Cars and beer

A post seems to have gone missing, so sorry for the long gap between the last one and this one!

In the meantime, we have been pretty productive.  Apart from doing the dull but necessary things like arranging for our bank cards to be changed to ones that we can use online as well as at a till, buying cleaners, loo brushes etc (life on the edge!) we have done some more exciting things such as buy a car each.  Andy crossed that one off the list first buying an older model Subaru Legacy (well this one is called a Legacy Lancaster for some reason) and Chris was then going to buy something smaller, but hopefully speedier.  It was an alien situation for her to be walking around car showrooms with no real idea of what she wanted and the general "something fairly small but with decent power" plan went out the window and was replaced with something equally big but with decent power - a newer model Subary Legacy!  Yes, we have his and hers Legacys......  However, contrary to the stereotypical split in this kind of situation, Chris has the more powerful one with more toys :o)

However, before that we did an even more important thing and re-establish ourselves with the Sunday Beer Club.  This is a casual group Chris came across before our trip here in November and we made it along to one meeting at that point.  Basically one of the organisers nominates a pub to meet at and a time (every Sunday, funnily enough) and anyone who can makes it along does.  So naturally we went to the session on the Sunday after we got here and it was good to see some familiar faces.  In addition to the Sunday sessions there was an extra one on Tuesday 5th.  Wednesday 6th February is Waitangi Day which is basically the country's national day.  Much like the Scots and Hogmanay, most celebrations happen the evening before with the day itself being a national holiday.  Every year there is a classical concert held (for free) in the park in the centre of the city with fireworks after (much like the end of Festival shindig in Edinburgh).  So a not-Sunday Beer Club session was organised for the Tuesday evening with a plan to then go to watch the concert.  However, it had rained a fair bit for a couple of days before and so concerned that the park would turn into a mudbath the concert was delayed until the Wednesday.  The Beer Club still met however, and during the evening the conversation turned to our current lack of furniture and one kind lass offered to lend us a couple of fold out chairs (she also offered anything else we might need, it wasn't a strictly limited offer!).  So the next day we picked up two chairs and for the first time were able to eat a meal sitting up instead of hunched over in bean bag chairs - we were so happy!  Simple pleasures.....

Then on Wednesday night we went along to the second half of the concert and to watch the fireworks which was very enjoyable.

During our first few days we got our NZ mobile accounts changed from pay as you go to pay monthly accounts.  This also then allowed us to sign up to a decent landline, broadband and Sky package with Vodafone.  It looked promising to begin with as we were given Thursday as the date for installation of the phone and broadband (we heard from Sky earlier still bus as we have no TV yet....).  Thursday passed with no phone line.  So late afternoon Chris lost a fair bit of her life to listening to Vodafone's hold music and then spent some depressing time speaking to someone who told her (eventually) that there had been a problem installing the phone line but was adamant the broadband should work.  No phone line yet working broadband?  Unlikely.....  Next day the phone line was sorted but it took a good few more calls to get the broadband sorted, but finally we are back in cyber world - no more daily trips to libraries!

On Tuesday we got a call to let us know that the cats had arrived safely and had settled in quickly to the cattery.  It was a massive relief that Maggie hadn't meowed herself to a stroke (Chris forgot to ask the lady from the cattery whether she had heard Maggie meow or whether she had lost her voice....) and Freddie hadn't just keeled over.  They need to stay in quarantine for 10 days so we pick them up this Friday.  The problem with that is our belongings might arrive Friday or worse case beginning of next week and there isn't enough space to keep the cats shut somewhere safe and get all our furniture in.  So we are now looking into getting an outdoor enclosure for them as this would help solve another problem - more to follow on that.  If we do get an enclosure it could be a daily chase and battle to catch them in the house to put them in it!

A lot of the roadworks in the city outwith the immediate centre are due to waste water systems being replaced after being damaged in the earthquakes.  Unfortunately for us this work is due to start on our road next week.  Between that and the building work going on next door (rebuilding a house which fell down) and behind (repairing that one) it is going to make Edinburgh seem peaceful :o(  However, at least these roadworks should be over within 8 weeks and only outside our house for one week which is definitely an improvement!  Anyway, we were uncomfortable at the thought of letting the cats out when the roadworks are on our street but also don't want to keep them in for that long as it is so hot some days (sorry!) we really need to be able to open the doors and windows!  And so the cat enclosure is a very enticing prospect.  For us, anyway!

Today we had our first decent outdoorsy day.  Andy went for a run in the hills to the south of the city and was like a kid in a sweetie shop, Chris joined an outdoors social group for a trip round a mountain bike track and held the side up for the girls by being fitter than most of the men who were there - go girls!  Tomorrow will be back to sensible stuff but all the while planning the next outdoors outing.