Saturday 10th November
I nearly ended up working today due to someone going sick.
If I’d have got my home set up working, I would’ve been, so there’s a glimpse
into my future. Instead we took it easy
and just did regular couples’ Saturday activities like going into town to do
some shopping and have a coffee. It was a nice day for it. I worry that we are becoming too
reliant on Steve and Huihana as our NZ ‘besties’. I think we need to expand our
circle of friends, but for now we enjoy going to spend time with them at their
place. They’re easy company for us and we always have a good time. Momentously,
tonight the Newdey’s beat the Kellas’s at darts cricket for the first time
ever. Here is the proof - 309 points to 232 (right):
Sunday 11th November – an unexpected night out
(for me anyway!)
An unexpected call from Mags the ranger this morning – did I
fancy going to see the Brit band James at the Powerstation that night? Well, of
course I’d like to. Tim Booth’s crazy dance moves are always entertaining, but
could I afford it?! The face value tickets were $83 each, a bit steep, but
there were some available on Trademe (NZ’s version of Ebay) so we may be able
to make an offer. It was my first
experience making a purchase on Trademe, but we managed to secure two tickets
for $100, so a nice cheeky discount and they arrived via email a short time
later. As Mags and I were coming from two completely different directions we
agreed to meet by the Botanic Gardens about 7pm and abandon one car there
before driving into the City. Mags knew where she was going and also a secret
parking spot conveniently near the venue. Next stop was Galbraith’s Alehouse, a
very British Bar, which was crammed full of POMs – I’m not sure how many Kiwi’s
have heard of James but the ex-pats were out in force! After a questionable
pint we strolled over the road to the Powerstation where we met Mag’s other
friend called Ruth and two more of her friends outside. We had another drink in an almost secret bar
hidden away at the back of the venue where there was absolutely no queue but we
were able to listen to the support act in comfort. Mags was getting hyper – we needed to go and
secure a position suitably far forward to enable us to enjoy the gig. Mags and
I lost the others but managed to get A-class views from a prime position in
front of the mixing desk. The suspense
built and by this time it was about 930pm, this was going to be a late one in
Kiwi terms, surely they must be on soon? Suddenly, a trumpet sounded from
somewhere behind and above us. Strange? Heads began twisting to find the source
of the music. A member of the band had appeared on the balcony area to start
serenading us and not soon after Tim Booth emerged from the opposite side of
the crowd to gradually make his way through the throng towards the stage,
whilst treating us to an acapella version of one of their hits. Then the full band appeared on stage together
and we were off!
It is impossible to see James without having to dance about and smile. Most of their songs are very upbeat with plenty of opportunities to sing along. They mixed in some new material from their latest album, some of which was quite angry in a clearly anti-Trump way (Booth resides in California these days you see, his house currently under threat from the wild fires). But they played a vast amount from their back catalogue for us all to enjoy and Tim ventured into the crowd to sing along with us on another occasion, making one young fan’s night completely. It was a great gig from a class act.
It is impossible to see James without having to dance about and smile. Most of their songs are very upbeat with plenty of opportunities to sing along. They mixed in some new material from their latest album, some of which was quite angry in a clearly anti-Trump way (Booth resides in California these days you see, his house currently under threat from the wild fires). But they played a vast amount from their back catalogue for us all to enjoy and Tim ventured into the crowd to sing along with us on another occasion, making one young fan’s night completely. It was a great gig from a class act.
They finished about 1115pm after the encore and we emerged
to find torrents of heavy rain outside. Lucky we were parked so close! But
still, it was half past midnight by the time I made it back home with my ears
still ringing.
Monday 12th November
I’d hoped to have an easy morning at bird rescue after
roughly five hours’ sleep. Sadly that wasn’t to be as FOUR of the six
volunteers who were supposed to show this morning failed to turn up! We did
what we could to get through all of our jobs and I eventually left about 145pm
as I didn’t have any lunch with me and I was fading fast!
Tuesday 13th November – ‘Office’ construction
Time to put my best flat-pack hat on today. To be fair, it
was a breeze. Although I have taken some photos to evidence that the damage to
the surface of the desk was caused by the sticky blue tape left on it, not me. The desk was together in ten minutes and what I thought would be the
hard part, getting the technology up and running, turned out to be straight
forward. So I’m all good to go for Thursday – a nice lie-in and zero commute to
look forward to. As long as I don’t get too lonely!
Wednesday 14th November – Hunuas
Momentously, the promised link up between the KMA (Kokako management Area) and our
tracks happened last weekend with the creation of the KMA 2018 link trail
(right).
I got to see it in person as Gemma the ranger volunteered our team of two to venture to the very end of our territory in search of an old bench track that needs to be rejuvenated. We had trouble finding the track, but apparently it’s been out of action since about 1930 so that may not be much of a surprise! We were out for about four and a half hours which is a long day for our side of the Hunuas.
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| A big slip in an area of the Hunuas |
I got to see it in person as Gemma the ranger volunteered our team of two to venture to the very end of our territory in search of an old bench track that needs to be rejuvenated. We had trouble finding the track, but apparently it’s been out of action since about 1930 so that may not be much of a surprise! We were out for about four and a half hours which is a long day for our side of the Hunuas.
Nick flew over from the South Island today for a meeting at
Si’s work tomorrow so tonight was an opportunity for a mid-week session at the
Kellas’s consisting of pizza, beer and darts. It was never gonna be a late
one…. Was what I had been told, but I had to drag them away about 1130pm when
we were still all having a good time!
Thursday 15th November – home working
After my late night last night I had the bonus of being able
to have a lie in instead of facing a ninety minute commute into Mangere. I could get used to this. I was nervous that
the system wouldn’t work or that me using the internet would screw it up for
the Hurrells down at their place, but so far so good. The system dropped out
three times during the day but came straight back online, so no dramas as they
say down this way.
I’d like to say it was more relaxing being at home, but the
phones didn’t stop ringing all day. Best bit was being able to finish at 5pm
and still make it to my 530pm pump class at the gym I’ve been missing for
weeks.
Friday 16th November
Another day at the ‘office’.
Again, a very busy one and quite stressful when you can’t find someone
to attend an urgent job in the middle of nowhere about 5 hours away! I dragged myself away from the screen for
some lunch about 2pm having finally resolved it. Then I got a surprise visit
from my boss at home. Are they allowed to do that?! He had mentioned something
about needing to see my set up for a health and safety check, but had never
arranged a time with me! I’m glad I didn’t have any underwear hung out on the
line but he did catch me in my jogging bottoms and slippers! Apparently, all is
in order with my set up though, which is good.
Si and Huihana were out playing golf in the sunshine for a
‘working lunch’ today. It was great to see they were enjoying themselves for
once and experiencing a perk of their demanding job. As their day out networking involved a
substantial amount of beer I was tasked with picking them up from Continuous at
the end of the day. It was a scorcher and so, as I hadn’t been able to see much
of it, I took the opportunity of a visit to the Botanic gardens to get some
fresh air and exercise whilst they made their way back to the office.  |
| Auckland Botanic Gardens |
Collecting them about 7pm and meeting more of the Continuous crowd, we then made a bee-line to the Kellas’s to take Huihana home, which inevitably turned into yet another beer and darts session, hoorah!
Saturday 17th November
Well, if I didn’t have to actually drive in to the office
today! Apparently I now know what I am doing enough to need to be there to help
the volunteers and casual workers with less experience. Plus, me vacating the
house would hopefully leave enough internet for Simon to get his weekend fix of
gaming time. A straight forward day, a visit from Sophia and her Chihuahua
helped the time to pass more rapidly.
This is my favourite SPCA ‘stray’ cat that lives outside our office (below) not especially ‘feral’!
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| My favourite work mug 'Hello, is it tea you're looking for....' |
This is my favourite SPCA ‘stray’ cat that lives outside our office (below) not especially ‘feral’!
Big news on the home front – we have nestlings. I think we’ve made out three little beaks in there. Let’s hope they make it safely to fledging this time before any more freakish weather events.
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