Cool Fun In Hot Water

In the limited time we have spent in New Zealand I have always thought of the country as being a fairly conservative place; where the status quo is rarely troubled, and where traditional values are still seen as important.  But stick some hairy guy in front of a microphone and all that changes, for it seems that practically `anything goes` on the radio over here. I tuned in the other day and there was a phone-in on pubic hair and the use of mirkins! I heard of another station that had sent an undercover DJ to spend a night with a local hooker and then asked him to describe his experiences live on air. This wouldn’t be so bad if they were broadcast after the water shed, but this is on Breakfast Radio at 8.30am, for all to hear! And yesterday afternoon as we were driving down from Rotorua, some adverts came on the radio with a gentlemen pleading for `my poo`. I kid you not. I guess he must run some sort of sewage disposal business emptying septic tanks on the Kapiti coast. His tag line was `We are number one for your number twos!` We had to laugh.

it’s been over three weeks since I last blogged but it certainly doesn’t seem like it. The weeks seem to flash by and here we are with Easter come and gone, four weeks into the kiwi autumn, though you’d never know it. For here, in Wellington, and throughout much of the country, it’s still very much T-shirt weather, though the sun is reluctant to put its hat on much before mid-day. But as we get most of the sun in our garden in the afternoon that’s fine by us. I suspect these 20+ temperatures can’t last any longer.

We’ve been here now over two months, but I still find myself continually comparing prices and services with those in the UK. I know it’s crazy. The UK has a population of around 64 million, while little old New Zealand has less than five million. Things are bound to be more expensive here and the choice a bit limited. But there is one area of the High Street where NZ wins hands down and that is the DIY superstore. There are two major players: the Aussie company Bunnings and the Kiwi equivalent Mitre 10 – and are they on the ball.

Our local Mitre 10

Walk into a B&Q back home and you can easily spend 10 minutes playing `hunt the assistant`, and when you find one, and ask for a particular product you are usually met by a glazed expression. Here, there always seems to be someone with a smile on their face and a spring in their step ready to advise or take you to that elusive zip bit you need. Their assortment is extensive and varied and you don’t have to wait at the checkouts for 10 minutes because the person in front has a pot of paint with a barcode missing. Having now just finished the tree house I am on first-name terms with `Dan` and `Jimmy` at our local Mitre 10 at Crofton Downs.

The tree house was a big hit at  Livi’s fourth birthday party a couple of weeks ago. A bigger hit though was the fairy and her helper who played games and enchanted the children for two hours. The day was bright and sunny (that was a first for her birthday) and the garden was the perfect setting for the event. And Livi didn’t burst into tears, though the fact that I was banned from singing `Happy Birthday` on my uke might have had something to do with it.

The fairy and her helper were a big hit Livi's birthday party

Our little White Honda Fit (Jazz) is going well. We took it for a long road trip over Easter and it never missed a beat. It’s a bit of a pain for James to keep moving the child seats out of their car into ours, but it is really handy to have a second car and all the family (who have driving licences) are using it.

Even Ben wants to drive our new little car

Last week we entertained Pat’s niece, Julie from Australia. She was on her way to a conference in Auckland, with three of her pals, and they decided to see a bit of the north island on the way.

It was great to see her again after several years, and her friends, David, Glenda and Danii, were delightful and great company. David and Glenda are boaters as well, but his craft on the Murray in Mildura, might be as long as `The Cat’s Whiskers`, but it’s about five times as wide, complete with all mod-cons. He has invited us over next Easter for a few days for a bit of a cruise, and it is possible Pat’s sister Monica and her hubby Gary, might join us as well from Vancouver Island, Canada. Should be an International hoot. The Aussies are also keen to visit the UK in 2018 to try narrowboating, so we will have some serious planning to do.

Danii, Pat, Julie, David and Glenda, when they came round for dinner last Wednesday

We spent much of Easter in Rotorua. It’s very much the centre of geo-thermal activity in New Zealand, about 400 miles north of Wellington, and as you travel into the city, you encounter big plumes of steam coming up through the ground on either side of you. We did Rotorua back in 2003, and hit all the tourist spots then. It’s a bit smelly (the sulphur smells like rotten eggs), though not nearly as bad as I remembered it being last time.

Julie and her pals were also in Rotorua on Saturday, en route, for Hobbiton, from `The Lord Of The Rings`, which is down the road, and we met up at their luxury B&B accommodation for a barbecue and several drinks on Saturday night. The main reason we went though, was that my niece, Lucy, her husband Mark, and their two children Imogen and Ben, were spending the weekend there, driving down from Auckland. We hadn’t seen them this trip, and we had a great time catching up and playing with the children. On Easter Sunday morning we went to one of the most popular thermal parks to see one of the geysers erupt. They tease it into action by pouring down a substance that looked suspiciously like soap powder to us, and it responds accordingly shooting water high up into the sky for several minute. Mark is MD of Unilever in New Zealand. I told him he should consider sponsoring the event with `Persil` as the detergent of choice at the Park. Non-bio, of course!

My niece Lucy, Mark, Ben and Immy with the erupting geyser in the background

After lunch we caught the cable car up high above Rotorua, where you get spectacular views of the town and lake, and then took the gravity luge down, though we had to queue for nearly one and a half hours for our turn. I think every tourist in town turned up at the same time. Good fun though. The kids seemed to like it, though Pat has never been that keen on cable car or chair lifts.

The Skyline Luge with Rotorua in the background

This week its back to normal, looking after the kids and after many weeks, Livi has started to want to come out with us, so we hit the zoo last week and are planning some other days out, if the weather holds up. Inbetween we getting the 101 documents together we need for our residency application. We got the medicals sorted out today, so that is a big step forward.

Toodaloo

Flying the flag

Good Morning. It’s just before 8am and I’ve just been chased around the house by an alligator; prior to that I completed a complicated underwater jigsaw, with a running commentary on what could kill you and what was friendly; put a play tent up... put it down... and put it up again; made a camp from 12 pillows and a blanket and designed and build a railway track to accommodate `Thomas`, `Gordon` and his pals. No wonder I have been taken afternoon naps.

I say I, but I really mean we. I may be Entertainment Secretary in this arrangement, but Pat is Laundry Operative and chief Chalet Maid. I mainly do the cooking for the family’s evening meal. Pat does nappies, wash-and-brush ups and mediates during temper tantrums.

So what else is new? Well March sees New Zealand voting for a new flag. Now if Scotland had voted for independence and David Cameron decided tomorrow that the UK flag no longer reflected the current make up of the United Kingdom and wanted  to change the Union flag to something more in tune with the 21^st century, I suspect much of the nation would be up in arms.

Well, for the last three years New Zealand has been wringing its hands over whether they should ditch their current flag and go for something more.. more... Kiwi.

This is what has been appearing in the daily papers. I really like the new proposed design with the silver fern.

It is argued, and I think it’s right, that the New Zealand flag can easily be mistaken for the Aussie one, and I leant very quickly on my first visit here, that Kiwis don’t like to be mistaken for Australians. (Apologies to our Aussie family and friends.)

They have already whittled down the designs in previous votes and its now down to two, the original flag with the union jack in the corner and the four red stars, or the new blue/black flag with the silver fern. What is quite interesting is how little interest this seems to have generated. I have asked numerous New Zealanders what their opinion on the new proposed flag is, and most shrug their shoulders and show a general degree of indifference.  Some say their fathers and grandfathers fought, and died, for the NZ flag, so it should not be interfered with so it will be interesting to see the result at the end of the month. I think the new design is rather good. The age of colonialism is long gone. I’d vote for it. The NZ Prime Minister is also hoping it will be the more popular of the two. He is staking his reputation on a yes vote for the new flag, so watch this space.

`Pops` starts painting the tree house

Politics aside, things rumble along here. I have almost finished the garden treehouse. The steps are in and I have replaced several rotting floorboards and constructed new railings. It looks quite smart in its new coat of `Mission Brown`, and it will need another coat before autumn kicks in.  Not sure what will happen to the inside. That will be up to the grandkids, but it’s now safe for them to use. It’s also got a trapdoor under it, that I only discovered last week and a hidden ladder up to it. Pretty cool eh!

Almost done now. Just the back to paint.

We had a carpenter round last week to look at partitioning our large room into two. Looks like it will be a `pocket` wall, but we await the quote.

We finally `bit the bullet` on Saturday and bought ourselves a car. It will be the first one we have owned for nearly five years. A colleague at Erica’s school was selling a large Hyundai. I liked it, but it had high mileage and Pat wasn’t that keen. Then we saw a Ford Fiesta advertised privately. It was priced for a quick sale as the owner was off to Australia. We agreed a price and shook hands. The following morning I got a text to say that overnight a bus had hit it! Were we still interested? I think you know what my answer was.

So after visiting dozens of dealers’ web sites in and around the city, we travelled around the coast to the Hutt Valley and have purchased a Honda Jazz Sport. It’s a few years old, but nice and clean. Erica says it’s an old man’s car. Well, that should suit us perfectly then. We pick it up on Wednesday. That is if a meteor hasn’t hit it by then!

Our new runaround while in NZ

And the spending doesn’t stop there. Or no. Pat wanted a set of wicker outdoor furniture and one now stands on our patio. Hopefully I will be able to post a picture of her imbibing a large G & T, before dinner.

Pat enjoys her new patio furniture

We have also heard that our application for NZ residency has passed its first hurdle and been approved. That is the difficult bit over with. But with us it seems nothing is straightforward. NZ Immigration sent the papers to Erica’s old address two weeks ago. The new tenant there signed for them, then realised they weren’t for her and has sent them back. NZ Immigration have no record of them being returned, only signed for. The woman must be a couple of slices short of a full loaf, I reckon. Apparently we have four months now to get all the relevant paperwork and medicals in place. We anticipated this might happen while we were here, and have everything we need with us. Having residency will give us the ability of coming and going when convenient. So, bring on the stethoscopes, I say. The Filler’s are ready.

At the balloon festival at Otaki. That our grandson Ben, getting into the picture

It is now officially autumn here, and the mornings and evenings are getting a lot cooler, but we are still getting very hot afternoons. We popped up the coast on Sunday morning to a big kite festival at Otaki, an hour up the Kapiti coast. Our pals from Napier, John and Diana, are keen kite enthusiasts and it was quite a spectacle, though the grandchildren were more interested in the carousel than the huge structures hanging in the sky.

Well that’s all for now folks, so toodaloo

Putting On The Ritz

There is a view held; though I am pleased to say is has somewhat diminished in recent years, that New Zealand is a mirror-image of Britain a generation or two ago. I guess this is based on where New Zealand sits, being quite isolated, and it’s relatively small population, but I suspect some visiting Brits do expect to see Ford Capris cruising the streets, folks paying for their shopping with cheques and shop windows displaying black and white TVs hooked up to video players.

It is, of course, nonsense. There may not be the huge variety that we take for granted in the UK, but New Zealand is a modern country, with a sound economy, and very different in many ways to its big brother Australia across the way. As a developed country with a small population it is an ideal place from multi-nationals to test-bed new products and services. We experienced `chip and pin` here in 2003, several years before I saw it in London, and companies such as McDonalds and Coca Cola are trying out new concepts here today before rolling them out around the world tomorrow.

But there is one place here that, for a few days of the year anyway, deliberately takes a look over its shoulder and celebrates its past in a riotous weekend, that is a cacophony of music, dance, wine and vintage cars, and that’s up the coast in the city of Napier.

Pat beside a sculpture in Napier City Centre

Back in February 1931 a huge earthquake levelled much of Napier city centre and it was quickly re-built almost totally in the Art Deco style. It is now the Art Deco capital of the world with dozens of preserved beautiful buildings which form the backdrop every February when it remembers its past and the whole city centre is transformed back to the 1930s.

This is were we stayed. Very much in the centre of things, but very noisy

And this is view from its balcony of the vintage car parade Saturday lunchtime

Rog, dappered out, beside a classic Austin

We experienced `Art Deco` last year, after meeting two boating Kiwis in Liverpool who invited us up for the weekend. Unfortunately, we seemed to be the only couple not in the appropriate dress, which was remedied this time. Again, this year, we were entertained by natives John and Diana, and our UK/NZ pals, Vic and Liz, also joined us. I thought I might not have enjoyed it so much this year, but what’s not to dislike. Impromptu music and dancing in the streets; Vintage planes flying overhead; over 200 vintage cars lining the streets and a grand soapbox derby through the city centre on the Sunday morning. At the `Gatsby Picnic` that follows on the Esplanade, the local ukulele group entertain passers-by with a repertoire of songs such as `By The Light of the Silvery Moon` and `Charleston`. I got myself an invite to play along with them. Nice spot on the beach, but it was steaming hot and I was dripping after 20 minutes. But a wonderful weekend and how unlike a similar event would be at home – no litter to speak of – no graffiti – no discernible police presence – and nobody throwing up in the gutter – just a few thousand people out and about, having a grand old time. See you next year Napier.

I haven't worn that jumper in over 30 years. As you can see it's a bit small. Thanks for picture Diana

Saturday night dinner with Vic and Liz and John and Diana. Nice hat John!

Two interlopers. The other fella is from New South Wales, and just popped along
Photo by Diana

Phew. It was pretty hot on Sunday morning. Photo by Diana

Back in Wellington it is still pretty hot. Everybody you meet mentions it as it is not typical for around here, and it will have to break soon, but we are still enjoying it. We have also entertained our first guests, Sue & Geoff, who came through Wellington the weekend before we went to Napier. I worked with Sue at John Lewis Welwyn and always got on with her husband Geoff, so it was great to see them, and show them a bit of the city. It was a gloriously sunny day, and I think they were more than a little impressed with the city and the waterfront.

With Sue & Geoff at the top of the cable car in Wellington Botanical Gardens

Five minutes from Wellington City Centre you can be on the beach. Pat at Oriental Bay

Later that week there was another John Lewis connection. I worked at Oxford Street for five years in the 1990s, and one of my pals there, moved to Wellington after finishing his degree and taught history at one of the university’s here. We saw Andy and his partner Heather when we toured in 2003, but I had been unable to track him down since. I managed to find him, via Linkdin before we left the UK this time, and I had a really good catch up with him in a city-centre pub last Thursday. He now works for the Waitangi Commission. It’s a complicated job and I won’t bore you with the details, and I am sure we will meet up a few times before we return home.

With my old pal Andy who I hadn't seen in 13 years

Working on some new steps up to the tree house

The tree house is coming on a treat. I couldn’t save the old steps – they were rotten, so have had to make new ones. There seems a bit of a debate about what colour it’s going to be and the jury is still out on this one. I hope to paint it through next week, if the weather stays settled.

And that’s about it. We have a builder popping in next week to talk about partitioning our room. Pat knows what she wants so I will not interfere.

Toodaloo chums

Sunshine, Garage Projects and Chocolate Bars

I’ve never had much of a sweet tooth. I guess it’s probably something to do with my formative years coinciding with the end of sweet rationing. Most food was pretty bland in the fifties (though we didn’t know it) and when Pat Boone sang about “Tortillas and chilli peppers” in the hit song “Speedy Gonzalez”, a few years later, I thought he was singing in a foreign language, which I suppose he was really.

Roger finds the Whittacker's Peasnut Slabs irresistable

I mention this because although much of the chocolate one buys in New Zealand is different to that in the UK (evidently Cadbury’s, who have a factory on the South Island, use buttermilk rather than cream as it doesn’t melt so quickly), but there is one confectionery that both of us cannot get enough of. We are both fans of Whittacker’s Peanut Crunch and our daily sojourns to the Countdown Supermarket always end with the purchase of one to eat on the walk back home, plus a bag of mini bites in the store cupboard in the kitchen.

The ground floor is at last beginning to look like a studio flat. We have a settee and a nice reclining armchair to match – our TV was delivered a couple of days ago, and James, our son-in-law, redesigned the room after the furniture arrived, moving stuff around, and I must say it has given us a lot more space. Naturally, the grand kids want to come and play with the recliners, and although Livi understands they could easily break, I am not expecting miracles, so we will have to see.

Livi tries on Erica shoes as she watches "The Jungle Book". Pat, meanwhile recovers from pulling a muscle in her back. The room is slowly taking shape. Another very hot afternoon.

The weather has been amazingly sunny and hot over the last week or so which is not that typical of Wellington. I don’t know how long it’s going to last, but we have taken advantage of it, and the long evenings. I have been out in garden, cutting and slashing at the undergrowth. Pat has been concentrating of the area around the large patio outside our French windows. We can now see, and easily reach the play-tree-house, and my next project is to lick it into shape, over the next few weeks.

After a week of slashing back the undergrowth, we reveal the play house, my next project, currently taped off as steps are rotten. Livi wants it painted blue.

Last weekend was a public holiday in New Zealand. Waitangi Day remembers the date of the treaty between the Maori and the British in establishing the modern-day New Zealand. The weather was great and we spent Monday morning on the beach at Scorching Bay, a 20-minute drive away, around the bay. The previous night James and myself had made the short walk to “One Fat Bird”, just around the corner from us, which describes itself as a `British-style pub with a Kiwi twist`. It’s really nothing like a British pub, but they sell some very interesting beers, many brewed in the local area.

Our "Garage Project" tasting tray at "One Fat Bird"

Last Sunday a local brewery called “Garage Project” took over nine of the taps for a day, and we did our best to try them all, though the one with a chilli kick, was difficult to finish on our sampling tray. I have moaned long and hard, in previous blogs, about the cost of beer over here, and it was no different on Sunday night, with most of the beers weighing in at over 5% and, my favourite, `Garagista` came in at £5.50 for what is a little less than a pint. You certainly need deep pockets to drink around here.

James kicks off the tasting

The 15 taps at "One Fat Bird" (For my beer drinking mates)

Our days and weeks are beginning to get some structure to them, which is good for Erica and James, who have busy working lives, and for Livi and Ben, who are not used to us being around. Livi has been quite cool with me, but I knew she would take some time to come around. Over the last week or so, she has mellowed, but I have to tread carefully with her. Mum has taken over the shopping and the washing, and I have mainly cooked. It seems to be working pretty well, and the idea of turning on a tap and hot water coming out instantly, and not having to think when I need to empty our loos, hasn’t worn off yet. It’s quite a big house, and we are not used to having this much space.

We entertain our first guests this weekend, when Sue and Geoff are coming through the city. I worked with Sue at John Lewis, and her and husband Geoff, often came on our overseas trips. We are really looking forward to seeing them again.

Toodaloo

Welcome to Wellington

Pat and little Ben share a cuddle in the kitchen

I’m not that sure how the New Zealand economy has been of late, but the Kiwi Prime Minister John Key will be delighted to know, that over the last seven days Pat and I have done our level best to pump a significant sum into it. But I run away with myself. Let’s backtrack.

Our journey out here was a bit of a faff, with a fair degree of uncertainty along the way. The connections we had to make in Sydney and Auckland relied on our plane leaving Heathrow on time-ish. In reality it left nearly three hours late and even with his foot to the floor (or whatever they do to make these planes go quicker) we found ourselves at one stage, looking forward to a day in Sydney, while we waited for a suitable flight on to Auckland.

The flights themselves were fine and it proved to me, once again, how much more comfortable I am in one of the exit row seats. Definitely worth the £100 or so, especially on the 12-hour leg from Dubai to Sydney. The Airbus A380’s that Qantus use are great planes. Very quiet and very comfortable.

Granny and Livi get re-aquainted

I guess that most people know that `The Lord Of Rings` films were all shot in New Zealand. Arriving at Wellington Airport it’s hard to avoid the obvious references to the trilogy and beyond. The film’s director, Peter Jackson, lives about a mile from the airport, most of the post production was in the city and a huge model of Gollum hangs in the departure lounge patting a passing fish. And for good measure the facia on the terminal proudly displays that you have reached “the middle of Middle Earth”. It is said that if you travelled into Wellington when each of the Lord of The Rings films was being premiered, your passport would not have Wellington stamped in it but “Middle Earth”, which is pretty cool if you are into all things Tolkein, a bit stupid if you’re not.

Wellington Airport

For such a small city it has a lively sporting and cultural programme and there always seems to be something going on, This weekend is the international rugby sevens tournament, where fancy dress seems compulsory (for the spectators at least).

A pre-match drink for the "Duff Beer Men" and "Super Mario's" en-route for the rugby 7s tournament

Erica and James live in Karori, which is a leafy suburb to the north of the city, though it’s only a 12-minute drive to the CBD (Central Business District) of Wellington. They moved into their new home on 1 December, so this was the first time we had seen it, though what with Skype and Whatsapp, we were very familiar with it. The ground floor is our investment. It’s just a large room, which we will eventually divide into a bedroom and a living room. There is already a good bathroom down there and a laundry room, that we hope to convert into a small kitchen in time.

Our ground floor flat, which will be divided and filled with furniture over the next two weeks

French windows run down one side of the wall and lead into the sub-tropical back garden. I was anticipating that there would be a lot of gardening to do, and I was not wrong, but it’s not hard graft. It’s good soil and I am concentrating on the front garden first, and dodging the rain showers. The last couple of days have been wet and windy, which is a common combination in Wellington, though temperatures still hover around 20, though we have been promised 23 to 25C through much of next week, which is hot for around these parts.

Pat couldn't resist this leather reclining suite...

and I got my Bose sound system sorted as well

Pat arrives back at the house with more stuff

So we have been busy sourcing a three-piece suite and something to put all our clothes in. Then there’s been a telly, internet, a good music system, bedding, and along the way we have to think about a car. We were going to lease one, but now think we’ll bite the bullet and buy one, but then again we might not bother at all and hire one as and when we need one.

My sister Carol is also out here at present. Her daughter Lucy is currency living in Auckland with her family, and Carol and Rob have been here since early December. They go back to the UK next week, but flew down during the week to see us. It seemed bizarre to meet up, such a long way from home.

With my sister Carol and her husband Rob

So that’s about that. By the next blog we should be a bit more self-contained with furniture and somewhere to put all our clobber. It’s lining the floor at present.

Toodaloo chums

From Willington to Wellington

There may be only one letter in it, but our new home in New Zealand is a world away from our UK address in Derbyshire. And this week sees us swapping marina life for six months ‘down under’ in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city, which the Lonely Planet rightly describes as ‘the coolest little capital in the world.’

But in the middle of the preparations and planning for this long absence, we also had the arrival of our waterside lodge that, with our narrowboat, will be our UK home on our return in July.

Another successful shopping raid at Ikea

Getting the lodge finished, delivered, sited and provisioned was always going to be close-run thing. We were expecting it on site the first week of January, then it was going to be last Wednesday and finally it arrived last Friday. Pat and I had been willing the BBC Midlands weather girl Shefali, to give us a good weather forecast for arrival date and she did not disappoint. We might have woken to minus temperatures last Friday morning, but by the time we were up and about, the two trucks carrying the lodge had arrived and the crane to lift it was not far behind. Pat and I were worried about the plunging temperatures and the chance of snow delaying it, but the assembly crew were more concerned with wind. The large crane will not lift anything if the wind is over 17 mph, which is quite common around here, so a still day was an added bonus.

Hazel Lodge arrives on two trucks

The first half gets craned into place

The other half is lifted off the truck...

...and the kitchen is exposed

....and swung into place

The site the following morning

It was a smooth operation and a bit bizarre watching the lodge effectively cut in half, on the back of two trailers. By 11am both halves had been swung into place and we left the crew to it, as they set about making the lodge water-tight.

Saturday saw John Lewis deliver beds and assorted furnishings and also the remainder of the furniture we had put into storage was delivered. “Easy Johnny”, yes, that is his name, arrived around twoish, with all our stuff, and with the help of my boating buddy Rik, and Penny and Bob, two of our oldest friends, who came up for the weekend, we got it unloaded in a couple of hours.

There were no workmen on site Sunday, and despite a couple of inches of snow, our first at the marina this winter, we were assembling wardrobes and chairs by 9.30pm and welcoming several of our pontoon pals later that afternoon. Unfortunately we had no electricity, but the gas worked and we had cold water, so at least we could make everybody a cup of tea.

Roger puts together the last of the dining room chairs

I must say we are both delighted with the lodge, its position and its aspect, and I am so glad Pat is happy with it. The poor girl has lived and breathed this project for the last few months, and her forward planning and attention to detail has resulted in us getting an excellent new home, which, I am sure, will look great, once we have got it all straight.

That’s all got to happen over the next four days though. We already have our first rental booked and a number of our boating pals are using it and snagging it for us over the next few weeks, to make sure everything works, prior to the first letting.

As for us, we leave the marina on Thursday lunchtime and head south. We hope to see our son Kev on Thursday evening, as well as my best mate John in St Albans, and we fly out of Heathrow with Qantus on Friday evening, getting to Wellington around 6pm their time on Sunday. We lose Saturday along the way. I think it’s a 28-hour flight. I’ve booked myself one of the seats near the emergency exit, so I can get to stretch my legs out. It cost a few bob, but I think it’s well worth it. Pat’s sitting behind me.

Keep in touch via E Mail, and looking forward to seeing some of our pals in NZ over the next few months. Otherwise we are back early July.

Toodaloo chums

Roger & Pat

A Winter's Tale

Well, tis the season to be jolly, and all that stuff. It’s Christmas Eve morning here in Derbyshire, and as Pat is off to treat the local birds to a Christmas scoff at the feeders at the end of our pontoon, I though it time I extended my digits and brought our blog up to date.

Living with surrounding woodland we get lots of chaffinches, long tailed tits, nuthatches, and water fowl, of course

After three months down in Hertfordshire, I think we both thought we might struggle a bit on the boat when we returned to it in October. We’ve done winters on board before but as the days draw in, and the weather becomes unpredictable, your options in a long, thin, boat become somewhat limited. Well, that’s what we thought, but things have panned out very differently. For we are having a great time. The social scene here is now in full swing and Louise, our neighbour, who fronts the committee, and lives on a boat opposite, has co-opted me to be involved.

Great to meet up with some of  our boating pals for a Christmas lunch in Nottingham

Unfortunately I have lots of ideas, many of them gleaned when I did this sort of thing for a living, but our lifestyle means we do not have the time to see them through, which is frustrating for Louise and for me, but I fitted in a quick trip to Marston’s Brewery last month with a few of the moorers who like a drink and we both try to support as many of the social events as possible. Clubs now exist for photography, crafts, books and music on a regular basis and we have a traditional skittles night following in early January at a cracking old pub in Burton-Upon-Trent which I am really looking forward to. We’ve made a number of new friendships since we arrived back, several from down `Sawf`, and it’s been great to see all our old pontoon pals again. We are both now convinced we took the right decision to come back to the marina and make it our home, whether it be on “The Cat’s Whiskers” or in our new waterside lodge. But more of that later.

The Cathedral Quarter of Derby looked very festive as I made my way to
the Ukulele Club last week.

Our Canadian pal Vaughn, who has been here on and off throughout the year, finally returned home a few weeks back and we had a bit of a reunion before he left. It was 1975 all over again, just for one evening. Loads of old pals came along and we had a great night. Then, when we were half way up the M1, we heard the awful news that one of my oldest and dearest pals Roy had passed away. Vaughn, Dave and I were going to see him the weekend before, but his wife Geraldine had told us he was too poorly to see any visitors and we all feared the worst. Pat and I did get to see him a few times during the summer and I am so glad now that we made that effort to travel down into North London whenever we went back to Hertfordshire to do so. Roy had been valiantly battling prostate cancer for nearly 10 years. We had known him over 40 years and we really were `joined at the hip` during the 1970s. He was a big part of both of our lives and we both miss him dearly.

Our boating group, the BIG CHINS pledges allegiance to our mascot on our 2012 outing. Roy is third from left.
Happy days

We now have a firm date for when our own lodge will be delivered. It’s 13^th January. As we fly off on the 22^nd and it takes them around a week to finish off inside and connect all the services, we have around a week to get the place furnished and ready to hand over to the marina for letting before we depart for New Zealand. Well, that’s the plan, anyway.

We went up to Bakewell on Tuesday where it’s nearing completion. Most of the inside has been completed. All looks well and Pat particularly likes the kitchen area. It looks a bit smaller than we were expecting, but it was all cluttered up with wood, trestles and workmen.

Our new lodge. The wood burner is going in the corner that they have started tiling

Pat discusses if the roller blinds she has bought in John Lewis will fit in one of the bathroom

I’m back playing with the Derby Uke Club on alternate Wednesdays and play in a smaller group in one of the village pubs (we have three!) on Monday nights. Then, once a month, on a Tuesday evening, the Marina’s own music group meets. There are some good players there which makes keeping up with them challenging and very enjoyable. We had our first live outing last Saturday at a Marina `do` and went down well.

The Mercia Music Group `rock around the Christmas tree`

Kev joins us later today and will be staying a few days over Christmas. We have football at Derby County on Boxing Day (Come on Fulham) and are going with our pontoon pals Ian and Sarah from `Popsey Bell` a few boats up. We are looking forward to the experience. I can’t see Fulham winning, but as long as it’s entertaining I won’t mind. We are hiring out one of the lodges for the duration, so should be a good Christmas.

Toodaloo folks and we hope you all have a happy and healthy Christmas

Roger & Pat