A Roof over my Head: Part 5

I am hoping that tomorrow I will manage to post some photos of the Cottage. In the meantime here is a taster looking up Wendy and Martin's drive to their house (top left) with the cottage nestling below it to the right:

Lemons

I was asked if I'd like a few lemons from a friend's tree.

Travelling by air

Travelling via Hong Kong was wonderful. Partly because Hong Kong is a much nicer airport than Los Angeles and partly because you don't have to go through the Imigration Service ritual to which the US (illegally, I understand) subjects transit passengers. It also means that one is travelling the 'correct' way round the globe and I managed two nights with some sort of sleep. That is only the second time that I have ever managed sleep on an air journey. The result was that I felt much fresher when I arrived here.

One point, though, for anyone concerned about their luggage allowance: Air New Zealand (and other Airlines I believe) who transit via the US allow 2 x 23k cases whereas if the journey does not have any sector via the US the allowance is 1 x 20k. All that refers, of course, to economy class. For those lucky enough to travel business class the allowances are different.

Neighbours

My Blogs such as they are have been very unexciting since I arrived. Sorry about that. Unfortunately having to do them in the Library makes it a bit difficult and I seem to have been rather pre-occupied with just slipping back into life at home in Napier.

Irritatingly I didn't bring the cable that attaches my Olympus to the Laptop so until I can get one (one more shop to try then ?) so I can't use any of the photos I've taken on it yet. However I have taken photos on my Canon of some of my nearest neighbours:

The Alpacas are admittedly a hundred yards or so away along the drive but the Highland Cows come within 5 metres of my deck. The front patio-style doors onto the deck are open and I can hear them chewing the grass whilst I'm in the Study. The Countryside is so noisy!

I have human neighbours too. I can just see some of their outbuildings from the front of the Cottage.

Leaving Lewis - Part 2

As I left Lewis the plane took off to the South and banked so that I managed a good long last look at Point and the home I was leaving behind for 6 months.

For those who don't know, my house is at the end of the first road that the eye comes to after the tip of the wing.

My first night

At night the Cottage feels very isolated. There are no lights visible from any window and no light pollution. To stand on the deck (the verandah) is to invite molestation from the myriad of beasties attracted either by outside lights of the Cottage or the lights through the windows. There are no vehicles and the Magpies which bounce around on the roof by day have gone to bed. Wendy and Martin's house is no more than 50 metres away but it is totally invisible. All is still. All is peace.

My head hits the pillow and I am instantly transported into 5 hours of deep, deep sleep.
Whether it is my personal call of nature or the call of the blackbird singing outside my window that wakes me at 0520 I'm not sure. But I return to bed and listen (despite the double glazing) to the incredible cacophony outside. The countryside can be a very noisy place. I fall asleep again to wake at 0645. I have to be up because the Council Building Inspector is calling at 0715 to do an inspection. Yes 0715, really. And he was a few minutes early!

He goes and I sit on the deck with my Muesli and contemplate my world and the day to come. There is so much to do, so many people to see, so many calls to make. I count my blessings.

Je suis arrivé

As I write this it's nearly midnight on Thursday which means that it's nearly eleven o'clock in the morning for those of you in the Uk who are reading this. Well it was when I wrote it. Unfortunately it will be a while before it's actually posted to the Blog. Why? On Tuesday Wendy left for the Practice in the sure and sound knowledge that the NZ Telecom engineer who had come to join the Cottage to the cable that had been previously laid (by NZT) would have the job finished and she'd come home to a cottage with a phone line. He did after all give her the new number. Suffice to say sometimes things appear to go just too smoothlyand the Cottage still has no phone and no internet.

Unfortunately mobile phone coverage around the Cottage is also sparse to say the least because of the hilly nature of the land. So sitting here in the Cottage I'm pretty cut of from the world at the moment. Many would count that a blessing. I'm afraid I'm not one of those people. So my intention is to write the Blog and download it tomorrow.

It was a wonderful feeling as the Dash 8 circled the whole of Napier before touching down at the Airport. There is something about flying into a place and recognising everything which makes me feel very much part of it.

I must have slept on the plane during the two nights I've been on it. The advantage is that I arrived without any trace of tiredness. The disadvantage is that I didn't read much of my book. In previous journeys I have read the whole 700 pages of books like Wild Swans.

I took Frazer to the Gym and went into Napier. It was as if I'd never been away.

A few minutes ago I was wide awake despite all the travel. Whilst I've been writing this Blog I've had a glass of Pinot Grigios (the first since fizz at dinner at Wendy and Martin's to celebrate) and am feeling quite tired. Bed beckons.

Sic Transit Gloria Tuesday

One knows one is getting old when one can remember when air travel was a joy. I'm getting old!

It's necessary, of course, but nevertheless it is frustrating and time-consuming and can be very irritating. Glasgow has updated it's equipment and the process was free of hassle and was speedy. You don't have to remove your laptop from the hand-luggage now in the main departure areas and everyone has to remove their shoes so the randomness is removed. It helped my composure that I didn't set off any bleepers. I have this travel through airports thing down to a fine art. And anyone who thinks that is bound for a fall.......

At Heathrow Laptops have to be removed! Shoes sometimes have to be removed so instead of everyone being ready no one is ready and hold-ups occur. I decided to go through without shoes regardless and with nothing in pockets etc. I set off the alarms. A complete search failed to find any cause and I was eventually released no doubt with a tag which would ensure that, if I ever go to the USA, I will be a marked man.

So here I sit in Heathrow with 4 hours to the flight being called and nothing to do except relax, read, do crosswords and visit all the shops from which I have absolutely no intention of purchasing anything.

Next stop Hong Kong!

The Leaving of Lewis

I left Lewis with a haste which bordered on the indecent. Pat took me to the Airport and we arrived in good time only to find that 35 minutes before the flight I was the last person to book in. That did have one advantage: my two large cases were not hand examined. The idea of having to unpack cases packed for a four-day journey was not an amusing prospect.

The disadvantage was that whilst I was wondering where all the passengers were and Pat was wondering if she could top up her caffeine levels, the last call was made for the flight and Fiona and Ann had not even arrived for the send-off. Fortunately they arrived just at that moment and it was undoubtedly the fastest goodbye I've ever had.

The plane was in the air one minute before departure time and on the ground in Glasgow 20 minutes before it was due.

I managed to get some wonderful photos of Point as we flew off but I can't include them on the Blog just yet because the cable I need to download them from the camera is in one of the cases somewhere (hopefully) in transit. I'll download them later.

A wonderful evening relaxing at John and Sue's in Glasgow set me up for the next leg of the journey.

Time and Date

Napier (in fact for our purposes, all of New Zealand) is usually 11 hours ahead of the UK during the UK summer and 13 hours ahead during the UK winter . This varies to 12 when New Zealand Daylight Saving and BST do not coincide.

For those who do not have a (wonderful) Kybtec Clock on their computer an excellent internet site which will tell you the time anywhere in the world (and lots more information too) is timeanddate.com . If you are just interested in New Zealand then click on Time in Napier .