Protected: What a difference a day makes

Ok, you knew I wouldn’t be able to resist finding something new to occupy my time now that the convention is over. Actually, I’ve found two new hobbies which both look like being suitable time-sinks. First is a new web-based hobby (well, new for NZ, anyway): Markeroni. It’s basically searching for historic places and markers…

In theory, I was back at work on Monday. In reality, I was in long enough to clear the mail and my backlog of phone and email messages from over the break, then went back home to bed. Nephew #1 had been coughing a bit when they were here the other day, and guess who…

After the disappointment of the highly commercialised Australia Zoo, servalan and I decided to spend Tuesday and Wednesday on more cultural pursuits, visiting Brisbanes museums, art galleries and gardens… and releasing a few more books 😉 [album 128913 05brtues01.jpg thumblink] [album 128913 05brtues02.jpg thumblink] [album 128913 05brtues03.jpg thumblink] [album 128913 05brtues04.jpg thumblink]A few works of…

It’s the first of February, so that means TWO MONTHS UNTIL AMERICA!!!. It’s suddenly starting to seem very real (and very close – I was thinking of it as being ages away, and suddenly it’s not!!!). And very exciting! We’re still tweaking the itinerary (silly Skyring gave me a guidebook to read – bad move,…

Back home after a wonderful few days in Wellington. We spent Saturday exploring the Kapiti Coast. First stop was at an amazing second hand bookshop in Pukerua Bay (Sherlockfan seemed determine to tempt me into bankruptcy, with all the great shops she kept taking me to!). I could have spent hours (and hundreds of dollars)…

This morning, MrPloppy got a phone call from the daughter of a friend of ours, letting us know he’s in hospital with leukaemia. Then tonight I went to visit my ESOL student, and she told me that not only was the taxi driver who was murdered recently a friend of theirs (not surprising, really, given…