Tis the Season to be Jolly already!

This has not been my most salubrious year for posting blogs and to the ever faithful out there I do apologise.  I have been in the midst of writing my Christmas letter reflecting on the year that has passed and it has gone by in a whirl.  I think the challenge for me this year is as I have said before, a good chunk of my life is taken up by work which because of confidentiality is difficult to write about meaningfully without breaching said confidentiality.  The job by its nature in working with traumatised children takes a lot of emotional energy and with working shifts - 12 hours on the weekends and mostly 9 or 10 hours, the single cells left at the end of each shift do not have much energy to replicate into fluent or cogent thinking.

That being said, I am pondering on how to do better as when I get cracking, I do enjoy writing it and the responses I receive.  As I checked in today I realise that I had begun a post while in NZ on holiday and never finished it so a quick recap.

I flew into Wellington this time to spend Labour Weekend which included No 1 grandson's 10th birthday.  First mission was to buy a phone which took two days of trips into the city and back before I was satisfied.  It seems Telstra in Australia locks their phones so you cannot buy a prepaid sim card and drop it into your phone though in NZ you can do that very thing.  After buying a $5 sim card the first day and it not working, I went back and bought an el cheapo Telecom phone as max it will only get used twice a year until I return home whereby they probably will have come out with a phone that can make you a cup of coffee as well as land man on the moon again.  I also invested in a prepaid telecom dohicky for the laptop so I would have coverage when not at family friendly uber gigs homes to tap into their networks.  Then of course, I became aware I didn't know any NZ mobile numbers as they were all in my stolen phone and not written down, arrrrrgh.  I put in No 1 son's ph number and luckily he had a few of the numbers I needed and so I slowly began to get in touch with immediate family. Tricky when you are trying to negotiate pickups from airports and such like, lol.

Wellington was both fine and freezing so completely typical. I missed an earthquake (minor) earlier in the week.  The 10th birthday took on epic proportions turning into a three day event as all bases were covered having his friends come round for cake and a trip to the movies on the Friday night, cousins, aunts and uncles round for a barbeque Saturday and the piece de resistance - the actual day.  I ended up by taking the three friends and no 1 grandson to the movies and dinner assuring no 1 son that four average kids was a walk in the park compared to some of the ones I have worked with and so it was.  Dinner at Maccas in the food court associated with the theatres preceded the movie and then it was ice cream afterwards with the boys being picked up by no 1 son to be delivered home while I caught the bus back to Karori as there were not enough seat belts for me as well.  All good until I got to Karori and went to txt to say I was there for my pick up and the sodding phone was already flat, this as it began to rain.....  Luckily its only a 10 min walk and I survived without getting too drenched.

The birthday was legendary - no 1 grandson was awake early with excitement and received a couple of small parcels to unwrap before we went downstairs for the main event.  He was given the garage door control to find behind door no 1, there was a brand spanking new bike.  Great joy and instant try out on the front lawn before finding out Mum and Dad also had bought new bikes so they could all go out together for rides in the weekend.  Very impressed we then left for breakfast out at a favourite cafe/restaurant in Wellington called Maranui.  It caught fire awhile back now and it was great to see it re- outfitted and still as popular as ever.  With breakfast/lunch behind us, we then set out to buy helmets to go with the new bike (needed to be there for the right sizing) and then to the local sportshop to buy cricket gear ( my birthday present) as this year no 1 grandson has graduated to using a hard ball.  Therefore pads, helmet, gloves,  a box and special underwear to fit later we were good to go to the next venue which was a go kart facility deep in an industrial area in a huge warehouse.  No 1 grandson started with trepidation but soon got more confident and you would have thought he was racing in a grand prix by the end of it, lol.  I think his Dad enjoyed it just as much. 

The previous day had involved a trip to the Wellington zoo and what a change that has had since I was last there about 8 yrs ago.  They have done a lot of development which means more natural enclosures for the animals that they have.  That was one of the glorious fine days in between the rain so we took full advantage of it before returning for the family barbeque.  No 1 grandson has moved on from Spiderman, Ben 10 and Dr Who with his main focus now being the Hobbit. He was devouring the book and I have since heard he was very disappointed to be away at school camp when they had the premiere of the movie in Wellington a couple of weeks ago.

My time there was over all too soon and I then winged my way to Auckland being met by sister Kay and two of her work colleagues as they swung by the airport on their way home from work.  I was struck by all the green once again, paddocks full of grass as Geraldton was almost in drought conditions when I left.  I spent the first night with Mum and Clive and then gypsy like stayed at Kay's and friend Viv's (waves) for two nights to catch up as they were at work teaching during the days, and I would then spend the days with Mum and Clive so could catch up with all.  One of the highlights was taking Mum and Clive to Pukekohe to see the movie "The Sapphires" - an Australian movie just released about four indigenous girls who form a band like the Supremes and travel to Viet Nam to entertain the troops at the time (set in the late 60's) and is based on a true story.  We had a bite of lunch before the movie so a great afternoon out.  I was able to indulge with plenty of fresh vegetables as Mum and Clive have their main meal middle of the day and it was great to be able to pick things straight from the garden squeaky fresh so to speak.  One lunch I was able to catch up with a friend who I have known since I was 10yrs old, and it made me realise how luckly I am with friends and neighbours who go so far back.  Leonie had moved back home post the Christchurch earthquakes and I got to hear first hand of her experiences that still are taking a toll.  She had been talking to a customer in the shop and delayed going to lunch by about 10 mins when the big quake hit and once she had closed the shop as best she could to get out of it she walked out to find the city in ruins - I think two people were killed outside the shop from falling masonry.  She talked of walking miles to a friends place past areas that were turning to liquification and sleeping under a table at her friends place, too scared to return home.  Then there was the costs and issues of getting out of the city and finally moving back to start afresh, leaving her job, her friends and her life behind.  The trauma was still very fresh for her. 

I got to catch up with my tennants and was very pleased to see how well the place was looking.  I had no car this time home as No 2 son is now using it to get to work and back so was very dependent on others for lifts and the loan of their cars when they were free.  Unfortunately it meant I did not do my usual fly around the country catching up with friend further afield but it did mean I got to spend a great time with family and longtime neighbours instead which was great.

The last leg of my NZ trip involved heading to the North Shore to stay with No 2 son and family and to meet Evie Lily, my first grand daughter (and likely to be the only one I have been told, lol).  She was just on three weeks when I arrived and just over a month when I left so packed in lots of cuddles in between lots of Nana time with the No 2 grandson, who now 3 3/4 yrs was just delightful.  Lots of "No Thank You Nanas" when asked if he wanted to do different things like go to the potty, have something to eat, nap etc in contrast to having fun playing lego, going to the park with his bike, jumping on the trampoline (a sight to behold I am telling you, lol), blowing bubbles, playing firemen with the hose, lots of stories and I was introduced to the movie "Cars" with McQueen and Mater which I saw nearly once a day, lol.  We had a lovely gathering on the last night I was there quite by chance when No 2's brother and sister (their Dad's second family) came with their respective partners and baby cousin for a barbeque.  Friend of the family, Peter who co-incidentally had been  a neighbour of the boys father in their teens, also visited so lots of stories told round the table with lots of laughs over dinner.

While home I had done most of my NZ Christmas shopping at at 4.30am the morning I left, I finally wrapped the last parcel, had repacked and gone to bed for the next three hours sleep before the household roused.  A quick breakfast, shower and last minute checks to see I had everything and we were on the way to the airport for my return to Oz.  We had decided to meet with Kay and Viv at Maccas outside the airport so the family could return home before the baby needed her next feed and after a luggage transfer to Kay's car it was off to check in and a last coffee before take off.  It is never long enough home to do everything that I want but the bank balance required me to return to work in Oz and I reflected that I had squeezed as much Nana time in that I could to get me through another few months.

I had a brief stop over in Sydney on the way back and friend Val once again met me at the airport, this time whisking me off to a French patisserie for coffee and a pastry on the way back to hers where we bunkered down with a cooked chook, salad and some wonderful coffee via her Nepresso machine (as good as cafe coffee if not better) and talked the night to a standstill.  Once again I was blighted by technology with my phone and laptop.  I put my pin in my Oz phone to open it and in a dyslexic moment did the wrong number , tried a different one, tried the first one again and the damn thing locked.  Then my Oz doohickey for the lap top would not work - said it needed to be reregistered so after attempting to get into hotmail (momentarily forgot my password for that too, arrrgh) I fired off emails to friend Donna who was meeting me at the airport for coffee and the WMH who was to pick me up and just prayed they would get the messages.  All good, had a lovely catch up with Donna before catching the flight back to Geraldton and then as I was waiting for my bags the WMH turned up with youngest son to retrieve me and take me to theirs for dinner.  I landed at 6.30pm and started work at 6.45am the next day and for the following two days after that.  I slept my first day off right through needless to say.  I am writing this as I try to get some sleep in before a night shift tonight so will close now and get back to the Christmas theme in the next post.  :)