Hello again,

Cant believe my time is going so quicky, I blink & two days have gone & Blog is neglected.
I am struggling on this laptop too, everything takes me twice as long so these entries may well be shorter than you are used to.

I think I was telling you about my interview. It was certainly the most laid-back one I have ever had. It consisted of a tour on the quad bike whilst Kevin gave me the history of the place.

Every now & then he would stop to point out some day old foals or brood mares.

The place is enormous, about 450 acres & some of the most pristine countryside I have ever seen. I could already imagine myself giving some of you the guided tour.

The only thing that wasn't perfect was the accommodation. Remember in the 70's when we all liked brown ? It was shared & the 'designer' certainly was fond of brown. It wasnt dirty or anything just utilitarian. And brown.

I know I must sound like a princess.

I thought about the job all day yesterday wondering if I would take it if they offered it to me.

I reasoned that if I am working outdoors in such fabulous surroundings then my room is really only where I lay my head come the end of the day. having said that, I do like to live somewhere nice & staying in my pretty ickle holiday villa chez Tanners hasn't helped.

What to do ?

The place had a really organised feel about it, I won't elaborate more now cos I have other stuff to tell you but I suppose I don't need to think about it any more until I go back. The way it was left was that Kevin said he would like me to go back for an interview with one of the directors.

I will keep you posted.

At the end of our chat he asked if I had any previous stud experience. I was totally honest & said none whatsoever but I am willing to learn. His reply was that he was pleased as they had just had a couple of bad experiences with stud staff from the UK who were a 'pain in the arse' as they thought they knew it all.

NZ's like that.

He told me his pet hate was people who walked past obvious jobs to come & ask him 'What can I do now ?' At that point a gormless looking lad came to find him to ask just that.

'See what I mean ?' he said.

Yesterday evening I went to my first Kiwi rugby game. What an experience.

Michelle, Alice & friend were sensible & stayed in with chocolate & videos whilst Eric, Harriette & I headed out into the rain to the game.

Their local team, Waikato were playing Wellington who were expected to win.

I think I have been accepted here because not only did I get a goodnight kiss from Harriette but Alice loaned me her most prized possession, her ludicrously expensive Waikato rugby top (in the colours of the German flag if you are interested)

We picked up Eric's neighbour Ian (ex professional polo player) & his son Daniel. After a stop to pick up Ian's brother David where I was treated like a long lost friend we headed off to the game. Ian's wife Carol asked how long I had known the Tanners.

'Erm, 2 days now' I replied.

When we explained that I was a friend of a friend she just laughed & asked the question all Brits over here do

'Will you go back?'

I had been forewarned about Waikato's most vocal fan. he is called 'Possum' & he watches the game from a cherry-picker parked outside the stadium. His encouragement for the team is displayed by revving his chainsaw in time to the chants.

He shouted for the full 80 minutes & at the end threw sweets to the homeward-bound crowds.

Can you imagine the authorities at Twickers allowing someone to watch the game for free every week & rev their chainsaw throughout the match? Me neither.

I offered to drive on the way home so that Eric could have a drink. What I hadn't anticipated was trying to navigate my way home through a strange town (Hamilton) with 4 drunken back-seat drivers all shouting conflicting directions. Very amusing.

We had a very late night which meant that I didn't get up til 9.30 today. Lovely.

I was in the process of beginning some weeding when it was announced that 'Pepper was in the ditch' Pepper is a cow who has calved recently. Her calf had problems walking & Eric & Michelle have been a lot more involved with them than they would be normally.

Pepper has been bullied by the other cows & was consequently in poor health & very lean. She had either fallen or been pushed into a water-filled ditch & did not have the strength to get out again. Luckily, Eric noticed she was missing when he drove past to go to the dump (no rubbish collection in rural NZ)

10 minutes later saw the 3 of us collected at her side pushing, pulling & straining to get her out. The ditchwater was just deep enough to go over your wellies as Michelle soon found out. Initially, Pepper stood & we thought she would be able to walk out. After one step, however, she sank to her knees again back into the mud & water.

Eric had been supporting Pepper to prevent her from completely lying down & Michelle had been trying to encourage her to her feet. After a while, they swapped & Michelle propped her up & Eric went to the business end. Pepper kept peeing in the ditch but Eric said at least it was keeping his feet warm !

At this point, one of the Tanner's neighbours arrived & so she was despatched to bring the other neighbour John with his tractor (a lovely John Deere since you ask)
He made short work of roping Pepper around the neck & after attaching the rope to a chain pulled her out of the ditch.

It looked quite brutal but was over in less than 10 seconds. Like most Kiwi farmers he had very good knowledge of how much more punishment animals can stand than us suft Poms.
He explained that a live cow could be totally suspended from the neck with no ill-effects as long as it was literally only for a few seconds.

After her ordeal, Pepper accepted some sileage & apart from being shaky, looked surprisingly ok. Losing a cow would be hard for the Tanners anyway, but losing one which is suckling a calf would mean Chilli being hand-reared or put on another cow. All time-consuming stuff which farmers can do without.

I have some good pics of the place & the stock & as soon as I can work out how to get them to Q I hope you will see how lovely it is here.

The countryside here is gorgeous. Much softer than the part of South Island I saw. Without the snow-capped mountains it is not as majestic but the softly undulating green hills here are so gentle on the eye. I stopped that car after my interview yesterday in a spot which Michelle had pointed out to me. As far as I could see were dips & dells, like a softly rumpled duvet & every spare inch of grazing here is devoted to dairy cattle. It occurred to me that if I got the stud job I would be looking at that countryside every day.

I must disappear for now as Michelle is cooking for 10 tonight & is busy in the kitchen so I am going to offer a hand (or at least lick the cake tin)

I had a v funny 3-way conversation with Q & Turbo on Thursday evening.

How can it be that there is no time delay speaking to Turbo but loads when speaking to Q ? Hmmm.

Can I whinge please & say that apart from 1 notable exception there has been a distinct lack of contact from the shores of Blighty these days?

I know Blog dried up during the last 2 weeks but that doesn't mean you lot can't tell me what's going on in your lives you know.

Are you lot just trying to tell me that Trish was right & I am boring?

Don't answer that.

Whinge over.

Time for a cuppa. Something else the Tanners observe with wonderful precision here.

Take care you lot,

Cx

Pls excuse any sp. mistakes, spell-check too fiddly with these ickle keys.