Pétanque

Whilst I was in Scotland during the (New Zealand) winter I was regularly in contact with Ngaire and Bill from the Pétanque Club. Not long before I returned here Ngaire pointed out that I had blogged many times about Croquet but never about Pétanque. Oddly I thought that I had and that Ngaire must just have missed it. But I was wrong - again. I had not done so. So I will remedy that this season.

I love the design

The Club House and terrain

'Throwing up' for teams on club day

Ngaire, Bill (throwing), Maurie, Vic and Noel (taken this week)

"Try and point in just there."

"I'll race you."

Boule away

"Hmmm!" (Players spend a lot of time hmmming)

A Tournament at Bay View Club

Measuring (Players spend a lot of time doing that too!)

Trophies

During my last stay in New Zealand I had a very enjoyable and reasonably successful Croquet Season. For the most part the national Tournaments I entered don't have trophies - just a certificate and a cash prize. However the tournaments within our Club do have trophies and I was surprised when I returned to be presented with the following:

The Helen Duncan Memorial Trophy (for the most improved player in the Club that season)

The cup is The Dorothea Sweetapple Trophy and the plate on the right is for the Association Doubles Championship for the season.

The important possessions: books, glasses and croquet trophies
(how on earth did the Scrabble get there?)

Goldfinch

There are a lot of Goldfinches in the area round The Cottage and flocks of them flit hither and thither - usually staying some distance away from human presence. However this lone one decided to sit outside the door and enjoy his meal and ignore me.

Un Beau Sourire

Another Moa

With 5 acres to attend to you need a fairly substantial piece of equipment. It mightn't match the Big Boys' Toy that I have to mow the croquet lawns but it's a darn site more fun and a darn site less nerve-racking and there is no-one to tell you that you haven't got your lines straight. Not that it would be wise to tell Wendy that anyway!

Stranded

After Croquet on Tuesday I remembered that I was on the rosta for mowing the lawns. Straight back into things with a vengeance. I remembered how to start up the mower and drive it too - it had some idiosyncrasies which I'd mastered last time. Now it has lost some of those and gained others. Of course there is nothing idiosyncratic about needing fuel. I forgot to put fuel in. So half way through I was left stranded in the middle of the lawns with them half cut. Fortunately the can did have fuel so I just had to fill the mower and off the two of us set. I like mowing in the warm sun.

Sheep

On the way to Town yesterday evening I was stopped at the end of the road by a flock of sheep. It's the first time that I've been stopped in such a way. That puzzled me because there are so many sheep in New Zealand.

The first sheep were landed in New Zealand by Captain Cook in 1773. The Sheep population grew to 70.3 million in 1982 but has now declined to 43.1 million due to declining profits compared to other types of farming.

That still represents 11 sheep for every person in New Zealand.

There are 36,000 flocks of Sheep with an average flock size of 1400. The main breed farmed in New Zealand are Romney, an English breed. They are largely dual purpose wool/meat animals and their wool is predominantly strong. New Zealand is the world's largest producer of crossbred (strong wool) contributing 25% of the world's total. This is two and a half times as much as contributed by China, the next most significant producer of strong wool. This type of wool is used mainly in interior textiles such as carpets, upholstery, furnishings, bedding, and rugs. It is also used for handknitting yarn and blankets.

India of Inchinnan

The morning after I stopped the night in Glasgow with John and Sue we went to the splendidly restored India of Inchinnan Grade A Listed Building for coffee. If you are ever in the area it really is worth calling in for coffee or lunch.

The Sun's Going The Wrong Way Again

Where do I start? Coming back again to Napier has been an odd experience. I've been welcomed back by some as if I am a long-lost friend but at the same time, in some shops for example, its as though I haven't been away. Today I called into a café I used to use very frequently (I did my emails from there before the phone was installed) and was asked where I'd been 'cos they'd missed me. That's gives one a warm feeling.

In fact I have started this entry so many times it is getting silly. Why? Because each time I haven't finished it and the next time I've started the feelings that I had and what I had wanted to say have changed and the moment has been lost.

I am exceptionally lucky in that (touch wood) I don't suffer from jet-lag. For whatever reason I don't know because I don't do or take anything for it. As the first day back was a day after I'd had no real sleep the previous night, I did at least expect to get to bed early. But things didn't quite work out like that and Wendy, arriving home having just appointed a new Principal to the school of which she is a member of the board of trustees, saw my light on and popped in. It was midnight. Four hours later I got to bed. Four and a half hours after that I woke to a sunny morning. And it's been like that ever since.

It is now one hundred hours since I arrived and it's as if I'd never been away.

However today was a very important landmark in that I decided that I was only playing Golf Croquet this morning and not staying on for an afternoon of Association as well. After catching up in Town I went with Wendy to collect the children from school and we went and had ice cream from the village shop, wandered around a new set of blocks (I'll explain that one in another blog) and came home en famille. I've just been making stuffed mushrooms and I'm taking them up to The House to have with steaks for dinner.

OK this posting has been a bit of a diary and a self-indulgence. I'll try and get into the swing of a daily posting and include some photos and make it interesting. I'm just hoping that I haven't used up all my ideas on the last visit.

I Am Here

Please don't go away.

I have been so very hectic since I arrived that I haven't had time to do my Blog's yet. Actually it's more complicated than that but I'll explain when I blog.

I'm hoping this afternoon to forego Association Croquet (despite the fabulous sunny day) to catch up with enough things to give me blogging time before going out to dinner (yet again). If I don't manage to blog until this evening I promise you there will be something before I go to bed .