A new level of confidence and power (Pantera)

Spring weather in Nu Zild during October/November is always a trial. Windy, wet, sunny, hot, cold, calm - often all on the same day, especially if you happen to be in the Auckland region as we now are. Lately we've had a fine day followed by three wet and windy ones.

I went down to Palmerston North recently (huge thanks to Graysy and Jansy - two stellar members of the whanau who looked after me for a few nights) and brought Jade back to Waiheke to enjoy some peace (love) and quiet before her exams start next week.

We had a lovely day on Saturday and tried to take full advantage. Brian's place on the island overlooks Sandy Bay - a great place for exploring rock pools, paddling about and walking around the bays at low tide, so that's what we did.

  L&P - Abu Keegan

Tell me how do I feel? (New Order)



Leo Bertos in blue September
mode.

As the whanau knows we have had some sobering moments during the last two months.

When I worked at Cambridge High School I described working with Alison Annan as having a bucket of cold water thrown over my head; a big stimulating of the senses act, in a gigantic wake up call kind of way. More and more cold water shake ups seem to be coming thick and fast these days.

Our week days have established a kind of systematic routine (even when we have visitors like Jade who is staying on the island for a few days). Is 'systematic routine' tautology at work? It may be. Jacky has her Auckland radiotherapy appointments at the Mercy Hospital each morning.

We get up earlyish and Brian delivers us to a ferry terminal on Waiheke. From there it takes 35 minutes to sail across where Keegan picks us up from the Auckland Ferry building and delivers us to the hospital (when he can't we catch the Hospital bus). Jacky has her zap and we get morning tea before Keegan takes us back to Queen Street and we catch a return ferry, then another bus back to Pope's Corner in Oneroa (a part of Waiheke Island). We walk home to Brian's place from there. SWMBO needs to walk for a bit each day and then rest. We eat early (for her tablets to work) and then Brian gets out his movie collection on a gigantor hard drive and we select a movie to watch ( we laughed when GI Joe ended with the audience standing up in front of the credits!).

Up to last week I hadn't considered that men would also be undergoing radiotherapy at the Mercy. Up till then I'd sat with the women patients who have to change into a blue smock prior to their zap, but then, last week, I sat with an overweight middle aged guy wearing a shirt and tie and a blue apron around his lower bits I was a tad shocked. Keegan was too.

It was blue September recently - a month dedicated to getting men to have their prostate checked (yes - been there done that in case you're wondering). There were a series of adverts and such during September but I reckon all it would take would be a sobering visit to this waiting room to convince any men who didn't think it was a good idea to have regular checks in this region.

Love and peace - Wozza

Stop me if you think you've heard this one before (The Smiths)*



Adam, Ollie, SWMBO and Teenie

SWMBO and I visited another old friend this week - Tina and her husband Adam with their two year old son, Ollie. Tina very kindly provided us with lunch and even took us to and from the ferry building. She's a great girl is Teenie.
Ollie provided the entertainment and we had a wonderful afternoon catching up. Last time we saw them Ollie was in a pram, now he runs about shouting 'abuse' (thanks to his grandma), 'lady Yacky' (to SWMBO) and emptying the cupboards.

Jade rang me during the visit and asked if it brought back memories, and blow me down if after a while it did. Most involved a two year old Adam eating weird stuff after escaping from his cot in the early hours of the morning (sitting on the floor eating flour from the container in the kitchen with a large amount on the floor as well as in his mouth is a vivid memory).

After our visit we headed back to Waiheke Island where we are staying with the Minister of Defence (as my Arabic mates would call him), my father-in-law - Brian Smith.
  

The beach at Oneroa on Waiheke.

Life on Waiheke (unkindly but not inaccurately called the Cadbury Isle by Aucklanders) is...different. If you ever wondered what became of the Woodstock generation - 8,000 of them ended up on Waiheke!

It's slower in general, maan, although the jalopies still hurtle around the corners at times, friendlier, and much more alternative than life on the Auckland mainland (about 35 minutes away by ferry).

SWMBO and I are walking a lot each day - part therapy, part adventure, part necessity (we don't have our own car on the island), and it feels a little like walking in Dubai at times - a real lack of pedestrian friendly roads, a place out of time, and plenty of sand.

It does give us an opportunity for sightseeing though. I have been impressed by the variety of letter boxes on display and so I decided to compile a bit of a portfolio (I hope you are impressed Jesse).

Somehow the home made, quirky, innovative, humorous, weirdly creative letterboxes sum up the Waiheke experience quite nicely.

And my favourite on what appears to be an empty section of land (as in there is no house attached to the letterbox)

Love and peace maan - Wozza

* The title this week is an in joke that only my children will fully understand - SWMBO's maiden name was Smith and 'Smith humour' has legendary status in our household.

No I won't be afraid, just as long as you stand, stand by me (Ben E King)

The end of the movie Stand By Me has this scene:



The final thing he writes - about the friends we have when are twelve - is very effective as a piece of movie making but not strictly accurate in my own experience.

[I no longer keep in contact with anyone I knew when I was 12 and I suspect the same is true for you (dear reader). Let me know if you do - I'd love to know.]

The sentiment of the Stand By Me ending holds true though - there is nothing like the friends we have at seminal moments in our lives. For me it's the friends I had when I was finishing school and starting University.

I had a coffee catch up this week with two of them - two members of the Wozza whanau: Greg Knowles and Kevin Simms.

Greg has known me since 1973 when we were at Mt Albert Grammar in Auckland. He sat next to me while I was doing a chemistry test (I was a first year fifth former, a year younger than me - he was in the 4th form doing a geography test and glancing at my pathetic attempts to answer the chemistry questions). Somehow we bonded from that point onwards.

Kevy I've known since about 1977, our first year at Auckland University. Greg was doing a science degree and I was doing arts. Kevin was doing commerce. Somehow through Greg's network we all met up at various coffee bars and in the recreation centre. The group that included the three of us expanded from time to time to include Helen, Phyllis, Linley, Anthony, Kevin P, Brett and others.

We all go back a way - to a great time in our lives. We were all still living at home and happy to be doing that. We were growing away from our parents though and about to sever the home ties for good, but not yet. We were studying (well Greg and I were, Kevy was enjoying life for a while yet) and we were forming friendships that, I know, will last our lifetimes.

As old friends will do, we picked up our friendship this week from where we left off last time we met. For me and Kevy that was in the early 1980s, Greg and I have kept in touch a bit more.

It was weird how quickly that happened - Greg, Jacky and I were waiting for Kev to arrive at the cafe we'd arranged to meet at and we saw a guy walking away from us in the distance. Greg and I both instantly recognised the Simms walk and when Kev did his trade mark practice cricket/golf shot with his umbrella I was transported back in time!!

It took no time to click back into a familiar mode of conversation - foundered on our love of music, our bizarre sense of humour, and our shared history. Close friends tend to have a way of locking back onto comfortable thought patterns and pretty soon we were finishing each other's sentences and talking in shorthand.

It was a great catch up with old mates. Just what I needed.

Love and peace (special shout out to the early 80s rec' centre crowd) - Wozza

Life ain't nothing but a funny funny riddle (John Denver)

I read in Mojo (world's greatest music magazine) recently that a band called the Guillemots are putting out four CDs this year - themed on the seasons.

SWMBO remarked yesterday that I should take some photos of the cherry blossom

This morning the ipod shuffle threw up Vivaldi's Spring.

Woooo - scarey.

Although some will say it's merely some freakish coincidence, clearly I was being sent a message - do a blog post about leaving the NZ spring behind for a Chinese autumn.

Okay!

You had the lamb pictures last time so it's time for a look at some pretty blossoms, daffies, and the effects of spring's low setting sun on the A.R.T. room.

The blossom was alive with spring buzzy bees - sadly the blog does not come with a soundtrack so you'll need to hum a little hummy buzz (Pooh like) while you marvel at these shots taken in the back garden (one of said bees seen doing his thing in the second shot if you look carefully).

This is the last posting from Hawke's Bay for a while as we head to Auckland on Saturday and then, in the near future, I head towards a Chinese autumn. Should make for an interesting contrast.

Love and peace - Wozza

A mind can blow those clouds away (George Harrison)

Just finishing up some odd jobs about the place before we set sail for Auckland and Waiheke Island at the end of the week.

To whit:

I was nudged out of my dozy 2am state a week ago by the dull thud of the huge door to the three bay shed.

Sidebar: The door's about 3x2.5 metres - big! Made of steel and corrugated iron. It opens outwards so that I can drive the tractor out.

It was really a blustery night and I figured the door had somehow shaken itself loose from its moorings a bit. It's anchored by two solid bolts, one vertical, t'other horizontal.

I didn't think too much of it. One I was half asleep, two I didn't think it would be doing too much damage and three if I went out to check on it the dogs (who have their kennels by the three bay) would have barked their heads off. So I went back to my fitful sleep (plenty on my mind of late yunnerstand).

The next day SWMBO had a look at it and reported that the door had somehow blown itself INSIDE the shed. EEK.

SWMBO is well known for her exaggerations but in this case she was spot on. It took a crowbar to force the door back to its original position but the force of the wind had also twisted the steel struts, severed a couple of welds and blown the corrugated iron loose as well. Triple EEK.

The last week has witnessed my intermittent (failed) attempts to repair the door. I tried drilling a hole through the steel to insert a rivet without any success. A couple of trips to Mitre 10 for new steel bits to drill with and I was ready for a fresh assault.

No luck. The steel could twist and break with the wind but my drilling made little impression. Sallie came out for a consult and after more drilling failure we decided to go with my put-a-tail-on-it-call-it-a-weasel cunning plan of wiring the corrugated iron to the steel.

Hey presto - the door has been repaired. As we were admiring things we noticed a new lamb in our paddock by the shed - about 2 months after the very first lamb for this season! Amazing. Brings us to 17 lambs from 8 ewes.

The latest lamb reminded me that I had forgotten to load pictures of the quads (latest: all doing well and mum is starting to recover some body weight - four hungry youngsters has been difficult for her). The little coats were to keep them warm and dry during winter in case you were wondering.

Love and peace - Wozza

Now, Is, Here Now (George Harrison)

The start of our Chinese adventure has been delayed a tad by a significant health issue for SWMBO. After another month of treatment she will be able to join me in China is the plan. My boss (Luis) has been rock solid in his understanding of the situation.  Three days before flying to China we had to radically change plans and Luis took it completely in his stride and has offered us unstinting encouragement throughout the last month.

Close family and whanau (extended family) have been a huge positive support network over the last month or so - sharing the burden and the joys - which is as it should be right?

A special mention needs to go to whanau member Peter Joyce who set the whole China thing in motion many months ago. His casual mention of my name to his colleague produced a ripple effect that has ultimately resulted in a happy outcome for SWMBO and me. You're a life saver PJ!!

All that has obviously occupied our time to a huge extent but we've also been feverishly keeping our minds busy with odd jobs around the property. For me that means fixing misbehaving gates, building fences, water blasting and painting, repairs to electric fences and water systems, putting the tractor to good use and generally humbugging in the A.R.T. room as much as possible.

Today is the anniversary of Graham Nugent Purdy's passing in 2009 and he has been all about the place of late - in our thoughts and in our presence in other ways. He gave us a promise that he would continue to look after us and that certainly appears to be the case. Such strength!

Love and peace - Wozza