wee capital

Throwback to Doubtful Sound from Iona

Cooked tea and fed the cats. And watched YouTube before bed and little more YouTube.  Honestly I was asleep in minutes.

Woke up and Mike hared off to town for his PT session. And I an WFH today. Awaiting the announcement.

Will catch up with Ed tomorrow. That is something I am looking forward to.

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

The Monday busy with planning

 Hi,

Busy day - planning for the coming quarter. Sigh.

Mike and the cats

Thank you Shane!

Work lunch

But Shane did provide a LOT of sustenance. Caffeine and energy drinks. Hahah. And good fruit snacks. 

We got through a lot of the mahi on day 1. Day 2 is coming up.

Mike went for a run after work and notched up 100k for September. With a day to go! Awesome effort. Then a bunch of us went out for dinner and drinks. And Brian from Auckland joined us as he was down for the planning.

Ubered home. Sorted out the cats. And went to bed.

Shane 3D printed us a strange cat-banana

We gave it to Moxley to check out

Yep, Moxley, we don't understand either

Up for a bus ride for me. Gym session with Quentin. Squats.  50kg 6 reps x 4 sets. Then bench. 37.5 kg 5 reps x 2 sets. Then Juliet arrived and we shared bench. So I did 40kg 3 reps and 42.5kg 2 reps.

Squats



Sad faces at the gym because Juliet's bus was late



Mike got me an iced coffee for my morning from the French Kiss cart.  Mmmm.

Showered Angela is happy to find an iced latte on her desk


And now the day starts. So busy.  But a lot of people are here from out of town so it is nice to see them.

I got a covid booster jab today and Mike got his yesterday. Just in time for peak immunity for Malaysia and Singapore.

Have a great day!

Love,
Angela


Monday, September 29, 2025

The weekend in Wellington

 Hi,

Such a weird thing to have only 2 days for a weekend. Yuck! Anyway - I did get some bread made. Yay. Sliced it and froze it.

Sourdough

Spring from home

Mike stretching before his run

Breezy

Mike laughs

Tough gig doing selfies in the wind

Saturday we went for a run around the Northland and Otari Wilton bush. That was good fun. Mike did it twice!

The James' came over for Hell Pizza Saturday night and I tried to also watch the rugby. Hope it wasn't too boring for them.

Black Ferns won the bronze in the world cup with a huge win over France. But trying to watch it was so hard. Come on NZ TV!

Sunday saw us head to Eastbourne for a run and a walk for me. So blustery. Popped in to see Sally and headed home when a migraine threatened Mike. He took ibuprofen and for some reason the migraine never manifested. 

We sat on the couch and chilled before bed.

Hope your week ahead is awesome!

Love,

Angela

Friday, September 26, 2025

The Thursday that felt like a Monday

 Hi,

Yes - weirdly I am working today. With only one working day this week ahead of quarterly planning on Monday and Tuesday next week, I figured best to get another work day in. In case of... pivot.

Brekkie with Irene

Work brekkie was great - Anne is down from AKL for planning, so she joined us. And it was just me and Irene. Good chats.

Happy Mike selfie

Lunch saw us get our passport photos done and then catch up with Khemry. We so need to visit her!

Khemry and I - thank you for the iced latte. Mmmm.

My passport photo for the next ten years immortalises my Spring Challenge t shirt


I rode home after work and got tea ready. Mike had a late meeting and then caught up with Callan for a bit.

Chicken on a Buddha bowl for Mike

Plus charred broccoli

He got home and he ate his tea and then we had a bath. Perfect way to relax before bed.

Up for Friday working for me. Holy moly. Tough gig. Hahah.

Big weekend in Wellington. We have to get all the things done that we haven't done for 2 months because we've been away so much.

Yikes!

Have a great weekend.
Love,
Angela