Thankful Thursday

I cannot believe that I have spent five nights (albeit only four days) back here at The Cottage.  The time has flown by with hardly a second to spare.  Indeed I still haven't put all my clothes on their hangers in the wardrobe yet.  Usually I have emptied The Cupboard and put everything back where it belongs before I go to bed on the first night.  I arrived too late on Saturday this time and by the time I went to bed the bedroom was a chaotic mess.  Since then somehow life has overtaken me.  

The living room clock changed earlier in the year when the last one ceased to function but the reminders of friends and, in particular a friend in a far place, welcomed me back.

As did Comet:

 

Then there was wine and chocolates and a note from the lady who had rented The Cottage for the last few months and Wendy had put in flowers from the garden

So today I am thankful for the welcome back that I have received from everyone.  There are few things more comforting and reassuring in life than a sense of belonging.

Settling In

It's Monday morning and I've just about turned The Cottage back into My Cottage.  Everything is out of The Cupboard and back where it belongs whilst I am in residence.  Perhaps I should get a little flag made to signify when I am in residence: the Geeb Standard.  After all if HRH can do it....

I am re-united with my clock (which has a tick loud enough to be heard anywhere in The Cottage!) and my reminders of friends - my NZ 'Family' and A Friend in Vermont.

My first night here was rather strange.  I was in bed at 2030 and fast asleep as my head hit the pillow.  Apart from a terrible attack of cramp in both legs (reminder to buy some Crampeze today) I slept until 0235.  Oh no.  Then I realised I'd had my statutory 6 hours!  I was so wide awake that I was writing emails and blog postings in my head so I got an A4 pad and went back to bead and filled three pages.  Then I fell back into a solid sleep and woke just before 0800.  Yippee.  There I was bright as a button (and a pretty bright one at that) ready for the day.   The fact that it was still raining seemed irrelevant.

We all went out to The Gin Trap in Ahuriri for brunch to celebrate David's 14th birthday.  I can't believe it!  Fourteen!!

Catriona and David had Bacon Buns 

The rest of the day was spent sorting The Cottage until Wendy and then Martin wandered down after dinner for a wee glass of the red stuff.

Life in New Zealand - nothing changes.

I Have Arrived in My New Zealand Home

It's nearly 1600 or 4pm on Saturday 30 November here in The Cottage.  In fact it is in the whole of New Zealand's mainland.  

I missed the scheduled last leg of the journey - the flight between Auckland and Napier.  The plane was late getting in from Los Angeles.  So I eventually arrived in Napier at 11.30am instead of 9.30am.  Then Wendy, Catriona and I went for coffee in Taradale on the way home because we had to drop Catriona at gymnastics.     After a beautiful, warm week the weather here today is cold and dull.  Ah well.  

I managed little or no sleep on the journey other than a few hours sort of dozing between LA and Auckland.  That was a disappointment after the last few journeys when I have managed a few hours of reasonable rest.  So this afternoon I'm quite tired.  I am emptying The Cupboard and bringing a semblance of normality back to my life in The Cottage.  Whether I'll manage it all today is debatable.  I'm definitely flagging.  The first thing out of The Cupboard was my permanent reminder of life back on Lewis given to me by Friend Who Knows Too Much.  I expect that I shall be early to bed tonight.  But I've said that before!

Of course the very first thing I did was have a shower and then following on from my last post on Eagleton Notes entitled Panic Set In I plugged my mobile broadband into the laptop.  Oh dear.  No installation CD for the Mac as indicated by the set-up instructions.   As it is Saturday and the majority of shops shut early on Saturday afternoon I decided to pop down to Leading Edge which is one of the two NZ Telecom agents in Napier.  It was closed.  Permanently.  Oh dear.  Orb, the other, closes at the weekend anyway.  However a friendly computer buff at Dick Smith's sorted it (You don't need the CD!) and I now have broadband on the Mac.  No internet for the whole weekend would have been a bit too traumatic.

Once I can sort out my NZ Telecom plan I will be able to get my main emails on my phone too.

Right.  Before I disappear up to The House for dinner I shall get on with my unpacking.

Hopefully soon I'll have something more worthwhile to say and some photos to show you.

The Cupboard

The Cupboard as featured in the exciting posting on 19 April!

The Cupboard was bare

Filled with my goods and chattels

The Cupboard

I have woken to my last Saturday on this stay in New Zealand. Before I know it the last few days will have disappeared and I'll be wondering where they went. So I'd better think about storing and packing. At least I don't have to worry about where everything is going. All the things in daily use such as the DVD player and kitchen equipment will stay in situ. The same will probably be true for most of the books and games. Everything else will disappear into two cases for return to Lewis with me or into The Cupboard to be locked away until my return.
Now that I have most things here that I need I will not be taking things back and forth and will not require the 2 x 23 kilos of luggage that I can get with Air New Zealand if I fly one of the sectors through Los Angeles. Which means I can give a huge cheer and travel with any carrier and avoid the USA. I'll probably stick with Air New Zealand because they are good but I'll travel via Hong Kong. I like Hong Kong airport and I can put my luggage in at Glasgow, collect it for clearance in Auckland then give it back to them for the Napier sector. Going home it goes straight from Napier to Glasgow with no footling around with luggage in Heathrow. In fact from 1 June Air N Z will fly from Terminal 1 so I wouldn't even have to change terminals.