Paekok June 8 -14

Forgot to mention 2 things last week, Monday was the Queens’ Birthday ‘Bank’ holiday, strange they celebrate it here but not in the UK. This one was a bit special because it was a Remembrance Day for the Kiwis who fought & died in Vietnam, I had no idea they were involved, rather strange too, since we weren’t. Apparently they had the same problems as in the US i.e. they were forgotten about and not thanked or recognised, until now that is.
Second thing is that Erola had a ‘home visit’ from an acupuncturist, though here he only applied acupressure and gave her a sort of massage/manipulation. Since I have given up with the chiropractor, he had a look at me too, and seems to have at least identified the cause of my problems. It looks as if all the excess knitting(!) has caused tendons in my neck/shoulder to become inflamed. Went to his office on Friday and actually had acupuncture, I have had it before a long time ago, so was not alarmed! It seemed to work for a while, but I’m back on painkillers again now. It can’t be good for me! Will try & visit him again after my holiday.
I am busy planning a week touring the North Island, I have booked the Overlander train on Sunday 22nd, to go to Hamilton, for $49, a bargain! It does leave at 07:25 in the morning though, fortunately I think Ali will get me there in time, Junior gets up very early for Church on Sundays. Then I stay in Hamilton for one night, pick up an Avis car (of course, I have found my staff letter and put it with my holiday stuff!), and travel to Rotorua, Whakatane, East Cape, Gisborne, Napier and then back via southern Waiarapa to Wellington. I want to visit Cape Palliser on the southern tip of North Is, hopefully to see some seals. I can’t really afford it, but it seems silly not to see more of the country when I’m here for so long. I didn't tell Erola till Wednesday, on Tuesday she came home in tears, having had a bad day with ‘Nicky Noodle’, the child she thinks has Aspergers but the parents ignore both her and him apparently. She said how grateful she was that I was there to talk to, so I couldn’t tell her then I was going away could I? I am trying to persuade her that she definitely does need another ‘flatmate’ when I leave, for monetary reasons, but I think she’d prefer to go back to living alone.

Went downtown to check out the wood pellet fire, but decided to stick with the gas one. Will still work in a power cut because has battery back-up, whereas the wood pellet one has electronic ignition so doesn’t. Power cuts do seem increasingly likely, unless lots of rain falls in the next week or two to fill up the hydro lakes. Decided to go to the South Coast again, because the sky was blue and I wanted to see snow on the Kaikoras across the Cook Strait, but it was very hazy so not possible. Watched the surf crashing in though, & had a nice lunch at ‘The Bach’ restaurant where I took Tricia & Hils for coffee in May. Wellington really is a beautiful city, I will miss it.
Got lots of paint charts so I can decide my colour schemes, it’s not easy. Resene is the local paint, they have so many standard colours it’s impossible, I am enlisting Ali’s help. I am also having a glass splashback in the kitchen, which can be matched to any colour, so had to get a kitchen plan from Wayne. Not as detailed as I’d like, but may be OK. I was supposed to get the site plan on Friday, but didn’t, it HAS to come next week, otherwise, after all this, I am seriously considering pulling out. If I don’t have detailed plans when I leave it will be impossible to continue. And the fall in house prices is worrying me a lot, and my ability to remain solvent. This year is not a problem, when I return to the UK in June next year I will definitely need to enlist the help of my children, could well end up on Emma’s floor, & I’m not joking! I will have my old-age pension by then, but even with the Avis pension it’s not enough to rent somewhere and also eat. I knew this of course, which is why the ‘grand plan’, I just hadn’t though it through properly, & with all the delays I don’t think I can sell the house till 2010. However, depending on the house price situation, I may try & live in it for 6 months (for tax reasons) in 2009 and then sell it, but NZIS will probably prevent that. It’s all so complicated, sometimes I just want to curl up in a ball & forget the whole thing!
Visited Erola in the house where she nannies in Camborne, the children, Caitlin & Ethan, see above, are lovely, but Caitlin does have terrific tantrums occasionally & Ethan is very allergic to dairy and other things, it’s an emergency 111 call if he eats anything like that since he can die! I wouldn’t have Erola’s job for anything, and I wouldn’t be Ethan’s Mum either, having to leave him for financial reasons I guess, but it must be so worrying. Went to the Porirua place to see about a storage unit, but I have to have a 4m x 3m one because you can’t drive into the smaller ones, they are internal. They didn’t have one available anyway, so sorted one out later in Plimmerton, 4.5m x 2.6m, so there will be lots of room! Will cost $215 per month, not good but I have to bite the bullet. I don’t think my car will lose in value, because everyone is looking at small cars now because of the petrol price hike, and it might be difficult to find another one in a hurry when I get back early next year.
Sent lots of houses I might like to rent by email to Emma, hopefully one or two of them might still be available by the time she can see any next week. I’ve decided to up the budget a little to try & get 2 bedrooms plus a garage or storage area (one of the houses had a cellar), so that I can get rid of my storage areas in the UK. It’s much easier to sort it all out on site, having lived here for a while there are some things I was going to bring which I now won’t. My Royal Doulton china is an example, posh dinner parties don’t exist, not in the circles I move in anyway, but I may decide to bring it anyway because it fits in the bureau unit I’m definitely bringing!
Saturday we went to Porirua Little Theatre production of ‘How the other half Loves’ by Alan Ayckbourn, it was amateur but really well acted and particularly well directed. If you’ve ever seen it you will know what that means! It is another theatre with tables you sit round and drink wine, eat nibbles, a really good idea we could import I think. I guess we haven’t got the room though.

Paekok June 1-7

Erola spent most of Sunday preparing the evening meal, I didn't get long in the kitchen to make the dessert, a rhubarb crumble, from rhubarb still growing in the garden. The seasons are a bit confused here, we have spring flowers and we haven’t had winter fully yet! Hilary & Adam arrived in the evening, Adam managed to connect up the gas bottle at last, so at least I will be warm in the day. We all went to Vikki’s, but Adam didn’t understand the Mahraji talk, & he gets twitchy if he doesn’t have dinner at 6.30. I think I’ve already said, he has Asperger’s syndrome., so routine is very important to him. The food was lovely, Erola is a very good cook, slow-cooked lamb shanks & parsley mash.
Tuesday I went to see Wayne, to get the dates for my build sorted out (again). I should get the site plan by the end of next week, and the detailed plans by July 4th. After that I have one chance to correct anything, for free, and then the plans go for building consents etc. I think he wants to start in September, but am holding out for October! I will need to decide colours both of exterior and interior before I go of course, so am starting to think hard about those things. Still want a ‘seaside’ palette, though the danger is it will feel cold, and I’m very aware of that!
On Wednesday some old friends of my sisters came to stay the night with her, Mike & Isla who were her neighbours in Auckland. Mike is ‘a geezer’ (after a TV programme apparently, I don’t remember it), i.e. he’s a broad Cockney, still talks in a lot of rhyming slang. Isla is a Kiwi, but lived in the UK for 25 years, where she met & married Mike. It was great to have a meal with them, I left after midnight, Mike & Hilary stayed up talking till 3! They live on the Gold Coast in Oz now, and have some regrets at leaving NZ of course, mainly the scenery, where they live is very flat & brown, but very warm. We have an open invitation to visit them, so will try & do so on one of my visits I’m sure.
Finally got round to going to see the Immigration service about the time I’m allowed to come for, & it’s true, I’m only allowed 9 months in any 18. So, I can only come back for 4 next year. I can apply for an extension to 6 once I’m here though. I will have to sit down with a calendar & work out exactly what I’m going to do going forward, I have no idea how people manage to do 6 months here & 6 months in the UK. I guess they must get extensions each time, which is a hassle, form-filling etc, but think I will check via the Internet. It’s not really a problem next year, as long as the house gets finished in the time. I do want to stay for 6 months in 2010 though, in order for our Inland Revenue to accept the house as my main residence. I suppose I could delay coming out here, will have to plan carefully! Had a lovely day in the city though, it was World Environment Day and my train ticket was only $1. Went to see the Bucket Fountain in Cuba St, famous because the water often doesn’t go into the buckets, but splashes on-lookers, and then went to Te Papa museum again (which is free) and walked along the waterfront. Cold but blue skies, the harbour sparkles.
Hilary & I went to a House & Home event at the TSB Arena on Saturday, I had a discount ticket from the Food & Wine show. Hilary got more out of it than I did, there was lots on insulation & she needs to do something about her old house. I did find some info about a shower coating, which I want to do when they are new to save cleaning problems, and I’m also considering a wood pellet fire, instead of my gas one. Environmentally friendly, & cheaper, just doesn’t look so nice. There will almost certainly be power cuts this winter, because of the lack of water in the Southern lakes which we saw on our trip. Vast majority of power is hydro-electric. Electronic ignition though, so have to go to ‘The Fireplace’ shop again to see about battery back-up. Need to let Wayne know if I have changed my mind, since it obviously affects the plans!

Paekok May 25-31

While in Te Anau, had an email from Emma very excited, saying that her friend Mandy was finally moving out of her privately rented house, & the landlord was happy to let Emma have it. Moving date for her is July 22nd, not ideal as far as I’m concerned, since I get back to Heathrow on Sunday the 20th! I will be jet-lagged and not quite with it while all that is going on around me, & it also means of course that I have to find somewhere else to live. This will not be easy, since the minimum rental is 6 months I believe & I’m not home for that long. Will have to be an overlap I think, always costly. Thought briefly about staying on in Thame with Paul, Emma’s ‘lodger’, but he doesn’t pay enough and anyway the house is too big for 2, and I want to be on my own again! I wonder why? Scoured the Internet & decided that Buckingham or thereabouts is possibly the place to go, not too far from Emma & family, nice place, and cheaper since no train station. Has a Tesco’s and a sort of university though, so some sort of employment should be possible. Also, not very far from Milton Keynes, where there must be work, but would need a car for that. Raised with Emma the possibility of her giving me her car, as part of the vast amount she ‘owes’ me, I keep a book, but didn’t really think I’d need to call on it till much later in life! It might be possible, since it’s looks as though she’s going to get a new job, in the same company, which comes with a company car. However, my ex bought her the car, so could be complicated!
Had the engineers survey report on the house site before I went way, & was hoping to see some progress while I was away. Fortunately the site is not in a ‘specific’ wind zone, which would mean extra strengthening, but only in a ‘very High’ wind zone apparently. I’m a bit surprised by this, but on their heads be it. I’m sure the council will check when they submit the plans anyway. Talking of which, Carrus, the developers of the whole sub-division, who have final say on plans, have just rejected a Golden Home plan submitted by a colleague of my sister’s, on the grounds that it’s ‘too ordinary’. Discussed this with my contact Wayne, who says that Carrus are very inconsistent, and they have accepted other Golden Homes plans. Mine is not visible from the road, it’s down a right-of-way, so he doesn’t think it’s a problem. I will be going next Tuesday to discuss ‘definite’ dates with him, hopefully things will then start moving at last!
Forgot to mention before, but needed to see the chiropractor 3 times the week before we went away. Erola recommended hers, a guy called Harry, she would’ve chosen him, he’s about 50 & very good-looking! Didn’t seem to do me much good, I’m having problems in the clavicle region, he says it’s trapped nerves, all I know is that it’s very painful! Existed on Neurofen & Panadol on the holiday, & then went again this week 3 times to his locum, since Harry’s gone to the UK on hols. The locum is rather a brusque woman, and she doesn’t seem to have done any good either. She suggested swimming, particularly backstroke, & since that’s the only stroke I can swim with any proficiency anyway I shall have to do it I think. There’s a swimming pool in Raumati so I’ll start going next week! Heaving up wood from under the house every weekend isn’t helping, but I’m still not lighting the fire till at least 4 each day. I stay in my cosy dressing gown till quite late in the morning, and then chase the sunshine round the house! I also go for my walk of course, which does warm me up. Must start expeditions to free places, but petrol going up all the time. Not as bad as the UK, but now over $2 a litre, expensive by comparison when NZ wages are a third of ours. No protests here though!
Saturday Erola, Hilary & I went to see ‘Second-Hand Wedding’, a lovely film set locally in Paraparaumu, so of course all the audience watched all the credits right through to see if they recognised anyone. Erola knew some of the actors of course. Hilary & I thought it was really good, Erola thought it was rather slow-moving. Then we all went for a curry at an Indian restaurant in Mana, which Hilary hadn’t been to since she lived in Whitby, but said was very good. Well, the food was, though not at all like ‘English Indian’, but the service was appalling, they seemed to be concentrating on take-ways and forgot about us sitting upstairs.