Q,

Seek & ye shall find.

It was hiding & I had overlooked it all the time.

It was right at the very end of the whole week's entries.

I will try & cut & paste my Word doc onto here.

If you could oblige with the foties please ?

Cx

Good Evening from a sun dappled shire

Day 3 of Summer & all is well.

20 degrees & day long, glorious sunshine.

The more observant of you will have noted that the Q-Meister has been busy & that Q4A is now an altogether more stylish affair. The foty that you now see at the top of Blog is one of my favourites of Queen Charlotte Sound. I mucked around with the software that Olympus dish-out with my camera to get the 4 different shades & sent them to Q. I asked him to simply insert them at the top of Blog. Needless to say – he wasn’t happy with the easy option & has now done a ‘Changing Rooms’ on Blog.

The result, I think, at least, is lovely to look at. He has even changed the background from what I found a very dull grey, to my favourite colour – blue.

You will see there is also now room for comments at the end of each segment. Please get stuck in, I would enjoy some feedback.

The downside is that, for the time being, at least, I have lost the facility to update as the icon for updating has disappeared. Sending my stuff to Q on Word for the time being.

This evening I have been left to play with matches as everyone has gone out. The grown-ups have gone for a meal & to the movies in Tauranga. They are going to see ‘Calendar Girls’ which has received some great write-ups. Michelle, especially, looked very glam & Alice asked me if I was going with them for their romantic meal. It’s an indication of how scruffy I must look all the time as she thought my tailored, white shirt was a sign that I had dressed up for a night out. Truth is, all my t-shirts are in the wash J

The girls have gone to the Scotts to stay for the night. Harriette especially, is very pleased as her invitation to the Scotts clashed with the semi-final of the NPC rugby Waikato-v-Wellington at home. It turns out the Scotts have Sky digital so she gets her night out & the rugby.

I am taking the opportunity to catch up on The Archers as well as my e-mails.

I went to the physio again today & was very happy when he located the nerve that was trapped. He says that has been causing the pain down my leg & he worked today to release it. The pain, for the time being, at least, has gone in my leg & the relief is lovely.

Yesterday I drove into Hamilton to have my most recent batch of pics transferred to disc. I have been itching to take pics of Cedar Lodge, especially the fenced pool & the new porkers.

I fell in love with NZ all over again after yesterday’s drive. The light, always different here, has been especially intense with the arrival of this gorgeous weather. I desperately need some sunglasses but, that aside, it’s as if someone has peeled a layer away from the scenery.

I dawdled along at my now customary 80kph gazing at the Waikato river, meandering it’s way along the valley, accompanying me all the way to Hamilton.



Mighty Waikato

I have never thought of this area of the North lacking in colour, especially after coming from Seddon, but it’s as if, at some unbidden signal, everything has suddenly burst forth. The trees have bright, acid green foliage & the grass, which never disappeared over Winter is suddenly ankle-deep along the verges.

Matamata is being prettified at a furious rate, in time for the Summer tourists. Beds are being planted, verges mown & hanging baskets hoisted. On Wednesday, for the 1st time, I saw tourists posing for the obligatory picture with the ‘Welcome to Hobbiton’ sign in the centre of town. I am ashamed to say I will be posing for mine soon.

My journey to Hamilton was a bit of an eye-opener. For the 1st time in 6 months I couldn’t park directly outside the shop & had to use, horror of horrors, a multi-storey car park. Yeuch. The more I see of Hamilton (multi-storeys aside) the more I like it.
Although I wouldn’t recommend taking a vehicle into the town centre, I ended up driving around it numerous times whilst searching for a parking space. I saw some beautiful areas & many houses had the most beautiful views of the river. The Waikato ambles through the town & numerous bridges criss-cross the river. I tried to think what it reminded me of & the closest I can come up with is the Thames at Windsor or Sunbury.

On my return journey, down SH1, I came through Cambridge. It is an incredibly pretty place & I look forward to having a good look around on a day off. It has one of the most stunning, lily-white, clapper-board churches I have ever seen. I couldn’t find a safe stopping place for a photo yesterday but I will endeavour to get one soon. I think it was called St. Andrews ? The most stunning feature in Cambridge was the trees. They are everywhere but I am still struggling to recognise them.

Up to Monday on The Archers now, Linda Snell, bossy as ever.

I saw 2 highly desirable vehicles yesterday. The 1st was a cherry red Jaguar XK8 being driven very sedately along SH1. The 2nd was a Cadbury’s Blade. Always the iconic Blade as far as I was concerned. The Blade was not being ridden sedately, I am glad to report. NZ is the world’s best-kept biking secret. There are surprisingly few bike bikes here. The only draw-back, as far as I can see, would be trying to do justice to the fabulous roads, whilst being able to take in the views at the same time. Perhaps riding pillion would be acceptable, for once ?

On the subject of vehicles, private plates are disturbingly common here. I don’t know if they are more popular than the UK, or if it’s just that fewer vehicles catch the eye more often. Some of the amusing ones I have seen are …

AGRS1VE = belonging to a doctor ?
CUT1CLE = mobile nail salon
SHOO4U = farrier
CHOOK = chicken farmer

I can’t yet work out which car comes from where, or how to work out the age of the vehicle. Speaking of being slow on the uptake, I noticed today, after 6 months, that there are no 1 or 2 cent coins here. I had seen signs in shops, which mentioned ‘rounding’ but had never paid them much attention. I noticed today that when my change came to 3 cents, I was given a 5 cent piece. I was about to draw the cashier’s attention to her mistake when it occurred to me that I had never seen a 1 or 2 cent coin.
How embarrassing would that have been ?

You may have noticed that I have mentioned that 6 months have elapsed since I have been here. I don’t know how it feels to you lot, but it has gone quickly for me. The half-way mark has …

(quick break to give the dogs their supper, their body-clock is incredible, they are fed at 7pm & Inca has just come in & shoved me politely with his nose. The time ? 7.03pm)



What do you think of the diet, Bin ?



He's a gun-dog you know

… prompted me to think again about things I miss.

The answer is quite easy, it’s the news media & radio.
The paper I read in the South was the Christchurch Press & it had a very good world section. The paper here is the Waikato Times & I find it insular & provincial. I remember Malcolm warning me that this was one of the things I would notice & he was right. I don’t doubt the Waikato Times is a good paper for local people (hints of Royston Vasey) but I find the lack of world news irking.

NZ has no national papers which is mind-boggling, given the size of the country. More amazingly still, it has a national radio programme which broadcasts on medium wave only. I have always taken the BBC for granted & thought that most countries received the World Service. It’s true that NZ supposedly gets the World Service but only at stupid-oh-clock & on a dreadful signal.

Every so often, Clare’s copy of the International Daily Express makes it’s way down to Cedar Lodge. A paper I always thought second-rate, is now read avidly, cover-to-cover.

It’s a small moan, compared to the natural beauty here but I miss Radio 4 hugely. Listening on the internet, as this evening, keeps me sane, but in no way makes up for the way Radio 4 accompanies me everywhere in the car in the UK.

I will close for now, as it’s time for dinner. If you have to be off with a dodgy disc & you do have to sit & read, there must be worse places to do it than Cedar Lodge.
Eric arrived home today for his lunch at 1.05pm. He was dabbling his hand in the pool some 12 seconds later. I think, even with a favourable tail-wind, that’s a record.

Bye for now,

Cx

ps. I am finding the font on the new Q4A quite small.
Is anyone else or do I just need glasses quicker than I thought ?