Sunday

It's been a rather strange day.  Our clocks went back last night.  [Spring forward and fall back].  It's fall here in the southern hemisphere.   It's spring with the rest of you.  So in relation to the UK I’ve gone from being 13 hours in front a few weeks ago to being 12 hours in front when the UK's clocks went forward to 11 hours in front today now that ours have gone back.   To confuse me even more in a few weeks I’ll be 11 hours behind the ‘other half’ of my life and friends instead of ahead.

I was up at 6am and my priority for this morning was emails and a blog post. 

Out forecast this morning was drizzle all morning and solid rain for the rest of the day (and week).  That was a nuisance as I had a match to play this afternoon.  At noon it was pouring at The Cottage but my opponent lies about 5 ks away as the crow flies (actually crows don't fly in a straight line but I'll ignore that) and it wasn't raining where he lives.  The match was at 1pm.  We both turned up at the lawns and the sun shone.  It kept shining and the temperature soared for the next four hours whilst we played.  [I wasn't going to mention it but, seeing as you asked, I won.]

By the time I'd got home, watched the news, made dinner, sorted out the week's diaries with Wendy and Martin and had long chats to Anna and Gaz in Scotland and Holland respectively it was nearly 11pm.

I did the emails this morning but I still haven't done a blog post and it doesn't look as if I'll get one done either. How can one be so very busy and achieve so very little?

 

Oh well.  There's always tomorrow.  Leastways I hope there will be a tomorrow.  I'll be mightily pissed off if there isn't.

 Just walkin'

If.....

you are one of those of my friends who is wondering why I have not responded to an email, sent an email I would usually have sent, phoned you (sorry Mo!), commented on your blog recently, acknowledged a Facebook comment or responded timeously to Words With Friends then this post is aimed at you.  It is also aimed at the few who have wondered why my posts have been a bit erratic recently.

The answer, my friends, is blowin' in the wind.  Sorry, Bob, as a teenager of the sixties, I know that your words were not flippant as mine are but, hey, they just came out.

I've had a very full life recently and it's even more full at the moment and the coming weekend I shall be away.  All good stuff and I'm not - absolutely not - complaining but it seems to leave few moments for sitting and communicating with those not immediately in front of me.  I was settling at the computer down late this afternoon to write when Martin's brother over from Scotland popped in.  Six hours later having rustled up a family meal everyone left after a great evening.

All this has been compounded by the erratic nature of my internet connection at the moment.  It seems not to be available at the times I am available. I'm just hoping that when I've written this I will be able to post it on Blogger. 

In the meantime please bear with me.

Thankful Thursday

I woke to the sound of the rain hammering on the roof of the deck.  Not, I thought, as I realised it was still darkish at 0710, really the sort of day for driving up to Tauranga for a 5-day tournament.  One day at home was all I had to do catch-up and, of course, I have nowhere near managed it.  Not only have I got a myriad of posts from my adventures in Northland but there are still lots from Art Deco weekend.

Time.  There's an old saying 'when the Lord made time, he made plenty of it!'  Sorry that's no more valid than the old feminist saying 'when God mad man He was only practicing.'  There is never enough time.  

My lift is due in 3 minutes.  I'd better get out there with my luggage - which, ironically, is more than I have when I travel between Scotland and here.

For all of that little gripe I am truly thankful that I do have the time that I have and that I have the opportunities to spend so much of it in enjoyable pursuits.

Have a great day!

PS It's 0945 an the sun is now shining!

Thankful Thursday

It's raining this morning.  Yesterday was 30℃ and it was sunny.  This morning it's 13℃ at 10am.

The world is crashing down around me.  I know it is.   I feel like Librarian did fleetingly in her post a few days ago Am I Going Nuts?.  I want to shout STOOOOP!   

On Tuesday evening Wendy asked if I would set up their new laptop and load various items of software that I had suggested might be useful.  A couple of hours would see that job done and I could carry on with my own things whilst the programmes were loading.  Wrong!  Basically the network adapter wouldn't work so it wouldn't connect to the wifi or internet and I spent the evening and a lot of yesterday trying to sort it and then trying to convince the shop that it was probably a hardware and not a software problem.  At 6pm last evening after their techno wizard had been unable to fix it they decided that it probably was faulty!  Today I should be picking up a replacement.

That, in itself, doesn't phase me one little bit.  I have infinite patience with computers these days.  My philosophy is that everything is soluble.  If it's not (ok I know that's a non sequitur) then it's not.  Of course if it's mine and I'm relying on it it can be a pain and a half and I may be slightly less equable.

So what's my problem?  Why do I want to shout STOOOOP?  

The answer is that I want to do too many things in my life and all at the same time.

Yesterday,  for example, as I was trying to take stock at the same time as sort the computer I realised that I had not realised that it was February already.  February already!  That means that in a few days several friends have birthdays and I have done nothing about it.  That wouldn't matter but for the fact that I'm at least 5 days away by post.

So what's all this to do with being thankful?  Well as it's raining I won't be going to croquet so I can concentrate of getting things done round the house (it really does need a good clean) and catching up with those things which I ought to have done but haven't.

So this morning I'm thankful for rain!

Mind you if I spent less time writing silly posts like this one...............

Quare Tempus Fugit

After Gaz and Carol left this morning before lunch, I decided that I would devote the rest of the day (apart from possibly a trip into town and two lots of washing to be ironed) to Blogland and emails and catching up with phone calls.  Despite not going to town and sticking to my plan I still haven't managed to get through all the blogs and so on although I think I've probably managed most of the emails and some of the phone calls. 

And now I've run out of time.  However I've had an epiphany (you can get them on the NHS these days!) and now know why time passes so quickly.  It's because there are only 30 seconds in a minute when you get to my age.  It's OK for you youngsters out there because you have 60 seconds in your minutes.  Just wait until you get here and find out what it's like.

Daylight Saving Ends

It's been an odd day today weatherwise (I have a friend who used to berate me for this terrible 'Americanism' as far back as the 1960s).  I texted Jayne at 0920 to check to make sure that the weather was as bad down on the plains (where the croquet club is) as it was up in the hills where I live.  She said that there was no rain and she could see plenty of blue sky.  How odd.  We are only about 7 kilometers apart. So I played croquet with my sunglasses on.  Driving home from croquet, however, as soon as I left the coastal plains I was getting close to a really heavy thunderstorm.  

Looking towards Cape Kidnappers from Poraiti above Napier

Panorama with Cape Kidnappers in the far distance and the thunderclouds approaching from the centre of the Island.

I've been here at this time of year for the last five years but I cannot recall the end of daylight saving time being quite so noticeable.  When I collected Fraser from the gym last night at 7pm it was pitch black.  At 4.30 this afternoon the sky was dark and I shut the ranch sliders to keep out the chill and put the lights on.  Eh?  

Wendy and I were talking last night about the fact that I had only 21 sleeps to my return to Scotland.  It seems almost like tomorrow.  But as Wendy said it's actually one eighth of my time still to go.  Given the number of croquet matches I still have to play I'm going to need that time.  But I hope that we have some more sun before I go.

I’m There

I do choose original titles don’t I?

I arrived back on the Island on Saturday afternoon to be met at the Airport by a long huge hug from Pat.  At the risk of repeating myself (why should I suddenly worry about that?!) I can think of few things more calculated to make me feel alone and lonely than arriving at the airport with no-one to welcome me. 

I am starting this post at 0723 on Tuesday 27 April.  I’ve been up for quite a while after my first good night’s sleep since I set foot on Scottish soil.  Although the *** nightmares (well they were only ponies I suppose) are back.   Sibelius’s First Symphony is pounding out.  There is a vibrant urgency in this symphony combining the last throws of the great Romantic Symphonies with a push into the music of the Twentieth Century (In which, I think, it was written.  Having said that although Sibelius died in, again I think, 1957 he wrote little or nothing of consequence in the last 30 years of his life and I can’t recall how old he was when he died.  I must go and look it all up – sometime.)  Back to the vibrant urgency!   That is how I have felt since I returned.  There is so so much to be done.  there always is, of course, but, whether it’s my imagination or I just have a short memory, I feel more than ever that there is so much to be done and so little time in which to do it.  Which is odd if you think about it.  Perhaps that’s one for A Life in The Day Of. 

Then there are the silly things.  Where do I keep the saucepans? (The same place I’ve kept them for the last 15 years since I built this kitchen!).  Why have the saucepans moved around (Friends have been staying).  In fact so much seems to have moved but, when I think about it, I realise that I moved quite a lot of things last summer and my recollection just hasn’t caught up.  There are the missing things.  Well, not actually, they are things I take for granted in one life and suddenly realise that I’m in the wrong life to find that particular thing. 

By now it’s nearly midday.

I started making a list on Saturday evening.  I was on the second A 4 page by Sunday.  Now I’ve edited the three pages into lists: communicate, indoors, outdoors, plan.  Then there’s the URGENT list.  Then there’s the I can’t cope I’m going to have another coffee/pour a glass of wine response.

I spent much of Monday shopping and sorting things in Town (I even had my eyes tested).  Today I decided I wasn’t leaving the house.  Blogland beckoned.  However, this morning was spent on the phone and ‘sorting’ problems.  After two years I now have online access to my cell phone account!   At one stage I was on the phone to New Zealand when my other phone rang with a call from New Zealand!  I have made three appointments and ordered my prescriptions from the Docs.

Have you ever sat somewhere with a drip?  The water sort!  The roof of the Study is a double skinned polycarbonate lined internally with wood.  Onto the lead flashing was falling a drip of water from the gutter about 2 feet above.  It sounded, like, a hammer each time a drop fell.  Despite the rain I got the ladder out and scaled the dizzy heights up to the gutter.  It was blocked.  Now it isn’t.  Whilst the ladder was out I put up my wireless weather station.  Oh yes.  Things were getting done.  Now for Blogland.

Why does this wireless keyboard and the previous one which it replaced (both being used here with Palin my laptop) keep missing out letters – and failing to register the shift key - whilst my wireless keyboard in New Zealand works perfectly?  I think CJ has the same problem.  Answers on a post card, please, to…. 

Right.  I’m resolved.  I shall now do some blog posts.

By the way.  In case any of this sounded like a complaint please let me assure you that I’ve enjoyed every minute of the last 71 1/2 hours since I arrived back on the Island.

You may be wondering why this post is here as well as on Eagleton Notes.  It’s just in case you don’t read Eagleton Notes.

I should say, too that, there are still a few posts to come on this Blog.  So please don’t go away just yet.

There's An Urgency

Last night it was dark at 8pm.  The moon shone all night turning the night into a sort of blueish day.  When I woke this morning the clear sky had lent assistance to the southerly airflow and the morning was crisp and cold (6 deg on the deck).  Until now the morning temperatures have been in the high teens.  Instead of throwing them open I poked my nose through the ranch sliders.

Then I started thinking.  Yesterday I bought a pair of shorts which were on sale on a rack outside Tarradale's smart menswear shop.  And what else had I noticed as I walked past the Tarradale shops?  Signs saying that the winter collections were in store.  Shorts on sale and winter things in the shops. 

I think that I now have to admit that there may be a hint of autumn in the air.

Then I put out the rubbish and realised that it was Thursday.  I have been home for three clear days and have achieved so litttle of the things I mean to do before my visitors arrive.

I had put on Alicia de Larrocha playing Granados's Goyescas: music with an emotional urgency that almost drives you to tears. 

Suddenly I was gripped by an urgency I haven't felt for a very long time. I wanted to type faster.  I wanted to be doing the next posting.  I wanted my shower and breakfast to be over so that I could get to the next thing that has to be done.  Suddenly my mantra of enjoying every minute of life for what it is, vanished.  I have so much I want to achieve.  I want to be here and I want to be there.  There is so much to be done before the precious moments that I have left have vanished.   I do not have enough time.

And I'm not alone in that.

Plan? What Plan?

My day today (Tuesday) was to be very simple. Crouqet this morning. Lunch with a friend. Put in an appearance at pétanque and spend the late afternoon and evening cooking dishes to be frozen for the visitors for the next few weeks. Did it all happen that way? Of course not.

Wendy rang just as I was about to play in the first game of the day. Would I take the children to gym this afternoon? No problem. Of course I would.

Because I was to be ferrying children I skipped pétanque and arrived home mid afternoon and started cooking. In hindsight I should have ironed the sheets for my bed because I've just had to make it using different sheets and late evening is not bed-making time! Wendy arrived home with a car hors de combat in need of some TLC. Eventually the children's gym was abandoned. Wendy took The Handbag and I was left holding the baby so to speak.

I decided that, as soon as Wendy came home have to go and get a few odds and ends to finish the evening's cooking. Wendy arrived home with a friend who promptly produced a bottle of vino and poured us all a drink. Wendy fed the children. By 8pm, we had put the world to rights, decided that President Obama was a Good Thing after the day's declarations on Science and consumed enough wine to ensure that none of us did anything too serious for the rest of the evening. We opened one of the venison stews that I had ready for the freezer and ate a hearty meal.

Having had just 4 hours sleep last night (caused by an exceptionally late to bed and early to rise not insomnia) I have decided to have an early night.

Another Good Day has passed. Perhaps tomorrow will go to plan. Then again.........

Post script: I was in bed at 1045 and by 1048 I was away in the land of nod.

Time is an Illusion

A definition of Time is The inevitable progression into the future with the passing of present events into the past. Interesting. My (and my brother's for that matter) Mum used to say that the concept of time was man-made. This, however, is not really the place to start that debate and I merely included the statement because it came to mind.

Anyway yesterday morning time, man-made or otherwise, certainly came to mind. I rose later than usual (because I woke later than usual). I put the washing machine on and then followed my usual morning routine of switching on the kettle and Palin (my laptop who circles the world with me), attended to my ablutions and so on. After my two cups of green tea with lemon and emails I looked at the clock and saw that it was 0750. It did strike me as slightly odd because I thought I'd risen at about 0655 and seemed to have spent a lot more than an hour on my computer, putting out washing and doing 'morning' things. As I didn't have to be out until 0930 I got on with the ironing and went back to the computer where I realised that the time was, in fact, 0925. The clock's battery had lost power and although the clock had not stopped it had slowed down to a snail's pace.

Now losing an hour all of a sudden shouldn't really be a major issue in one's life but I have to say that the loss of that hour played havoc with my mental time-clock for the rest of the day. For the record I was out of the house by 0930!

OK so all that was a bit of an irelevant ramble but I thought I'd share it with you so that I could include a picture of my clock and the saying under it which was in my Christmas stocking.

What is worth your time?

"There have been a few times when someone or other said something that brought me to the conclusion that what I do at the computer is of no worth, like it's a waste of time. They can find much more realistic and usable ways of spending their time."

My brother, CJ, follows many blogs and writes very interesting ones as well. In fact I'd feel really devastated if , all of a sudden, his blogs disappeared. His blogs and emails are my main point of contact with him whilst I'm on the other side of the world. In fact they are my only means of contact given that he would never speak on the 'phone - something I do with other friends (sic - my brother is one of my very best friends) frequently and at length. As a result of that Simply Heather commented on one of my postings recently and I, in return, visited her blog. The quote at the start of this posting is from her posting What is Worth Your Time?

This blog tends to be more of a diary than anything more serious and I rarely comment on anything but the fact that Simply Heather feels that someone is suggesting that she is 'wasting' her time blogging or being 'on the computer' is an affront upon which I feel the need to comment and the 'comments' at the end of her posting really doesn't leave me enough space or freedom. Most of us receive comments from time to time on how we spend our life.

I iron my sheets. In fact I iron most of my washing including my tea-towels (but, for the record, not socks nor underpants!). Many people tell me that life's too short to iron (implying that I should have better things to do with my time). I don't sweat the small stuff. And almost everything is small stuff. People telling you how to lead your life or spend your time is, however, not small stuff. My time is very valuable to me because I have so very much I want to do and so very little time in which to do it (ok I have more than most because I don't need much sleep but that's still not enough). One of the things that gives me joy is nice cool crisp sheets and crisp shirts. So I iron. And it's not a chore. I don't expect others to iron nor do I expect them to tell me that I shouldn't. This is, though, I admit a minor matter compared with many others.

How a person spends their time, provided that it is not in a way which inconveniences or is inconsiderate to others is up to that person. Just as a person has the right to their own beliefs provided that they don't impinge on the rights or beliefs of others. I could go on....and on.... But I won't 'cos I'm sure that any reader of this will, by now, have got the drift.

So, Simply Heather, when anyone says you are wasting time on the computer be assured that, if you think you are not then you are not. I'm sure that, with your smile, you'll find the right words and that they'll get the message. And all your fellow bloggers will be agreeing with you.

Mixed Feelings

I filled the pill box today for the last time this visit. It seems so very long ago since I arrived and yet it feels no time at all. How very odd.

Time for Another Summer?

I played Association Croquet this afternoon. I say 'played' advisedly and with care. Fortunately there are no sueable implications in making such a statement although if my opponent was likely to read this Blog I might be a tad more cautious. To be frank neither my head no my body seemed able to realise why I was on the lawn. I've no idea even whether I won or not. If I did it was definietely not because I deserved to win. My opponent is one of the best players in the Club. Watching her was like watching poetry. What she must have felt like watching me I can't imagine. What she was gracious enough to say was that I wasn't my usual self.

The relevance of this is that if today had been my last game before my six month break from croquet then I would have left the game feeling all the dissappointing negative things instead of all the positive things I was thinking before I went onto the lawn.

That led me to thinking about the fact that my last game of this season is not too far away.

I came here for 25 weeks. I leave 3 weeks today. So I still have nearly one eighth of my total time still to enjoy. One eighth is quite a reasonable proportion generally speaking. Why, therefore, does it feel as though it is no time at all? Tricks of the mind.

The season is changing though. Yesterday evening the temperature on the deck was 23 deg until the sun had disappeared behind the hills. We had our starters and drinks on the deck. This morning I cleared the deck of dozens of dead black beetles which were swarming in the warmth of last night and were attracted by the light. The birds clear up all the dead moths and insects but won't touch the beetles. I don't blame them.

Tonight it's a chilly 17 degrees and it's dull. But then it is Autumn.

Time for a change. Time for summer.

Daylight Saving

The clocks went forward in the UK at 0100 today, Sunday 30 March for daylight saving (British Summer Time) so the UK is now at GMT + 1 hour. In France and Spain the clocks also went forward 1 hour. Both Countries are usually 1 hours ahead of the UK and now they are on Central European Summer Time (CEST) which is GMT + 2 hours.

In New Zealand we are still on Daylight Saving Time (DST) until Sunday, 6 April 2008 at 03:00 and are on GMT + 13 hours. When we come off summer time next weekend we will be on GMT + 12 hours.

All summer we have been 13 hours ahead of the UK. Now we are 12 hours ahead. After next Sunday we will be 11 hours ahead.

All summer we have been 12 hours ahead of Central Europe. Now we are 11 hours ahead. After next Sunday we will be 10 hours ahead.

Until it starts all over again next September when 'winter' starts in the UK and Europe and 'summer' starts here.

Isn't life complicated.

See The World Clock

A Very Satisfactory Day

Thursday 0800:
Various things keep making me realise that I'll soon be back in Lewis. Usually it's people asking me when I'm leaving/arriving depending on the location of the asker. This morning it was the re-filling of the fortnightly pill organiser (see I Feel Sad). I realised that the supply of pills left to take was very small indeed. One less thing to carry in the luggage - they are soooo heavy!

As I write the sun is streaming into the Cottage. As the sun gets lower in the firmament (whatever that is) the deck gets the full sun for quite a lot of the morning and possibly the day (but I've not been here to witness it). It's good because the body gets it whilst sitting at the table doing the crossword but the top of the head is shielded.

Becaise I and the few others from our Croquet Club who go away to Tournaments are often offered accommodation I offerred to billet someone for the present Tournament. I was allocated a chap called Mike from Gisborne who is an excellent Association and Golf Croquet player..

1015:
Since Mike left this morning I have managed to get lots done: washing out, some more of the car polished, blog, kitchen cleared up and I'm about to do some more cornflake crunch and possibly start the cheesecake - that's a bit of a poser actually because I have to have it done for Saturday but am out all day tomorrow playing in the Doubles at Te Mata. I don't have a regular partner for doubles and all the people who do partner me are playing with their usual partners. So Mike has been allocated to me (or me to him) by the Tournament Director.

2230:
I went to watch the final part of the Association Championship this afternoon. Mike won.

Then we had a couple of hours of games with Jayne and Colleen to famialiarise ourselves with each other's play for the Doubles Golf Croquet Tournament tomorrow.

Mike took me out to a Laos/Thai restaurant this evening. Very enjoyable.

All in all a very satisfactory day.

I Feel Sad

Every second Sunday I have a period of about 10 minutes when I feel very sad as I contemplate the shortness of my time here and how fast tempus fugit.

Every second Sunday I re-fill my pill box!

The Problem of Time

Well it's not exactly time itself that is my problem (except for the fact that there never seems to be enough of it) it's the fact that when I do things, when I write emails and Blog postings and when I send emails and post the postings themselves an all occur at times which can be separated by 24 or 36 hours.

Yesterday (Friday 7th) I posted something I wrote on Thursday evening after having played the Doubles in the N Z Croquet Nationals. In the postings I referred to today (which was true when I wrote the posting on Thursday evening). However at the start of the third paragraph I decided to clarify when 'today' was and managed to say that 'today' was Wednesday. It doesn't really matter but it is an indication of the fact that my mind a) is always trying to be in different time-zones at the same time when writing, b) is always conscious of the fact that something may not be sent or posted for ages after it's written and c) has just lost the plot.