Monthly Archives: August 2007

Sunny Day

Karola planted the yew trees. I bought a gate post (2.7m pointed, 200mm diameter). Bicka did a lot of lying round in the sun.

Hawkes Bay Weather:4°C—19°C; no rain (Mary’s gauge shows 140mm in July/August) [83.6]

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Baa Baa, Ha Ha

Shopping in the morning for: cordless phone, portable CD player, electric toothbrush – bought nothing, Also replenished maize, wheat, and sheep nuts animal rations.

An absolutely glorious sunny morning, In the late afternoon we vaccinated the 20 ewes and 6 ewe lambs (5-in-1 vaccine) and sprayed all of them with M for gtting rid of lice and blowflys. A couple of the Romneys are very light indeed, a couple are robust and healthy, By their teeth most of the Romneys are elderly; I noted only 1 2-tooth and 2 4-tooth Romneys, It started to rain just as we finished the sheep.

Several of the sheep have found they can jump down across the ha-ha quite easily, foiling my attempts to keep the 11 ram lambs separate from their mothers and sisters, They bent the netting where they’d been jumping down so that they were able to jump back up the ha-ha again, I think I can fix it but hope they haven’t got a taste for ha-ha hopping.

Early this morning I sawm out of the bedroom window, a large magpie catch and kill a goldfinch – it’s saifd they’re death to other bird life in the area, One of the pair of grey herons chased the mapgie later in the morning, so at least they are going to fight back.

Hawkes Bay Weather:3°C—18°C; 0.1mm rain [81.3]

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Winter As It Should Be

Some glorious suny spells. Finished digging the 25 holes for Yew trees, in the process enthusiastically cutting through one of the leaky pipes serving to irrigate the existing Yews.

Good film at the Century Cinema in Napier, “A Few Days in September” – atmospheric, intelligent spy/espionage thriller. Not quite up there with “As Others See Us” but most enjoyable. Meal at the West Shore Fish Restaurant afterwards.

Hawkes Bay Weather:11°C—18°C; no rain [81.3]

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Mild and Partly Sunny Again

This morning Karola found that one of the ewes had a miscarriage – we’ve yet to identify which ewe.

Some heavy showers and spells of bright sunshine. Indoor work today except for digging 7 holes (of 20) for the yew trees to form a hedge along the south side of the old homestead entrance.

Karola let the Romney ewes stay on the lawn but put the rest of the sheep back in the Triangle/Middle paddocks.

Alan Ladbrooke collected the cheque for Adam Ladbrooke’s ploughing and seeding what was the wilderness paddock, now the North paddock. ($550 – for 10 hours plus seed).

Eclipse of the moon was very clearly visible around 9:30pm this evening.

Hawkes Bay Weather:8°C—17°C; 1.5mm rain [81.5]

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Shopping and E-Mail

Still recuperating. Rained from midday onwards. I did a grocery shop in the morning. Laurie McDermott ( 10 Burton St, Flaxmere – 06-879-4283) came round before lunch and we thanked him for his help with the animals while we were away.

Cecilia rang wth a PC (computer) question which I’ll try to answer when we go down to Wellington probably early next week. We need to be here from mid-October for the lambing so are taking opportunities now to visit Bridget and family.

Hawkes Bay Weather:8°C—14°C; 20.6mm rain [81.3]

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First Full Day Back

Sheep are a bit thin though not over hungry so we put up an electric fence round the main lawn, the oak tree and the lawn in front of the geese enclosure, letting the sheep in to graze for a couple of hours a day.

Ewe #407 who died last week is buried in the Island next to the little shed. The young trees round the perimeter seem to be holding their own and I have 10 bantams left. Geese and cat have been thriving.

Bicka was brought back; she took her time to reinvestigate her territory. We took Graham (Harvey) and Tracey (Craig) out for lunch at the Clifton restaurant where we sat outside in the sun looking out to sea; they (c/o Touchwood Books, Box 610, Hastings – on Napier-Taihape road, 06-874-2977) looked after Bicka very well while we were away.

Hawkes Bay Weather:3°C—17°C; no rain [81.1]

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First Day Back

Unpacked and checked the stock. Everything pretty much as we left it. We arranged to reunite with Bicka on Sunday and stayed up till 7:00pm.

Hawkes Bay Weather:0°C—17°C; 0.1mm rain [?]

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Arriving In New Zealand

We touched down in Auckland at 9:00am – less than 24 hours after taking off in London. The winter sun and cool breeze were very welcome; I always enjoy getting back on New Zealand soil.

No trouble with luggage or customs; we took our luggage to the Domestic flights transfer desk in the International terminal and enquired whether they’d like to put us on an earlier flight – we were confirmed on a low-cost “air miles” ticket to Napier at 11:50am and it was only 9:30am. Air NZ kindly bumped us onto an earlier 10:15am flight at no charge.

We arrived, with our luggage, at Napier just after 11:00am and took a taxi ($40) to Karamu. A little tired and disoriented, and Karamu was safe and sound but a bit bleak, grey, and forelorn, but it was just wonderful to be back.

Hawkes Bay Weather:0°C—17°C; no rain [?]

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In Transit

About 11 hours flying before we landed in Hong Kong. Food was quite good; dozens of CDs and DVDs to choose from but in fact I just ate and slept most of the way, didn’t get my laptop out at all on this leg or the next one.

We had about 90 minutes in Hong Kong and the Koru Club membership got us into the Thai Airlines lounge. Excellent, spacious surroundings with good views onto the concourses and quite incredible snacks, also plenty of Internet access for those needing it. Karola and I both had a shower – oodles of hot gushing water with towels etc provided – no extra fees. It was the best sort of transit experience – even the security was quite mild and quick.

Hawkes Bay Weather:0°C—15°C; no rain [?]

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Leaving The UK

Last minute shopping in Ealing and final packing and weighing of luggage.

Minicab to Heathrow (20 UKP) at 4:30pm and we were checked in and through immigration/security checkpoints by 5:15pm. I very nearly lost my cellphone as it detached itself from my belt and was on the back seat of the minicab. I noticed as we were going through the doors into the terminal and rushed back; very lucky that the traffic was so heavy the minicab had left but was stuck in traffic a little way up the road so I chased it and got the phone back. Whew.

After a bit more shopping – well mainly looking – we went to the United Airlines lounge (Koru club membership lets you in) – a seedy, drab place with rather downmarket snacks. Not a patch on Auckland Koru club nor Qantas Melbourne and Sydney club lounges. In fact Heathrow overall is pretty depressing place.

While in the lounge some entertainments were afforded by an older New Zealand couple from Wellington; she was on the board of a Lower Hutt hospice and was using her laptop to compose some responses and a speech for the board. At one point she lost the changes, forgot to save the file, and her husband was most critical, as all nearby could hear. Karola offered my services to help find the lost data but it turned out the lost piece was quite small and easily reconstructed so all’s well that ends well. Also, to my surprise, a Muslim (I suppose) prayer meeting suddenly started – a dozen or so kneeling facing East and chanting led by a man, presumably a cleric. This went on for 20 minutes or more. Not sure how the majority of lounge residents would take it if someone started having a Roman Catholic mass in the lounge. It’s a changing world.

We were on board in our comfortable “Premium Economy” seats upstairs and off the ground by 9:30pm.

Hawkes Bay Weather:0°C—13°C; 0.1mm rain [?]

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Day 33 In The UK

Tuesday before we leave; quiet day with Karola and Jo taking the grandsons off to Osterley Park for the afternoon,

Hawkes Bay Weather:1°C—15°C; no rain [?]

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Day 32 In The UK

Monday after our return from Cornwall yesterday; shopping and then the taking back of the hire car. Ealing Car Hire have an interesting charging method. The initial charge is quite reasonable but then, until I took photos of the car rather conspicuously when picking it up on our 3rd hire 10 days ago, each time we returned a car we got hit with a charge for damages, scratches and dents of 200 pounds or so. I couldn’t see any evidence of the damage now on either of the cars we rented the previous 2 times so any repairs were very skillfully done, as I pointed out at length to the proprietor. We asked for mechanic’s reports of the damage to supplement the rather short letter each time just telling us how much of our deposit we’d forfeit. It is either a scam or a good idea for one; transpiring that the engineering reports were somehow currently mislaid but would be sent to us in the post (I won’t hold my breath).

Hawkes Bay Weather:1°C—13°C; no rain [?]

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Day 31 In The UK

Return from a very pleasant interlude in Totnes with Dave and Jan Mitchell. After a leisurely breakfast we set off around noon and, unlike Anna’s 7.5 hour marathon return yesterday via M5 and M4 (Saturday is the accommodation change-over day), we got back in about 5.5 hours including a long Sunday roast lunch at The Lamb in Hinton and a shorter stop for Karola to have coffee at Stonehenge.

Hawkes Bay Weather:8°C—15°C; 1.1mm rain [?]

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Day 30 In The UK

We packed up and left Fowey by 10:00am; Anna and the two boys off to duel with traffic on the A38, M5, M4 while Karola and I toddled over to Totnes, half an hour East of Plymouth. We arrived at 12:30pm for a very leisurely soup, bread, and cheese lunch, chatting on until late afternoon. Short tours of their house, including the major changes they made over several years; an extremely well designed open-plan kitchen and dining room with views of the rolling countryside to the East and a modern extension including Jan’s studio with curved beams and emphasis on pale blue and lots of windows. Melds well with the older parts of the house and has a feeling of space and light, as you’d expect for an artist. Dave also showed me around the town and we all visited the local Dartington Hall estate, walked round the peaceful, green and wooded grounds. Delicious evening meal in a local restaurant, the Kingsbridge Inn.

Hawkes Bay Weather:9°C—20°C; 3.4mm rain [?]

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Day 29 In The UK

Day trip over to Plymouth to a lunch with the McConnells. Grandparents Jim and Bunty, friends from Otterborne, were down visiting Tobi and her children Dante and Quin., it was Dante’s birthday. Tobi is their middle daughter and Bridget’s friend. She lives in navy accommodation and her husband Duggie is away on a navy nuclear submarine.

Hawkes Bay Weather:7°C—18°C; 5.1mm rain [?]

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Day 28 In The UK

Visited “The Eden Project” – working demonstrations and experiments for sustainability and retention of crop plants feeding and clothing the world. Exhibits outside and inside 3 large geodesic domes in a disused quarry.

Hawkes Bay Weather:8°C—13°C; 2.0mm rain [?]

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Day 27 In The UK

Trip to St Mawes – beautiful Cornish seaside town – and from there on to Falmouth and the excellent National Maritime Museum – huge amount for children to do, lot of effort put into the exhibits – then superb afternoon tea on waterfront hotel balcony back in St Mawes. Back to Fowey via King Harry chain ferry and dinner across the street at the Toll Bar outside on the waters edge.

Hawkes Bay Weather:5°C—12°C; 0.6mm rain [?]

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Day 26 In The UK

In the afternoon we took the tiny passenger ferry across from Fowey to Poluran. We walked up to the cliff tops and then had dinner in The Lugger before returning home on the ferry. Main excitements were several loud bangs and flares signalling the calling out of the local lifeboat. The first time it was an empty boat sighted in the harbour. The owner came and claimed it. The second time it was a couple of boys who had scrambled down some cliffs and got stuck; their mother got stuck half way down trying to rescue them. The lifeboat got the two boys and “cliff rescue” got the mother to safety.

Hawkes Bay Weather:3°C—11°C; 0.6mm rain [?]

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Day 25 In The UK

Monkey Sanctury in the morning – best bit by far was a wild flower garden in a little microclimate on the cliffs – bees and flowers and shrubs and warm with a gentle breeze.

Tolland Bay cove for sandwich lunch then off to Wadebridge for a 5.5 mile bicycle ride to Padstow on hired bikes, a fish-and-chip meal at Rick Stein’s Fish & Chip restaurant, and a dash back on the bikes to Wadebridge before it started raining hard. Almost 2 hours to bike the 5.5 miles out on a flat river-side trail; I got back in 30 mins with Anna, Felix, Barnaby 10 mins later and Karola a couple of mins after that. They’d all had a bit of a crash due, yet again, to Felix coming to a complete and unexpected stop right under Anna’s front wheel. Felix had a boy’s bike; Barnaby was helping Anna on a small-sized bike – well the back end of one that swivel-attached to the rear of Anna’s fullsized bike.

Hawkes Bay Weather:6°C—13°C; 0.7mm rain [?]

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Day 24 In The UK

Morning at the Lost Gardens Of Helligan – mildly interesting. Afternoon very peaceful in a little local beach 5 mins from house in Fowey called Readymoney Beach. Boys played on beach and rocks. Crowded but not nearly as crowded as I expected.

Hawkes Bay Weather:0°C—17°C; 0.7mm rain [?]

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Day 23 In The UK

We drove in convoy down to Cornwall via the M4 and M5. Despite dire warnings on the radio it wasn’t too congested; slow but moving all the time. Tiny narrow roads when we got into deepest Cornwall. Late lunch in Looe which was fearfully crowded and touristy. More winding roads and a chain ferry across to Fowey – it is quite different, only really one bay-side main street and our digs are a 5-storey building right in amongst it – with a parking space and a rooftop verandah, Amazing.

Hawkes Bay Weather:12°C—20°C; 1.2mm rain [?]

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Day 22 In The UK

Quiet day with Karola, Jo the minder and the grandsons out all day. Karola and I picked up a hire car for our trip down to Cornwall tomorrow.

Hawkes Bay Weather:10°C—20°C; no rain [?]

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Day 21 In The UK

A quiet day in Ealing. Karola took Barnaby swimming again; Karola, minder Jo and the two grandsons spent the afternoon with a picnic at Osterley Park and, by good fortune, this included entomological bug hunting and identification activities for children arranged by the National Trust, with some tame entomologists on hand for the trickier identifications.

Hawkes Bay Weather:4°C—15°C; no rain [?]

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Day 20 In The UK

Karola and Felix went to St Paul’s Cathedral for most of the day.

Hawkes Bay Weather:0°C—13°C; no rain [?]

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Day 19 In The UK

Karola and I went in on the Picadilly line to Green Park and visited the Royal Academy of Art again, this time we went to the exhibition of French Impressionist seaside paintings, with commentary.

In the afternoon Karola took Barnaby for a swim; I put 2nd coat of white paint on the door and window surrounds of the garage.

Hawkes Bay Weather:1°C—15°C; 1.6mm rain [?]

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Day 18 In The UK

Visited the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art this morning; Felix and Barnaby surprisingly well behaved on the tube and at the exhibition; they made up for that this afternoon. Anna and I did a bit of painting of the garage door and window sills this afternoon too.

Hawkes Bay Weather:4°C—17°C; no rain [?]

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Day 17 In The UK

Hot summer’s day; Karola and I visited Philip & Felicity Bagenal in Petersfield. Luckily they live well outside the 10 km exclusion zone thrown round the foot-and-mouth outbreak near Guilford. Felicity has a lovely eclectic flower garden and they served up a royal lunch feast under an awning in the middle of their sunny courtyard.

Hawkes Bay Weather:4°C—17°C; no rain [?]

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Day 16 In The UK

Picked up hire car and Karola drove us out to see Eve Gouldstone, near Newbury – beautiful English summer’s day.

Hawkes Bay Weather:6°C—14°C; 4.0mm rain [?]

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Day 15 In The UK

Karola, Jo the minder, her 2-yr old Chloe and the grandsons and I went to Beaconsfield to the Bekonscot Model Village – a couple of acres of model trains, villages, markets. harbours etc. – for a picnic and look around.

Hawkes Bay Weather:3°C—15°C; 0.1mm rain [?]

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Day 14 In The UK

Karola went with Claire Ewing to the Globe Theatre, a matinee playing Othello.

Hawkes Bay Weather:6°C—17°C; 2.1mm rain [?]

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Day 13 In The UK

Karola took Felix to Windsor and they had a thorough look round the castle together, Felix enoyed it. I stayed at home and did a little computing, eating, reading, and watching TV.

Hawkes Bay Weather:2°C—17°C; no rain [?]

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