I've Inherited a Cat (and Thankful Thursday)

This was supposed to by my Thursday post.

I didn't sleep very well last night but as I still feel rested and good this morning I can't complain.  Today it wasn't the dawn chorus that was the 5 o'clock noise though:  it was Comet.  Yesterday it became clear that she has been keeping Andrea company at The Cottage during the day (as sometimes, apparently, had Misty).  Comet was clearly miffed at having her new friend replaced by this old and decidedly less cat-doting Cottage occupant.

If you're not going to let me in I'm going to sulk (sorry about the reflections!).

 I'm just checking you are still here.

So much for 'no animals on the furniture'.

Comet crept into the spare bedroom and managed to stay unnoticed whilst I went out to town.

It looks as though I'm getting softer in my old age. So the thankfulness today comes from Comet and Misty.

It's as if......

...I'd never been away.  After virtually no sleep during the journey I expected to have an early night and a long lie in this morning.  That's not how things worked out.  Having got home last night I immediately had a shower and then went up to Wendy and Martin's for dinner at 7 o'clock.   I came back to The Cottage after 11pm and a full night of conversation which included catching up and discussing life, the universe and everything as well.  

At midnight I fell into bed and was asleep before my head hit the pillow only to wake up about 5 hours later.  It was almost light.  My bedroom window was open and  the dawn chorus was flooding in with the sound of the rain on the roof of the deck (veranda).  It is not something I hear on Lewis. 

Since my first visit to NZ in 2005 I've flown with Air New Zealand: until the last visit when I flew with Emirates.  I flew Emirates again this time.  I felt disloyal leaving Air NZ but Emirates were less than half the price, the flight time was shorter and more convenient and I didn't have to go through Los Angeles with all the homeland security, retina and fingerprinting and so on that that involves.  Add to that seats with enough legroom in cattle class for someone on an inside seat to step past me without me getting out of my seat and the choice is a no-brainer.  Dubai Airport is very user-friendly and whilst there is the usual security for prohibited items in hand luggage etc there is no privacy invasion.  There is also free wifi everywhere.

Today I've been getting my stuff out of The Cupboard and getting things into the places they belong.  I'll have a bit more to say in the morning after a good night's sleep.  TTFN.

Booked to Return to my New Zealand Home

I've done it.  I've booked my flights back to New Zealand.

I arrive on New Zealand soil (or tarmac) on 5 November 2013.

A Chance Encounter

When you sit down in an airport waiting lounge with 500 other people about to board a plane, what are the chances of sitting next to the person you will be sitting next to on the plane? OK that's easy. But I even sat down on the same side of the person next to whom I would be sitting for the journey from Auckland to Melbourne.

As I opened my travel bag my boarding card showed and the shrinking violet on my left announced she was my traveling companion.  Which is exactly what she was for the best part of the next 5 hours.

We were at the front of the huge double deck A380 so boarded last.  As we left our seats in the lounge TC (I shall call her that as we never exchanged names in all the words that passed between us) looked back to make sure she'd left nothing.  I looked round to see what she was looking at and my keys were on the chair I'd just vacated.  They'd fallen from a pocket.

From that moment it was as if I had a minder the same age as my son Gaz.  I told her the story of Catriona saying that if she held my hand crossing the road people would think she was helping me. She liked that.  She was by far the most enchanting and entertaining bossy boots (her words, not mine!) I can recall meeting.

She told me which films I would likely enjoy and whether they were funny or sad or whatever.  I had another 14 hours on that plane after Melbourne and with hindsight and having followed her recommendations I can say that she chose well.  Some I would have watched anyway:  others definitely not.

Thank you TC.  You were a ray of sunshine in my journey.

Not Quite Home

I'm not quite home yet but I survived the 50 hours between getting up on Monday morning in The Cottage and going to bed on Tuesday night in a suburb of Glasgow (bear in mind the time difference if you are wondering how that makes 50 hours) with no ill effects.  I then had six solid hours sleep and at 1640 on Wednesday as I write this I have had a fairly full day and am still awake and about to go to a friend's for dinner.  By the time I've had a glass of wine tiredness may catch up with me.  It may take a couple of days for me to adjust my body clock fully but at least I don't suffer from the disorienting and debilitating jet lag that many people have to put up with.  For that I am very grateful.

I still have one or two things left to post about here before I get home to Eagleton on Saturday and revert to Eagleton Notes.

Returning to Scotland

In 14 hours and 24 minutes I shall fly away from here for the eighth time.  Not only does life now seem to go so fast in six-monthly chunks but it seems to go even faster in decades.  I first came to New Zealand in 2005.  I seems like yesterday.  Yet I seem to have lived in New Zealand for ever.  It's a funny old world.  Talking of world Kay asked which way I was going back to Scotland.  I'm going this way:

Naoier to Auckland on an Air New Zealand 50-seat Bombadier Q300

Auckland to Melbourne on an Emirates A380

Melbourne to Dubai on an Emirate A380

Dubai to Glasgow on something with wings and engines

Glasgow to Stornoway on a Dash 7

It's a long way whichever way one looks at it.

One More Sleep

It's 0730 on Sunday morning.  I have one more sleep before I leave for Scotland.  I have just been standing on the deck contemplating with my cup of hot water and lemon as the sun shines over the rim of the geological bowl in which The Cottage is situated and makes its way right into the living room.  In fact it's shining right to far wall of The Study in which I am sitting writing this post.  In the summer it hardly touches the deck it is so high in the sky.  This and the fallen leaves and thinning trees are a stark reminder that autumn has truly set in.

I should have known that it would be a beautiful day today after last night's sunset and the words red sky at night is a shepherd's delight.

Standing on the deck at 0730 I was listening to the myriad of birds all having their say: the Tuis calling to each other and chattering away ten to the dozen; the occasional Blackbird (one was singing away last night more than I can ever recall here before); the little Silvereyes and Sparrows twittering as they flit between the trees in their little flocks; the Fantails chasing flies and each other in astonishing aerial acrobatics; and the occasional screech of the Pukeko.  The countryside may be very peaceful but it is rarely quiet.

What really caught my eye though was a lone Monarch Butterfly.  I thought that it was a bit chilly for a butterfly but at 0730 it was 15℃ on the deck.  It could be another warm day. 

Clouds

In a comment on a post recently Monica mentioned clouds.  I can't actually recall which post it was on.  However it did start me thinking. about clouds so I thought I'd do a post on them given that the last few days have seen wonderful cloud formations and light here as high winds and fronts have moved through. 

New Zealand is known in Maori as Aotearoa. This is now accepted in both languages and appears in the official title of many organisations.  The usual translation of Aotearoa is The Land of the Long White Cloud (from Ao (cloud), tea (white) and roa (long)). However as with many place names the origin cannot be certain and is bound up with Maori mythology.   New Zealand is made up of two long relatively narrow islands with a spine of mountain ranges.  Those ranges are often topped with cloud: a long white cloud.

A front moves across.  Over the far ranges a long white cloud can just be seen right along the tops.

Not quite lenticular clouds I don't think.  Next year I must get myself a book on clouds.

Do you see what I see?

It really was like this!  Sunset behinds me reflected in front of me.

I Love Gannets

Thankful Thursday

I have 3 days and 15 hours and 44 minutes until my departure back to Scotland.  

That is a very long time if one has toothache.  If one has a life to pack up into The Cupboard as well as live each day to the full then it is ein Augenblick. 

Today I was thankful for the moments spent just relaxing at Ninety Mile Beach in Northland with Pauline.  It set me up for the rest of my stay here.  I have saved two of my (and, I think, Pauline's) favourites from amongst the photos I took when we were there.

 For the peace and tranquility of those moments I am truly thankful.