Whoops

I'm not quite sure how I've let over a month slip by since I last wrote something. A bit slack of me, I know. I guess the month's just been a bit full on really and I've not really felt like sitting in front of the laptop of an evening when I've got home from being in front of a PC all day. Poor show, eh?

Well, what's happened since January 2nd? I guess it's worth mentioning the rail trail. The weather this summer has been pretty awesome. One day it wasn't quite so awesome was a Sunday a couple of weeks ago when the middle of the afternoon saw rainfall and thunder and lightning and hail storms and more rainfall. This was the day that Joanne & I and Blair & Amy had decided to try the Motukarara to Little River section of the rail trail. We'd heard forecasts of bad weather coming in but it was sunny when we left home. Even the 'omen' of me blowing a valve on my bike tyre wasn't enough to put us off. We set off and then the heavens opened. We put a brave face on it and cycled probably about 7 or 8km of the 20km section. It wasn't cold or windy. Just wet. Very wet. A little short of halfway we all kind of decided we'd call it a day and save the rest for a nice day. Three of us turned round and headed back to where we started, and the car. Blair carried on. The other car was at the other end you see.

Maybe if it's nice weather this weekend, what with it being a three-day weekend and everything, we might try again. We got a towbar fitted on the big car today and I plan to buy a bike rack tomorrow so at least it means we don't have to mess around taking off the front wheels to load them into the car anymore.

The main reason for the towbar and bike rack is so that we can take our bikes when we have weekends away. We've not really taken many weekends away since we've been here but we've recently planned a few for the coming months. First up, next month, we've got a weekend in Tekapo planned. April sees us head up to Auckland for Easter to catch up with Jo's family. And then in May we've got a weekend in Wellington booked. Air New Zealand recently had a sale on internal flights too. $49 one way to Wellington. Can't go wrong, eh?

This Sunday just gone saw the annual church family sausage sizzle. As I mentioned last year the sausage sizzle Sunday always takes me back to our first ever experience of St John's four years ago now, when Joanne and I visited Chch for a weekend. This time Joanne and I were in charge of cooking the sausages. We had 420 to cook. They were the pre-cooked variety you can buy over here though so at least there was no risk of giving anyone food poisoning.

It still amazes me sometimes how Nuzziland cannot quite let go of the reins that keep it tied to the motherland. News over here quite often picks up something news-worthy from the UK, you see. Like the recent snow over there. Sure it's some heavy snowfall and stuff but if we'd had similar record dumps over here I don't think it'd make the BBC news would it?

I am so looking forward to the football season starting again this year. The first game is at the start of April. I really enjoyed playing last year and as fun as the summer league has been, it will be good to play teams a similar level and not come up against teams from divisions way above ours. I want to reach my twenty goal target this year. I'm determined to do it but the matches missed due to the Wellington weekend away and the UK trip in June will mean less matches in which to achieve it. We'll see.

Almost a taste of home

I went to the butcher's today to pick up our custom-made, specially-ordered Lincolnshire sausages. 52 sage and pepper pork sausages. The best $42 I've spent for a long while. I tried a couple tonight, practically the minute I walked through the door (after cooking them, of course!) I approve. I've had better, it is true, but not in this country. Given the pepper and sage proportions were guestimated from a range of online recipes I've found I couldn't really expect them to compare to Birketts' or Petitts' or Boston Sausage's but they're a really good step in the right direction. Maybe I'll get them to add a touch more sage next time.

I was speaking to a guy at work the other day about playing football. During the winter he runs a team, a proper 11-a-side team. He's recruited a couple of other people from the office. I mentioned I might be interested but unfortunately he's got a full quota of players. The good news though, is that one of the IT consultants we have around the office also runs a team in the same league and he's looking for players. I gave him a call and am ready to sign up. It's been quite a while since I've played full outside footy competitively. We had the fortnightly Barge footy back in London but it was still pretty much friendly stuff. The most recent regular stuff would probably be back at uni when I played for Ian's team sometimes, once the American football season was over. So Saturday afternoons from April onwards (except the 5th because the team has a bye and the 12th becuase we'll be up in Abel Tasman) I'll hopefully be playing a bit of footy. Training is on Wednesdays unfortunately, so given our current commitment to helping run the Christianity Explored course at church I won't be able to go along, at least for now. The guy who runs the team doesn't seem to think that'll be a problem though. I'm a bit worried about my fitness levels and my ability to last 90 minutes but with the rolling subs I've heard about I'll manage. And it'll get easier over time. And it's not like I'm doing no exercise at all or anything. I just need to ration the sausages.

Christchurch Idol

Last night was so much fun. Caroline, a friend from back on the Barge in London is a good mate of Sarah's, the women's worker at St John's. She's over here at the moment coming to the end of a one month sabbatical thing with a bit of holiday thrown in. With my dad being here and Jo going over to Oz and stuff last night was the first time we'd been able to all get together. It was worth the wait.

It started with dinner at Sarah's. Tasty food (balsamic chicken with couscous followed by chocolate brownies and fresh pineapple - actually the pineapple would have worked really well in the balsamic chicken dish, but that's another matter). It was just loads of fun. We laughed so much. It was great to catch up with Caroline properly and hear how she's going and how everyone back on the Barge is doing and stuff as well as being great to spend some time getting to know Sarah better. What I really liked was getting to see another side of them both, a side of them that only exists when they're together. As I say, we laughed so much.

The evening climaxed with a trip into town to the gloriously titled 'Christchurch Idol', a real Japanese-style karaoke bar. One of those ones where you hire a private room to do it rather than embarassing yourself (in my case) in public. An hour and a half later we were all sung out. Solos, duets, a group effort on 'The End of the Road', the evening had it all. A particular highlight was the emotion Caroline poured into 'Sorry seem to be the hardest word'. I was almost quite choked and nearly rather moved. Again, we all laughed so much and were more than a little hoarse by the end of the night. I am glad the machine seemed to reward effort and enthusiasm rather than talent though. At least I think it did. It's the only way I can explain my scores in the high nineties for my Bon Jovi cameo.

This morning Joanne and I got up and headed over to Lyttelton. We'd arranged to meet Tim and Christine over there for a wander around the farmers market and a coffee. It was a nice little place, lots of fresh produce and locally grown and made stuff. Sure it was no Borough Market, but taken for what it is, it did it well. Plus, as a real bonus, we met a butcher there who is willing to make me some Lincolnshire sausages! I have a recipe I found online so all I have to do is phone him on Tuesday to let him know sage and pepper proportions and he'll knock up a 10kg batch, 5kg for us (we had to take 5kg to make it worth his while) and 5kg that he'll take to the market next week to see how they sell. Mmmm, Lincolnshire sausages. I'm drooling just thinking about them.

Blinded

Don't you just hate it when you know you had something with you and then you don't have it with you and you can't quite remember when the something's with you/not with you status changed? I lost my sunnies today. My favourite Bloc sunnies. We were Christmas present shopping up at Northlands and I had them when we sat down for lunch and then I didn't have them when we were coming out of Amazon. Somewhere in between they ran off. Most frustrating. I did get my dad am awesomely cool Christmas present though, so I guess it's a trade-off.

My work Christmas party last night was pretty cool. It was at a surprise venue so everyone got on the bus picking them up not really knowing where we were headed. The theme was "White Christmas" (just to mess with my head some more - this whole summer Christmas thing is so weird) and I kind of had an inkling where we might be headed but wasn't sure that held events there or not. It turns out that I was right. The Antarctic Centre does indeed cater for functions. It was pretty cool too. They even had a urea silo ice sculpture. We got to go in the antarctic storm room where there was a 30mph wind and a -40 wind chill or something and also to see the penguins, which was pretty cool. I like penguins. They're definitely quite a cool little bird really. I definitely want to check out the penguin colonies further down south at some point.

This week is going to be a bit quieter, I think, which is nice. Joanne's out tomorrow night at a practice for the choir for the carol service next Sunday (her and Naomi were trying to persuade me to go along but I pointed out that enthusiasm is not necessarily a beneficial attribute for a choir unless it is matched by talent) but other than that it's fairly quiet, especially since last week was the last bible study group of the year. I really can't believe it's nearly Christmas. The time since we arrived in Nuzziland back in July has simply flown by.

Oh, while I remember, a sausage update - they were not what I'd hoped, despite being assured by the woman in the butcher that were an authentic English pork sausage. Authentic southern pork sausage maybe. Not a herb to be seen. I'm going to have to make my own at this rate.

Right, that's enough. It's time for Burn Notice.

Moving on up

Every October at work there is an appraisal for each and every person and that feeds into the pay review system. Yesterday I found out about the results of my appraisal. The variation of employment agreement mentioned my "developing competence and performance in [my] role" and my "rapid and successful integration" into the company and the team. Sounds good, eh? It's nice to hear my work is going well and even nicer when it's rewarded. A payrise is always nice. Also, as it was only for a part year, I have been promised a further formal performance and salary review before June next year. Nice, eh?

More good news is that I have found a butcher in Chch that sells pork sausages. They're not called Lincolnshire sausages but they've "a pepper and sage taste." They have to be worth a blast, eh? Hopefully they'll satisfy my craving. Watch this space.

We got out flights up to Auckland for Christmas booked this weekend. Not cheap at all but at least they're booked now.

Tonight our bible study group had a Christmas social. Part of the evening was a present-giving game. We had all bought something for around five dollars and wrapped it. All the presents sat in the middle of the floor. Then the first person picked a present and opened it. The next person in the ring could then choose whether to claim the first present opened or pick another one to open. And so it goes, with each person in turn choosing to claim an open gift from someone else or open a new one. If someone had a present taken off them they could then nick someone else's present (although not the one that had just been taken from them) or open a new present. And so it went one until finally the last present was opened. At various times I had a quacking duck keyring torch a black and silver Santa Claus Christmas tree decoration and a 400g bar of Dairy Milk, before ending up with a Mr Bump floating soap. It was a fun game and much better than just picking presents out of the middle and keeping what you first get.

We've got another busy week this week. Tomorrow the garden designer woman is finally coming round to see us and discuss the plan she's drawn up for us. On Thursday and Friday I have a Crystal Reports training course. It's a database querying tool some people use at work. Thursday evening the Sales and Marketing teams have a social event at Adrenalin Forest, a team-building up in the trees rope bridge and commando slide type place, before heading out for dinner. Friday evening is Joanne's work Christmas do at the AMI stadium and then on Saturday is our work Christmas function at some yet-to-be-disclosed venue. Somewhere in there we have to fit in some Christmas shopping, and buying some sausages.

Christmas in the summer. Pfff! What's that all about then, eh?

And...relax

Phew, what a hectic week. Or at least it seemed that way. I'm sure we've had worse, and will have worse, but it definitely felt a bit hectic. It started with dinner on the Monday night with the sales managers. The Belgian place did serve more than beer and mussels, so that was good. The lamb shank is highly recommended.

Tuesday saw Joanne and I out to dinner at a couple from church's place. They're a couple we sort of knew before we came here and Jo's been running with Renee in the hills once or twice. Once, I think. It was a great evening. Lovely food, great company and some real laughs playing Boggle and Scattergories. They're an Aussie couple but you can't have everything ;)

You know, one of the hardest things about being here so far has been the lack of friends. We're meeting some people at church and it was great to have dinner with Mark and Renee and to get to know them a bit better, but friends take time to grow, don't they? I think I'd forgotten that. I'm getting to know the guys I play football with a bit, but again, it takes time for acquaintances to become friends.

And speaking of football, we lost yesterday. It finished 9-8, but a lot of that was just due to the fact that we had six players to their nine or so. It meant they could all rotate a lot more and finished the game fresher. I scored 3 though, so the match was a personal victory if not a team one. Hehe.

I think work this week has added to the hectic feeling. It's felt non-stop all week. No time to catch my breath. Everything seems like a rush and top priority, especially with it all taking a while with me learning the database and reporting tools. But I think that may actually just be my self-imposed impression, as a few times this week people have expressed surprise at the short time it's taken to generate the report results they've requested. I'm slowly feeling I'm doing more and more useful work, which is good. And it seems I'm the only one in the company who knows how to use pivot tables too so I've something to add there.

The scope of the job still feels a bit daunting though. There is just so much scope and the job description is so broad and fluid. And no-one has really pinned it down in concrete terms. They've not had an analyst before, they knew that they needed one, and that's as far as it has gone really. No-one seems very sure what my exact responsibilities and jobs are or will be. Which makes it incredibly hard for me to know what they are. I guess it will take shape in time. I do feel they have high expectations though, that somehow I'm going to be part of revolutionising the company. It's good to be part of, but scary too. I'm finding I'm having trouble unwinding when I get home from work. It's never been a problem of mine before, apart from the first couple of months after I was promoted to running the department in my last job, so it's all a little strange. I'm lying awake with work issues going over in my head. I guess it's because it's all new. It'll pass with time. I hope.

Also it'll be good when I get to know the team a bit better. I was kind of spoilt with my colleagues in London. Lovely, the whole lot of 'em. You know who you are ;)

And speaking of passing with time, in some ways I really can't wait until the rugby world cup is over. It's great to see how a whole nation is taken up with it. It kind of reminds me of England during Euro 96. But I will be glad when every other advert on TV no longer features one or more of the All Blacks. I can see why so many of them have signed post-world cup contracts with European clubs. If they don't bring the trophy back home, they won't want be welcome back home.

Back home. Mmmm, that reminds me, I could murder a decent sausage right about now. You just can't get one here, for love nor money. There's just nothing to satisfy the Lincolnshire sausage craving I've been having. A real taste of home I miss. And I'm sure no butcher around here will ever have heard of haslet. I wonder if Boston Sausage deliver to Nuzziland.

And talking of delivering, in another smooth paragraph link, the ship carrying our container finally arrived in Lyttleton. Our belongings are finally on Kiwi soil. They still have to clear customs, and then get past MAF, but the shipping company seems to think we can expect delivery sometime next week.

This weekend is another housey weekend. Tomorrow we've got the Sky technician coming, and then a wardrobe guy, and then a garden bloke. Then Sunday is church followed by a trip to NZ's B&Q equivalent. I feel kind of bad getting a bloke in to discuss wardrobes interiors and another to discuss garden plans, but DIY, up to now, has not been a strong point of mine (ask Joanne sometime about the shelves I put up in our place in London), and Joanne and I have lived in flats for the past however many years so are out of practice with gardens. The only time I have lived in a house since I left Grimsby in 1993, when I lived in Camberwell, the garden turned into a bit of a jungle. And it was only small. We need something manageable designed.

We're enjoying doing things for the house each and every weekend, but it will be nice when we have a weekend off. We've agreed to do something in a few weeks, something touristy, for a change. We both really fancy the TranzAlpine train ride. I think I mentioned it before. No date planned a yet, but hopefully we'll nail it down this weekend and see about booking tickets and an overnight stay in Greymouth. I'm sure I sold a CodAlmighty t-shirt to some who lived in Greymouth, you know.

Joanne and I went out to dinner tonight (mainly because we've not had chance to do a shop for a bit), to try a recommended restaurant in Halswell, just across the domain from us - The Old Vicarage. A lovely place, and the nicest, friendliest, helpfulest waiter in the world ever, but they did insist of everything on the menu being cooked in or served with garlic. It kind of narrowed down my choices. The chicken burger was very good though.

Time for bed now, I reckon. Up early tomorrow morning, you see, to watch England take on the Saffas.