Suitably appraised

The appraisal happened on Monday. It was scheduled to last 45 minutes. We finished four and a half hours after we started. It was thorough, I can tell you. But, in the looking back bit, all the feedback was positive, which was nice to hear. It was so good to finally get some feedback too. I've kind of been flying blind for the last couple of months. My boss says I'm exceeding expectations, he's had great feedback from other people in the company, and he's excited about where things are going to go in the future. Monday was definitely one of my better days.

Speaking of work, my corporate uniform finally arrived. There is a sort of grey pin-striped everyday shirt and then a white dress shirt and green and black striped tie for best, for meeting the customers and the like. Joanne says I look like a salesman. It's good it arrived though. In a couple of weeks it's Show Week down here in Canterbury and as part of our learning experience Gabi and I have to go and press palms with the farmers at the Royal New Zealand Show, representing the company and getting out there meeting people. To be honest, I'm a bit nervous. I hope the farmers are understanding that we're not quite experienced enough to be able to give them a fertiliser recommendation plan or anything. I think we just have to be nice and friendly and welcoming, directing people to the people who will be able to help them. I'm looking forward to the show though. It looks like it might be fun. I hope we get to wander around a bit as well as manning the stand for a while.

It's a shame the show is so soon actually. A guy in our company, a soil scientist nicknamed Dr Dirt, gives a two-day 'Soils 101' course for the new field staff every so often. One thing I mentioned in my appraisal is that it would be useful for me and my background knowledge to attend, and the next running of the course is at the end of November, up in Pukekohe. Come December, ask me about soil. I promise I'll know more than I do now.

Gah, this internet is so slow. With Joanne still consulting for her old company this month (until today - hurray!) she's had to download quite a few files and hefty email attachments. This has meant that we've exceeded our monthly broadband limit of 3gb. So now we're having to run at a capped speed. It's dial-up speed. It's 2007 and we're restricted to dial-up speed internet connections! Roll on 11th when the next 'month' starts.

Better news, however, comes via the UK taxman. They've repaid me my tax I'd overpaid for this year, which was nice. It's just a shame they repaid it to my UK bank account.

Did I tell you we got our tickets for Bon Jovi? Me, Joanne and Gabi are going to relive the 80s. I wonder where I can find a poodle-rock wig to wear for the night...

Paddling

We awoke this morning to beautiful blue skies. This was good news. It meant our plan to visit the Christchurch Arts Centre market after church followed by a bit of kayaking on Avon through the Botanic Gardens could go ahead. I've been looking forward to both of these things for ages. Everyone has recommended the market to me while I work opposite the boat sheds and often, if I take a walk at lunchtime through the Botantic Gardens, I see tourists paddling on the river and it looks like fun. I've always had this idea that I'd like to get into kayaking.

I'm not sure what I was expecting with the market really. It wasn't comparable to Borough Market, or the markets we used to go to with Bints and Rene in Vienna. There were some nice handicraft things, I guess, but I suppose it was aimed at the tourists really. The food was good though. Down one bit of the Arts Centre there was a 'street' with food stands both sides where you could get all sorts of different foreign foods, from Egyptian to Indian to Chinese to Thai to Lebanese to Hungarian to Greek to German. Pretty much something for everything. A slice of leberkaese and a souvlaki later it was time to hit the kayaks.

It was really relaxing, paddling along the river, ducks and ducklings swimming by, the sun shining and the trees and river bank sheltering us from the breeze. Definitely a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon, working off lunch. I'm going to ache tomorrow though. I had a different kayak to Joanne. Hers cut through the water like the cliched hot knife through butter. Mine was more like a brick through a window. I don't think it was down to technique. Still, it was great fun. And Joanne enjoyed it too, once she got in the boat and set off.

I think I'd like to investigate some sort of kayaking day-touring thing (down-stream, of course). I think it'd be an awesome way to see the countryside. Lots of people have their own kayaks, it seems, and just head off into the back of beyond at weekends. I presume there's some sort of kayaking map you can get to let you know when you're about to fall down a waterfall or have a bit of fun down some white-water rapids.

Last night we were out to dinner at the house of a couple from St John's, Tim and Christine. Another case of friends in common. They know a guy, Tim, from the barge from his time in Chch, and also they have just got back from five years overseas, the last few years of which were spent in London where they went along to St Helen's so we're bound to know some of the same people from there. It was a lovely evening though. It's so great that people have been so welcoming. And with Tim and Christine having spent time in London and at St Helen's it gives us all something in common right away. We had roast lamb again, like at Monika's on Wednesday. I do wonder whether Kiwis do eat roast lamb all the time or whether it's just the traditional Kiwi meal so with us being new here it's the traditional first meal to be cooked. Not that we mind. We both love roast lamb.

I've got my rearranged appraisal tomorrow. Supposedly. I guess more time will be spent on looking forward rather than backwards, given that there isn't that much backwards to look at. I am looking forward to some feedback though, just to get an idea whether I am beginning to deliver what they employed an analyst for.

And speaking of illumination, in a smooth linking way, I found some lights outside the garage door at home last night that don't appear to have a switch to turn them on. How frustrating is that?

Early finish

One thing that's strange here is how going out for dinner with colleagues after work means just that, and then straight home. Table booked for 6pm, order food, eat and then straight home. Home just after 8. Not like London where meeting someone for dinner after work means a whole evening thing usually.

Maybe it's because there's no 'pub culture' as such over here. You don't meet in a pub for a drink, or before dinner. Or go for a quick one after dinner somewhere. You're much more likely to meet in a coffee shop and, as we've seen, go straight home after dinner. There are a few sports bars and stuff with big screens, but no proliferation of pubs and bars like the UK. It's a little strange.

Joanne's been to a music workshop at St John's tonight, with a view to joining the music group to start singing again. She did so enjoy that on the barge, while it happened. At least it means she's not firing up the Singstar, at least ;)

Embarrassing

Here's a free bit of advice for you - never go to dinner at someone's house taking the box of chocolates you were just given at the end of a work conference for the host without checking inside to see whether your company have enclosed either a letter thanking you for your hard work or a big company logo sticker or both.

Luckily the chocolates were excellent quality Belgian-style chocolates so Monika was understanding of the thought behind the gesture.

Dinner was lovely though. It was so nice to spend time round at theirs surrounded by the kids and seeing Marvin, Melanie and Monika's mum, Elizabeth, again. We had met her a few years back at St Helen's when her and Lloyd were over in the UK visiting, and then also again when she and Mel were over for Marvin and Tianhao's marriage. We will have to make sure we get in touch with her when we make it up to Wellington for a weekend sometime.

It's felt kind of strange meeting the third sibling after knowing Marvin and Mel for so long but Monika and her family have been just so welcoming to us. It's really made the move so much easier having contacts in Chch but the real difference has been as a result of these contacts being so lovely and welcoming. I mean, just because Joanne and I are friends of Melanie and Marvin's doesn't really mean Monika had to have anything to do with us but her and Barry have been brilliant, getting in touch with us, and then getting in touch with us again when everything going on in our life meant we were rubbish at getting back to her, and then having us over for dinner and everything. It's people like this that have really made things easier. Sure we still miss all our friends back in London loads and stuff, and that's been one of the hardest things so far for Joanne and I, but having people like this over here has helped fill the gap a little.

Someone from church called today to invite Joanne and I for dinner on Saturday. We are definitely being welcomed whole-heartedly. Our dining table arrived tonight, finally, so we can start having people over to ours too, which will be great. We do love having people round.

Football went amazingly well again tonight. A second consecutive 12-3 win. And this time against a team who had beaten us before. We're getting better and better the more we play together. It's amazing to look back and how we were a month or two back when we first started playing.

In hot water

The definition of caution - driving your boss's car in a hurry with him sat in the passenger seat next to you on roads you've never driven in gale force gusty winds. The drive to Hanmer Springs for this work off-site conference was interesting, I can tell you.

Hanmer is a really nice little village tucked around in the foothills of the Southern Alps, famous for its thermal pools. It’s got a really Alpine feel to it. Maybe it was the chalets, or the pine trees and mountains, I don’t know, but it felt familiar somehow. The sunshine we had for the two days certainly added to its appeal. A strong wind blew for most of the time we were there but it wasn't a problem as we weren't there for recreation, I guess. And the one time we did have some spare time, before dinner last night, the wind dropped so I got to wander around and do the touristy thing with my camera. I didn't have time to visit the thermal pools though, which was a shame. Joanne and I will definitely head up there for a weekend at some point though, so we'll do all that then.

The conference was interesting. I think the main thing to come out of it, for me, was the chance to meet some of the people who work around me in head office and for them to meet me. In the course of the everyday work environment I don’t really have cause to interact with the finance or supply or admin teams so it was good to hang out with some of them a bit.

The theory behind the conference was mainly a thank you for the work the people there had put in over the past year. In addition there was a suggestion it was a strategic conference for us all to discuss company strategy. Given the people that were there it was perhaps inevitable that the outcome of the discussions took a more operational tone. It was probably more beneficial that it did really though. I'm not sure how much strategy, if we'd come up with any, would have been adopted by the management committee. I guess another thing to come out of the conference, for me, was a better understanding of how what each team does all fits together and how it interacts. I also learned that the marketing and sales teams, the two teams I am part of, are not particularly favoured by the rest of the company. Everything seems to be either the fault of the sales team for not selling or the marketing team for not communicating properly, either internally or externally.

The whole time away, as good as it was, could have been better. It was kind of spoiled by my having one of the worst night's sleep ever last night. It rivalled the night in Hull after 6 cans of Wild Brew or the night in southern Spain at Joanne's relatives' for lack of sleep, but this time wasn't self-inflicted. I not sure what caused it, but it wasn't the one and half glasses of wine or the Baileys. It really must have been something I ate, but I spent all night in alternating hot and cold sweats flitting between the bathroom and the bedroom. Not pleasant. And we're out to dinner tonight too. I hope we're not having anything heavy.

It was strange driving back today, arriving at the outskirts of Christchurch and thinking "I'm home." It's the first time I've felt that. It's good to be home though, and to see Joanne. Last night was the first night we've spent apart since we moved here.

Ooh, and changing tack just slightly, Bon Jovi is playing here in January! We are so going.

Aching bones

Don't make me laugh. To quote the Molenberg bread ad - "It hurts when I smile." All over. I had my gym induction yesterday and the trainer made me work. It felt fine at the time but it doesn't now. And it's getting worse. I hope it feels better tomorrow otherwise I'm not going to be much use for kayaking. Or for touch in the evening.

Why is it I sit here almost every Sunday evening and write about how busy we've been the past weekend? Tonight will be the same.

As I said, I had my gym induction yesterday morning and then the guy came to fit the shelves in the wardrobes. (And a great job he's done too.) While he was here Joanne and I loaded up the car with all the boxes and recyclable packing materials we had lying around. Once the wardrobe fella left we headed off to the refuse centre to dump that lot. The Santa Fe was full. Total fully of cardboard and paper. It seemed such a waste throwing it away but at least we could take it to be recycled. Then there was the weekend's obligatory trip to Briscoes followed by the supermarket, where the Saturday girl packing the bags was most bemused by my t-shirt.

Today we had another early start for the rugby final, followed by church, and then a picnic. The rugby was a little disappointing but I guess we have to focus on the fact that no-one expected England to do anything and some even predicted, after the 36-0 SA game that they'd fail to get out of their pool, but they ground out some dogged results beating Australia and France to reach the final. Which of course, is two rounds further than the ABs. I do wonder what the reaction has been like back home to reaching the final and stuff. I can't really remember the media coverage back in 2003 really, just the made Trafalgar Square stuff afterwards. I guess that won't happen now though. I do hope they get a heroes welcome home though. They deserve it for the fight they've shown to overcome all the odds and surpass everyone's expectations.

Church saw another great and challenging sermon by Wally from Deuteronomy. Today was the start of chapter 5 and the prelude to the Ten Commandments. And then the picnic. The guy who organises the touch rugby on a Monday night from church, Ailers, organised a picnic. It was a BYO thing but just an excuse to go and hang out together enjoying the sunshine (and it was gorgeous for most of the day.)

There were a few people at the picnic we knew, and a few faces I recognised from touch, and it was good to see Simon and Rebekah there and have chance to catch up with them. At one point though everyone was chatting and we were kind of left on our own a bit. It would have been easy at that point to get up and say our goodbyes briefly and slink off. But I was determined we wouldn't. We're not going to make friends by doing that sort of thing, so we sat it out, and a little later a few people came over and introduced themselves to us and we had a good chat. Making friends is a slow and hard process, but I guess we just have to put ourselves out there. It's be easier when we have a dining table and can invite people over for dinner, I reckon.

In church today, someone from the mission team stood up and gave us all a quick update. It turns out that one of the mission teams St John's supports is David Mann and his wife, the doctors at the hospital in Madagascar where Chris and Ros spent last summer. Small world, eh? I need to get around to emailing Chris to see how Oak Hill is going, so I'll make sure I mention it.

Shocker

I am having trouble comprehending the fact that there are no moles in New Zealand. Joanne broke this to me the other evening. It just seems a strange concept, not having moles. She'll be telling me there are no squirrels here either next.

Have I really not written since Sunday? It really has just been one of those weeks, I guess. Just non-stop. And when I have had a spare five minutes to relax I've just been exhausted.

On Monday we had someone come round to discuss wills and powers of attorney. Cheery stuff. Then I had a run around in the park playing touch. Let's just say last week's bright start was beginner's luck. Tuesday we had bible study group round at Lisa and Steve's. Wednesday was a quieter evening, but I was shattered so just crashed. And then last night was 5-a-side again (we won 12-3, but the team were a bunch of novices who it seemed had done little more than kick a hackysack round in the park) after climbing up a ladder to put empty suitcases in the loft.

Joanne's been busy though. Most of the crates we bought at the weekend are now filled and we're down to our last ten boxes or so. This weekend we're probably going to head off to the refuse centre at some point to dispose of all empty boxes and used packing materials. She's done a great job. I just hope she remembers where she's put everything!

We've got a three day weekend this weekend, which is nice. Monday is Labour Day, a day that celebrates the event of the eight-hour working day. It's just a shame that hasn't filtered down to the place I work, eh? Although, to be fair, my boss does insist we get away from the computer at lunchtime and insists we take morning and afternoon tea breaks. I do wonder whether that's for our own good, or to aid our productivity levels though. Speaking of work, and my boss, my appraisal didn't end up happening yesterday. There's some secretive company business stuff going on that needed urgent analysis doing. I got involved, my boss was involved and so we postponed. No return date has been set up yet though. On the plus side, the longer we leave it, the more we'll have to appraise.

We've no real plans for the weekend really. We'd hoped to get away, at least for a day, but with my gym induction tomorrow, trips to the refuse centre and shopping for book shelves, the walk-in wardrobe being fitted, the rugby final and church on Sunday and potentially kayaking with a guy Rick from church and footy on Monday there doesn't leave a lot of time for days out. Plus I've a few boxes with my name on them that need emptying to prevent me ending up in the dog house.

Next Tuesday and Wednesday we have an off-site office conference. Supposedly where we're going, Hanmer Springs (described as an alpine thermal holiday resort), is pretty idyllic. Why are conferences, when you spend hours inside rooms being talked at, always held in idyllic places. I remember the Cocoa one last October. The place was gorgeous. Not that we got to enjoy anything other than the inside of the Chiltern Suite though.

DIY

I have just finished the first little DIY job on our new house. We now have towel rails in our bathroom and the toilet. And Joanne said I am useless round the house. Pah! ;)

Yesterday we went to the Canterbury Homeshow. It wasn't quite the Ideal Homeshow. It turned out it was more for people redeveloping or building a house, rather than for people in our position, but we did buy some lovely stone-coated saucepans. German technology, supposedly.

After that we headed to Payless Plastics and spent a bomb on 'storage solutions' crates and boxes and drawers and wireframe-cubes and underbed storage galore. We might nearly have enough storage to empty all of our boxes now. That's the plan for next weekend when we have a bank holiday on the Monday.

Oh yes, I guess I should mention the rugby at some point. England reaching the World Cup Final, eh? Better than most Englanders could have hoped for before the tournament and following the South Africa game. They look a completely different team, but I still worry that they've done nothing all tournament past No.10.

I spoke to my Dad last night, once we got his mic and speakers both working. Which was tricky from 12,000 miles away. Skype rules though. Free calls. What a brilliant idea. It was good to talk to him. We're looking forward to having him out here in Feb.

Joanne and I have been chatting about how we're both settling in and how it feels and stuff, two months or so in. It still doesn't feel quite like home yet. As Joanne said, after hanging up some washing yesterday morning, it feels like we're playing "house". It's quite different living in a house after ten years in a flat, having a garden and a garage and drying clothes outside and stuff. It's a lot of responsibility, you know.

Monika made it along to St John's this morning, which was good. She said she was going to come along and check it out sometime. Wally's sermon again was very challenging, looking at Deuteronomy 4 and what God has to say about idolatry. The six of us (Barry was working so it was just Mon and her three kids and me and Jo) then headed to a cafe called Scrummy Mummies. Rather a bizarre name, but a lovely place. It used to be Papanui train station before it was converted and it has been designed to be very welcoming to parents with kids. They have stuff on during the week for "mums and bubs". A really cool idea having somewhere for mothers to meet and hang out that is kid-friendly.

Joanne's working at the moment. I can't wait until the end of October when she eventually finishes with her old company in London. It'll be nice when they eventually pay her too.

Time flies

These weeks are flying by. I can't believe it's Friday evening again already. I'm not sure if it's because work in just non-stop or because I'm getting old. Maybe a bit of both.

Canterbury lost in the Air NZ Cup semi to Wellington tonight, which was a shame. How am I meant to start supporting and being emotionally attached to a losing team, eh? ;) I did use the word 'we' during the game for the first time though. That's a step forward, I guess.

A well-oiled machine

A 6-3 win tonight in the 5-a-side football. We're definitely getting better as we learn how each other plays. A lot more organised, structured and disciplined. Just as unfit though.

"What have the Romans ever done for us?"

Last night we had our small group meeting. No bible study last night, but just a social dinner and prayer time. Steve had the idea last week to choose a country and then prepare food from that country and then pray for that country too. Quite a neat idea.

We'd settled on Italy so someone made pizza, someone made canneloni, someone else risotto. I knocked up an authentic Italian peach and almond tart (at least the Beeb Good Food website said it was Italian) and someone else made pannecotta.

It turns out that Steve and Lisa in the group know a couple of missionary couples in Italy so then we prayed for country as a whole (briefed by details from CMS and Operation World) before praying for the missionary couples. It's great to be able to support them in prayer. I hope Steve and Lisa will tell them we were praying for them. We know ourselves (from when we were involved with Kiwis for Christ at St Helen's, and also from us being over here) how encouraging it is to know people are praying for you.

Is it a small cow or is it far away?

The grieving process in New Zealand for the All Blacks crashing out is pervading every part of every part of everything. It's everywhere. The TV news leads with stories about when the team will fly home, follows up with tales of tragedy for those with now redundant travel plans for the semis and final, jumps back to speculation about which ABs won't wear the black shirt again, shows interviews with counsellors and psychologists to help people in the grieving process, before finally ending with news of three people dying in a car crash. Er, I know it's big and everything but, hello, a bit of perspective anyone?

I fully expect to see telephone and on-line polls dealing with the question of whether the English ref should be extradited to face charges over here.

I've tried to compare it in my own mind to the situation when the England football team lose an important match or go out of the world cup or European championships or something. But it just doesn't compare. Maybe it's because the English expect our national team to lose eventually. There's no true belief we'll win the tournament. Everyone expected the All Blacks to win. It was so much more than even just a belief that they'd win.

Speaking to a few people at work and playing touch tonight (didn't wear my England shirt as I thought the red rose would make a pretty decent target) and at the parish prayer meeting it seems that most of the hype is down the media. As Ryan put it "they hyped us up beforehand telling us we could win and now they hype it up telling us how disappointed and depressed we should be." Even the Beeb is in on it.

Train rides, pancake rocks and a country in mourning

I'll start with the train and the weekend away and come to the rugby in due course.

The plan for the weekend was a return train trip to the west coast, staying overnight in Greymouth. So that's just what he did. Unsurprisingly the train was full of tourists. I guess it's mainly a tourist sort of an activity, plus the cost of the tickets makes it a little prohibitive for your everyday Kiwi, I'd say. It's not cheap. It was interesting seeing different national characteristics at play in our fellow passengers, it would have been a great place for a sociology study. At a few 'major' stations along the way the train would stop to give everyone chance to get out, stretch their legs and have a quick cigarette if needed. When it was time to board the locomotive would sound it's horn/siren thing. At that time the Malaysians passengers would sprint to board the train, while the Aussies had a much more "it'll wait" attitude.

I've never been on a train journey before where the reason for the trip is the train journey itself, rather than the destination. Except maybe when I went on a steam train at Pickering on a school holiday when I was about 10 or 11. The reason for the Tranzalpine train line is definitely train line itself. The scenery was just stunning, and so varied. After leaving Christchurch the train sped across the Canterbury plains, heading towards the Southern Alps. The contrast between the plains and the mountains was remarkable. Without the mountains, the plains would just be... well... plain. As well as the plains, there was gorse-covered foothills complete with yellow flowers, alpine valleys, wide glacial river gorges, rocky wilderness, snow-capped mountains and subtropical rainforest. You couldn't take your eyes away. One blink and you'd miss the next stunning view or beautiful, craggy outcrop. It all seemed to be too much for the person sat opposite us though. He slept for at least three hours or the four and a half hour journey. He'd nod off for half an hour or so before waking for ten seconds, videoing some scenery and then nodding off again.

Some of the farms we passed were really barren and isolated. It wouldn't be an easy life living and working up there, I can tell you. I now know what is meant by "the middle of nowhere".

Halfway through the trip we reached a station called Arthur's Pass. In the commentary the train staff gave us over the PA we learned that some bloke called Arthur Dobson found the pass over the Alps in the 1860s and that it proceeded the west coast gold rush. It's New Zealand's third highest train station, supposedly, at 737m about sea-level. (I've always wondered, is sea-level measured when the tide's in or out?)

We arrived in Greymouth about 45 minutes late. It was a good job we weren't on the day-trip. In theory the day-trip ticket has a one hour turn-around, enough time for a little wander around and some lunch. Being late would have severely restricted that.

Greymouth is a town of about 9,000 people, the biggest town on the west coast of the south island. I don't know what Gabrielle was on about. It's no Darfield. It's got a Warehouse after all. And a Subway. And the sun was shining, just like it had for most of the train journey. Our first impressions were that it was more than OK for one night. We were definitely glad we didn't listen to the girls at work and decided to stay over, especially with the train being late.

A big tourist attraction not to far from Greymouth are the pancake rocks at Punakaiki (not Pukekohe or Pukeka), limestone rocks that look like stacks of pancakes and are eroded in interesting shapes including blowholes through which the sea bursts at high tide. We thought it would be a good thing to do so checked out hiring a car and getting a taxi. The hire car was definitely the best idea, so we did that. It was well worth the 45km trip north up the coast, not only to see the rocks themselves but also just for the drive and because we got to see a weka (bizarre little thing).

The coast road was just stunning. Beautiful coast line, hills and cliffs straight falling straight into the sea. Palm trees, giant ferns, creeks and streams. Strangely it reminded me of Ghana, the road from Accra to Takoradi. I'm not quite sure what it was about it that seemed reminiscent of West Africa, maybe it was the green-ness and the wild sea breaking a hundred yards or so from the road, and the limited evidence of human inhabitation. It's hard to explain.

Back at the hotel it was time for a little kip and the perfect time to watch Canterbury romp home against Otago in the Air NZ quarter-finals. Following that we headed out for dinner. There was just no-one around. The town, apart from the odd taxi, was deserted. Like really deserted. I presume it gets busier in the holiday season, but it certainly wasn't busy last night. The first place we tried for dinner closed at 8pm and the second, the one we chose, was empty. Halfway through our meal another couple came in, and at that point the customers outnumbered the staff. The food was very tasty though, and beautifully presented.

England were playing Australia at 2am NZ time in the rugby world cup quarter-final and I'd intended to get up to watch it. In our hotel room there was an advert stating that the bar downstairs would be open to show all the rugby games. At 2:10am, after wandering around a deserted hotel, I found the advert to be false. Back up to the room, TV on, trying not to wake Joanne (with no luck), I watched the game. I'm sure everyone knows the score by now. 12-10 to England. Bring on the semis.

And speaking of the semis, England will be playing France, not the All Blacks. I didn't want to support France really. I really did intend to make the ABs my second team but it was impossible. In the UK sports commentators have to be impartial. That rule doesn't apply here. The commentary was a little partisan, to say the least, and blinkered too. True, the yellow card was debatable, and the second French try was scored after a forward pass, but you can't blame that (or the English ref...oops!) for the final result. They didn't do enough, nuff said. Before the two matches I was actually thinking an England loss might be preferable. I was so sure (like the rest of the country) that NZ would win and an England v New Zealand semi would make work unbearable, this week and following weeks.

We drove down to Hokatika this morning. Leaving Greymouth, the skies reflecting the country's mood, we spotted a silver fern All Black flag at half mast. It's good to see someone with a sense of humour in defeat. At least I think it was meant to be tongue in cheek.

One of the most amusing things to come out of the weekend is how everyone thinks Joanne's an Aussie. They know her accent has some sort of Antipodean thing going on, but it's not quite Kiwi.

Oh, and on the train on the way home (delayed, again, meaning we missed church this evening) I learnt the true meaning of optimism - trying to build a house of cards on a moving train. The woman on the other side of the aisle to us had high hopes. Unfulfilled hopes too.

The only way is up

The girls at work have been warning me continuously not to expect much from Greymouth and that the train journey will most definitely be the highlight of the trip this weekend. If I expect the worst I guess whatever the town is like is going to be a nice surprise. I mean, how bad can it really be? I grew up in Grimsby, remember. My childhood coastal experiences were mostly Cleethorpes. With the recent cold snap and snow over the Alps, if the weather stays as beautiful as it has been today, the train ride is going to be stunning. I'm really quite excited.

It's going to be disappointing to miss church on Sunday morning, but we're planning on making the evening service instead. The train should hopefully get back in enough time.

Our sofas arrived today. I liked the bean bags, but it's nice to have nice comfy sofas. We're not students, after all ;)

On fire

Football tonight was excellent. We played our best game yet. There were only the five of us, so no subs, and so had to play the whole thirty minutes, which was a killer, but in the end it worked out. True, the team we played weren't up to the standards of the teams we've played in the last two weeks, but they still could play a bit and didn't roll over. We just kept it simple, played sensible football, passed the ball well, made sure we had cover at the back and finished our chances (something Grimsby Town need to learn to do at the moment!). The final score was something like 14-7. I scored four, maybe five. The new season starts in a couple of weeks (they have three or four seasons a year, I think) and tonight certainly gave us a boost. We're aiming for mid-table mediocrity!

Speaking of football, a guy in the IT department at work asked me if I fancied playing some 11-a-side during the summer for a team he plays in. I was well up for it, despite not having played 90 minutes of competitive 11-a-side for many a year, but unfortunately they play on Tuesday evenings, so it clashes with the bible study group. Which is a shame.

Earthquake!

It's a strange sensation to be sat at your desk one minute and then suddenly find you and your chair moving away from it the next, especially when your chair's not got wheels. This morning I felt my first earthquake. A certain and easy way to freak out an Englishman - make the building he's in shake. I know I was meant to be expecting this sort of thing, but it just kind of crept up on me, you know. One minute I'm working away and the next there's a strange tremoring feeling. I don't approve.

Last night at Simon and Rebekah's was a lovely evening. We had a great time chatting away and getting to know them. And they bought us some welcome to New Zealand presents - L&P, Cookie Time cookies and a packet of Minties. All Kiwi favourite. As it says on the L&P bottle - "world famous in New Zealand". How nice of them, eh?

Ths making friends lark feels a bit like dating, you know. It's weird. You meet up, spend an evening together chatting about life before you knew each other, your likes and dislikes, work and family and so on before worrying if they liked you, whether you should text to say thank you for the evening and wondering how long you leave it before arranging something else.

Changeable

I thought the weather in the UK could be unsettled, but it's got nothing on here. Last night at about 9pm the wind got up a bit and it started pouring down, with that same weather continuing this morning. Mid-morning saw hail and maybe even a bit of snow before the sun came out at lunch time perfectly timed for me to nip to the bank. Once back at my desk the rain and hail started again before the sun came out one more time, the sky cleared and now at I'm home the wind has stopped and it looks like we're going to have a beautiful spring evening. I don't know if I'm coming or going.

New group

We went along to our new bible study home group for the first time tonight. They all seem like a lovely bunch - Lisa, Steve, Anthony, Al, Blair and Amy. Joanne and I really appreciated being back part of a group again. It's been a long time since mid-July when our groups on the barge ended. Everyone was really welcoming. It was so encouraging. Of course it's going to take time to build up the accountability and support and encouragement network through these brothers and sisters but at least it's the first step.

Tomorrow we're going round for dinner at Simon and Rebekah's, a couple we met at St John's a few weeks ago. It turns out Simon was over in the UK a few years back and was at St Helen's at the same time as us, just before we left for the barge. He remembered us from chatting together on one of the weekends away, probably the one I flew back from New York for. Small world, eh?