Whooohoooo!

Soooo soorrry

Had a manic, busy exciting week and am now full of cold - poorly voice box and earache - blummin typical!

Well - fabbie news - the house is sold and hubbie will be here VERY SOON - yayyyy.

Friends came round for an impromptu celebration - we ate LOTS of rubbish and drank equally more vino etc - twas a luverly evening - whoopdedoo!

Then - in the same week - got a call from a friend (my neighbour in the UK who is staying very close to me whilst sorting out his work permit) asking to come round. 'Of course', came the reply - thinking - I wonder if he's got his permit sorted?

Guess who came with him? His wife and daughter! I didn't know they were here! They'd both arrived the night before. "Bloody hell!" was my very welcoming remark upon opening the front door! Followed by lots of hugs!

More drinkies and celebrations - because of course, neighbour had finally got his work permit, meaning that wife and daughter were finally able to join him here. The race is now on to see which one of us gets PR first!

The next day was my birthday - PHEW! Crawled into work and got home absolutely shattered - everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me in the staff room (most embarrassing). Also got lots of texts off fabbie friends.

Upon arriving home, son's girlfriend and her mum presented me with flowers and a box of choccies - what a really special surprise! - and after a cup of coffee, girlie chat and a hot bath to warm up - I was collected by further friends for a night out in Auckland CBD.

We took the ferry from Half Moon Bay (much to the bemused ferry man when faced by about 20 females off for a night out) - the city skyline looks GORGEOUS at night - and 2 glasses of wine later, we had arrived. Our journey then entailed 2 pubs and the imbibing of a cocktail (fruity something or other) and further wine, followed by an evening in Boogie Wonderland - complete with lighting up glass squares for a dance floor.

Friend and I were 'chatted up' by a very drunk male propping up the bar - if you can call it that - he told me my long sleeves were very sexy - hee hee! He was harmless enough!

It was quite a fun place - full of all ages all enjoying their evening out. I drank a beer here.

At the end of the evening, we ate chips (well I watched - cos the wine was not agreeing with me by then) and other things before making our way up Queen Street to the Sky Tower for our pickup. One friend was very drunk and kept dashing into the road - we had to grab her - she also accosted 2 very innocent males calling them 'wasters' in a rather loud voice. Luckily they didn't seem to mind. She was smiling very happily at the time!

Friend's hubby collected us very promptly wearing a lovely willy mask! He has previously picked us up in a very curly black wig and on another occasion with an Australian cork hat jauntily placed upon his head!

I listened to songs from the on-flight CD whilst returning home and finally rolled into bed at 2.30 am.

However, I was not drunk and slept really well until 10.30 next morning - lovely.

And wait - that's not all! On Saturday, further fabbie friends came round and gave me a birthday pressie - lovely red clogs - so comfy - they're plastic and you can wear them in the water, on the beach, round the house etc etc. I love them and was very touched - they know why - thank you.

Sunday - willy mask friends came round for tea and a lovely chat was had by all whilst watching Top Gear and Natural World/Earth? (David Attenborough prog).

Further good news came our way via England winning 1 -0 against Ecuador. Unfortunately Mexico lost against Argentina 2-1, which means that I will not be winning $24, so will just root for Engerland now instead! Doesn't take much does it!?

Wow - manic week last week - will be catching you up soon with this week's events!

Am now in the midst of final week of school before the very welcome hols - not long to go now!

Well tara - am now off to the kitchen to make an exciting cup of tea for my very gasping mouth, followed by a few pineapple lumps (kiwi sweets made out of chewy pineapple flavoured centre covered in milk chocolate) and possibly choccies from birthday. Will eat them with my new red clogs on whilst gazing adoringly at my flowers and other birthday goodies.

Cheers everyone.

Happy birthday to me.......

x Sue

Storms and swums!

Guess what!?

I've been fushing!

Guess what again?! I caught NOTHING! But - had a lovely day.

Went to a calmer beach than Piha for our virgin fushing trip in order to practise the knack of casting. Gave myself a new, longer life line on my palm courtesy of not letting the line go quickly enough - ouch!

We used baby octopus as bait - pretty gross really - felt like we were threading baby aliens onto the hook.

Spent the first hour or so untangling the line, pulling the line out of rocks , rehooking the line, adding further bait, getting excited when the line went taught - only to realise that it was stuck in weeds or something and then having to walk up and down the beach looking like morons trying to dislodge the line etc etc etc.

Here are some piccies of more calmer moments:



These are the rocks that I nearly got stranded on due to fast incoming tide and me not realising! Don't worry - would have just got very soggy feet.



Isn't it lovely? Very peaceful and not bad for mid-winter.

Spent many pleasant minutes watching birds diving into the hidden depths catching the fush that should have been ours - never mind - it was cool to watch.

We also saw a lovely friend there with a very nice male companion who kindly gave son lessons in casting whilst we gossiped. Son passed newly learned knowledge onto me apres girly chat.

Guess what - my face was sun burned (or maybe even wind burned) when we reluctantly returned home at sunset that evening.

The world cup is still going strong - saw a car racing by the other day at the traffic lights with England flags attached! Felt really out of place to see that here - but cool too! Engerland, Engerland, Engerland.... However, am still rooting for Mexico due to $24 prize.

Talking of cars - there's rather a fun advert on at the mo where they raucously sing about filling yer crack in - yes, you guessed it - they are of course windscreen menders.

Due to being a pommie wimp, I pulled out of going to Field days (largest agricultural show in the southern hemisphere) this weekend due to cold weather along with copious amounts of rain. What a shame - I missed the live sex show! Just kidding. Although there was one - it was a special machine made to look like a cow and therefore to attract bulls in order to collect their sperm! It apparently works - not sure whether I would have liked to see that or not.....

Swiftly changing the subject - last Monday the whole country awoke to severe winter storms - very heavy snow down south. A power line was brought down leading to much of Auckland without power - note I said a (as in singular) power line! The city was left in chaos - traffic in a mess and LOADS of people stuck in lifts requiring rescue.

I was one of the few people with power where I work - son's school was without power for much of the day. Was not looking forward to driving home, but luckily all was restored by that time and with the added bonus of there not being much traffic due to many people having been sent home, the journey was much quicker than usual.

The working week ended with a spectacular thunder and lightning bonanza. I was mooching around in Whitcoulls on my way home from work when there came an almighty crash and all lights went out in the shopping centre! One minute looking for books about cats (current school project - don't ask), the next in complete darkness wondering what the hell is going on!

Luckily the lights returned quite quickly.

Upon returning home, son reported that he too had heard the thunder, but felt it too - apparently the house actually shook - must've been very close!

This weekend just gone has been a mixture of the usual cleaning and catching up with tiredness on Saturday along with a bit of fun on Sunday.

We went to watch the local crazies help raise money for the local coastguard by taking a dip in the mid-winter sea. Upon watching, however, it didn't seem too bad as the people were in and out of the water pretty quickly and I have now (stupidly) made a bet of $10 with son that I will take part next year!

Here are some photos of said mad people:



Can you see the bride and groom complete with bridesmaid?



Superman is right at the front if you look carefully enough!

There was also a serious 1km race - now that would be cold - brrr. Here they are:



Here's the good old coastguard waiting just in case:



Well - everyone had a fun time and there was HEAPS and OODLES of hot drinks for chilled participants when they emerged from the depths of Howick beach.

Tata for now - got to go to work - it's early morning here right now - woke up way too early and couldn't get back to sleep - will be in zombie land by late this afternoon!

x Sue

House hunting, boat show, soccer world cup and fushing expeditions!

Hi all

Had a fabbie weekend last week and this weekend looks promising too.

I went house hunting with Ero friend - spent a lovely day looking at lots of very nice houses - here's our favourite:



Lovey eh?!

Ero friend slowed the car down and I took the photo very quickly before we were caught by the people within. We whizzed off! Sent it to hubby via e-mail to ask him what he thought! Told him it was a doer upper. Gave us lots of giggles.

Overall was very impressed with the newly built houses. They came with lovely tiled floors and good quality carpets. The master bedroom with built in wardrobes were more like with built in rooms!

I like the bungalows best and luckily they seem to be a popular option. Thanks for a fun day!

Upon returning from my house-viewing adventures, was called by other lovely friends and asked to join them at the Boat Show the next day - humm and haaad at first (due to copious amounts of work to get through), but glad I went because I got a NEW FUSHING ROD! It's a surf caster and I haven't got a clue how to use it - but never mind - I am an intrepid NZ explorer and am dying to try it.

I'm going to be very brave and hopefully I'll be able to touch the fush if and when I catch it. However, will have son with me to help if all goes downhill and panic sets in......

The last time I caught a fush was at the local market in Hong Kong. I had to chase it around the tank with a net and then take it home. Was descaling it in the sink when it suddenly jumped to life and nearly gave me a heart attack. Have been a bit of a wimp about fush ever since. Sad but true!

Before said intrepid trip, I have to buy hooks and weights. Again - not a clue. Hopefully a nice person in a shop somewhere will help me and will refrain from rolling around on the floor in laughter until I have departed from the shop and left a good distance between us.

The boat show was cooool. Saw lots of fabbie very expensive boats and also got to see various James Bond boats etc too!

Here you go.....





Very nice.

Here's Bondie things:
Front of sub:



Sub side view:


Red and white drag u through the water torpedo thingie:


Not a clue - but looks cool thingy:


Lovely lovely Austin Martin car (I think):


Had a great day and I'm glad I went - cheers for the invite!

I also enjoyed my roast pork sarnie with apple sauce - yummy scrummy!

News of the week:

Our house selling is looking good - everyone please keep everything crossed for us (and stay like that until I say otherwise).

Daughter is arriving in a few weeks and hopefully hubby not long after - yeehaa!

The All Blacks are playing Ireland while I'm typing this - it's 31:23 to NZ as I type! It's a tough old game - some of the blokes are HUGE!

Our school is having a sweepstake for the world cup soccer. We all put in $2 (winner get $24)and took a team out of the hat - my team is Mexico - GO MEXICO! Didn't take much for me to betray England eh?!

One of our South African teachers has got England.

Someone else got Tunisia, but had never heard of it! She dutifully got onto google and did some independent research.

My News and Views lesson on Friday was all about the teams entered - we researched where they were in the world and found out lots of interesting facts. Good fun was had by all.

Well - tara fer noo.

Sue over and out and off to get a BIG glass of wine before going to bed for much needed sleep in order to prepare for fushing trip to Piha (woohoo).

Bye

x Sue

Eight months!

Hello again!

I will have been here eight whole months by the time this week is over! Wow - it's FLOWN by!

Have had a busy week as per usual. Checking through reports, teaching, marking, planning and making maths games (of which I am currently colouring in and getting ready to laminate). 'How exciting!' I hear you all exclaim!

Here are some of the headlines of the week:

An armless driver was arrested for speeding - yes I know.....but it's true

Another bloke was arrested for speeding and the police put down that his job was ARSEHOLE! (Apparently, the policeman said that everytime he asked the person concerned what his career orientations were, the reply given was 'arsehole', so that's what he dutifully wrote!

Yesterday, I came upon a programme on the telly - Saturday morning - it was called Trucking TV NZ! Yes - you guessed it - twas all about truckers around the country. There was the 'Hero' of the week who rescued a damsel in distress and the main story was about some new dustbin collection trucks that only needed one man to operate the whole shebang - it even emptied the bins itself by use of a special metallic arm.

Son and I found ourselves watching this fascinating programme in our jammies and began to have a conversation about said dustbin truck, when it suddenly dawned on us just what we were doing! Scarey - we were being sucked into the Trucker Twilight Zone. TV was immediately turned off and showers taken before we dashed out in the late morning sunshine towards the direction of Titirangi (what a lovely name!).

After a few wrong turns and son's bemoaning of the map book ("it's useless" and "there shouldn't be a road there!", "where the hell did route 20B come from?", "How the hell have we ended up in Papatoetoe?", "Yes, (huge sigh) we're on the right road, but going in the wrong direction", etc etc etc) we finally made it to Titirangi (snort!).

Drove around a bit, got some petrol and made our way to Huia. Absolutely GORGEOUS little place - really pretty - it was like looking at a loch in Scotland. Here are some piccies:





See what I mean?



Lovely tree on the beach.



Son walking along the beach.

It was so quiet and calm. Also - the weather was beautiful - unlike today! I collected some pretty little shells that I may use for my Christmas cards - I know it's ages away, but it takes me bloody ages to get anything done with all the stuff I have to do for work! (Rant over).

On the way to Huia, we visited a little beach in Titirangi (hee hee) and watched a man row in from his fushing trip. We also saw an interesting carving on a picnic bench:



and here are son's and my shadows:



Here I am walking down the hill:



and don't get too excited - here I am a bit further down the hill:



What a lovely day we had!

On the way back, we called in at Botany to get my blonde locks trimmed and to get food for the week. Bought scrummy bananas and lots of kumaras (we always put them in our mash - mixed with normal spuds - luvverly!) amongst other essentials.

Today, I am off on another Tikki Tour with Ero friend - to look at some new houses in the Wattle Cove area - getting an idea of prices and areas etc. Looking forwards to it!

Oh - by the way - I can hear you asking why I am doing so much this weekend and not giving myself time for marking, planning etc? Well - that's because it's a Bank Holiday tomorrow. And what is this Bank Holiday for? I hear you all say - well it's to celebrate the Queen's Birthday! Something never done in the UK! Thank you Queenie for my day off.

Sue signing out to get showered and made presentable for Tikki Tour.

See ya!

x Sue