Kia Ora

Monday 1st June brought the first day of Winter and although it was cold the sun was out and there was a cloudless sky with a low sun that made you squint without sunglasses on. It was also the Queen's birthday which meant a National holiday so Mel had the day off.

It doesn't seem to matter where in the world you are because on a Bank Holiday everyone heads for the shops and here was no different and we found ourselves heading towards the retail park in search of towels,being drawn in like bees to honey....

Less than an hour had passed before we got in the car and left but we did have some bath towels in our possession so all was not lost.Against our better judgement we also dropped into the new supermarket that had opened not far from us which again was a bad decision as we got trapped in there and it took us over 30 minutes to checkout so by now we were tired of the shopping experience and headed home for a cup of tea.

One good thing to come out of today was our draught excluder that we had bought kept out the howling wind that had whipped up after dark.

Mel was back to work Tuesday and I had an appointment at the opticians,to cut a long story short it turns out that I am long sighted and will have to get some glasses for reading to stop my eye strain.Back at the house I cut the grass for our landlord (they are on holiday)before sitting down and applying for a few jobs.The glasses that I had borrowed from the opticians seemed to be doing the trick and stopping my eyes aching sut it means more money will have to be spent on getting some glasses.I am 2 months from my 35th birthday and falling apart!!!!

Today was the first time I had to scrape the ice from the car windscreen while Mel was getting ready for work but I am sure it won't be the last.The towels we had bought on Monday had been washed and all the colour had run out of them so it was back to the store with them this morning to get a refund so it turned out that all the hassle of getting the damn things on Monday had been pointless but I did get to ride there on the bike on a lovely day so there is always a positive!!!!

We had a meeting with the mortgage broker this evening to get to grips how things work here in NZ and to get an idea if we should buy or rent,we got lots of useful infromation and found the meeting really helpful.TomorrowI have another blood test to see if my levels have dropped back into range since stopping the tablets I was taking.

Mel drove me to the clinic for the blood test and we were there for 7.30am as I had to fast last night and was ready for my breakfast.It was cold and the nurse struggled to find a vein but eventually with a but of wiggling around we got there and she took her required amount of blood,and I left with a sore arm ready for my muesli !!!!

It was nice to have Mel hme for breakfast and I made pancakes with banana and maple syrup before she left for work.I resisted the urge to ride into town and because the weather was so good I deciced to walk.in to run my errands around Devonport. As Mel had to work late I took off for a walk on the beach as it got dark,I had to wear scarf but my gloves were back in the UK so my hands got a little cold.From the top of North Head I got a great view of the city and the Sky Tower all lit up.

On Friday at 10am sharp Doug (our neighbour) was at the gate waiting for me to take him shopping.The sun was low in the sky as we sat and chatted at the coffee shop.It is the 3rd week running that we have had great weather and been able to sIt outside. I received good news from the doctors saying all my levels had returned to normal which was great news and even my cholesterol had dropped so the week ended well.

I flicked the on button of the kettle on and started to draw the curtains back to see what sort of day Saturday was shaping up to be. The bread went in the toaster and the muesli in the bowl,then Mel heard the clanking around and joined me in the kitchen.We criss crossed each other filling glasses with juice and getting spread from the fridge.It was just like Morecambe and Wise on their Xmas special sketch but without the grapefruit!!!!

The drizzle started to fall as we headed around the corner to attend a house auction,it was our first and we had gone along to see how things work and it was quite entertaining but didn't result in a sale as the reserve price wasn't met, but it was excellent fun to see.

Sunday arrived and we set off for the West Coast on the bike to have a look around and see what the area was like,we did try to get near the water but every road we took got us no closer so we gave up and stopped for coffee in Titirangi. We struggled to find a table and as we had ordered food we did need somewhere to sit. Luckily after a few minutes some one vacated a table on the roadside and we pounced on it form 2 directions not giving anyone a chance to get there before us!!!!

One of the other reasons for getting out today was to take some photos for a good mate of mine at some local landmarks around the city wearing a wristband he had sent me so we had great fun riding around and posing for photos in various spots across the city.By the time we got back home we had covered around 100km (63miles) and were ready for a cup of tea and some dinner. It was getting dark as we had dinner before settling down to watch a bit of TV.The draught excluder went down to keep the heat in and that was another 7 days in the history books.

Lots of Love

M & M
xx