Me again!

Well bless my soul - I have just discovered that I have a couple of new followers! I need to get myself into gear and write something for them. I read others' blogs, but feel that I don't have much to write about myself these days. But perhaps I should try and come up with something! I could go on at some length about the 'right' taking over education.... The title of my blog would be a tad misleading then I guess. But I don't suppose there's a law against that. Hmmm..... I'm going to France again but not until July. I could write some poetry... I could also write about The Highlanders winning three games on the trot... (Rugby, for my American friends.) Anyway, I'll ponder this, and welcome suggestions. :-) The photo was taken in January, in the lovely garden of some Nelson friends.

A weekend in the City

So here I am - I haven't written in my blog for a long time! But I wanted to tell you about the weekend and the Rugby World Cup and there is too much to say to put in a Facebook status update. So welcome, dear reader. :-)
First of all, on Friday we had a Teacher Only Day at school and we had to dress in the colours of the team we supported. So the staff room was a sea of black with just a few exceptions!


This is me with Mandy, and Gillian who looked good supporting Samoa and Japan.
So anyway, the school day finished at 1.00 and I raced off home, had a bite to eat and toddled off the the station with my little suitcase.Interesting.... the station was PACKED! I thought I must have been in London or Paris! The train was late, and then it arrived. But it was full and wouldn't let anyone on. This was not a good sign! Another train eventually arrived and I squashed myself on. It took almost an hour going very slowly into Britomart, stopping at all the stations in case people wanted to get off, but not letting anyone on. Obviously all afternoon the trains were going to fill up at the first stops - I wonder if people in Glen Innes and Orakei ever made it!

Anyway, I got into town and once again thought I was at Paris Montparnasse or similar - you could barely move in the station. But I popped up into Queen St and then quickly got to Albert St and the lovely Stamford Plaza, where Nadean and I had got a 75% off deal! Great stuff. As Nadean was at Waipuna Lodge at a conference, I wandered down to the waterfront myself. Well..... Packed would be something of an understatement. After I had texted Nadean about the trains she got a taxi into town, and cruised in easily on the motorway! We poked around in Quay St, but the big screen near us wasn't working. Hmmm.... We endeavoured to get round to the other side, but it was near impossible and as a short person I felt hemmed in and a bit claustrophobic. You couldn't move anywhere, and we didn't even consider trying to get iinto the concert area. The photo doesn't really show what it was like as it was taken up the street a bit. Anyway, we couldn't see anything at all, so we went back to the hotel, had a room service meal, and watched the fabulous proceedings on TV! We did pop outside for the fireworks, which were just fabulous! So that was our Friday Waterfront Experience. The weather was perfect, the people were good-natured and I kept hearing French people talking which was so cool - they were not the only foreign languages around of course, but French is my favourite!

Anyway, wasn't the opening ceremony at Eden Park just wonderful? I really loved it. And I loved watching the rugby too. Yay to the All Blacks!
Had a very pleasant spa and so Friday drew to a close.
On Saturday morning Nadean had to go back to her conference and so I hit the shops alone and in a single-minded manner! In fact I only bought one thing but I enjoyed looking. :-)
Nadean got back about 1.30 and we finally made it to the waterfront to have a look around. It was good, and there was a great atmosphere. It's great that a few changes have been made, but there is still sooooooo much untapped potential. It must be one of the most beautiful harbours in the world, and it's crying out for much more redevelopment. Oh look, I'm probably being a bit harsh - I know there's a long-term plan and it can't all be done at once. Anyway, we walked along to the new Wynyard Quarter, and did the tram ride, which was a wee bit of a non-event. But never mind. It was a great afternoon, and the weather was glorious once again. The photos are of me and Nadean in front of The Cloud, a Fijian cultural group performing, a street performer, a waka in the Viaduct Basin, a view of the Viaduct area, and that's it!






Last night we had a meal at Mecca Chancery - another GrabOne special deal - lol - followed by another spa back at the hotel. We chatted to an Australian couple in the pool. She had won a trip over to see the Australia match which is on this afternoon. Pity about the weather! Yes, we had thought that we might go to the Art Gallery today, or wander round the new shopping complex at Britomart, but the weather entirely packed up overnight, and it was so wet and awful that we just came on home. Where I will watch more rugby on TV!
So that was our Girls' Weekend in the City, and jolly nice it was too!
To any of my American friends reading this - the Rugby World Cup has just begun in New Zealand. I know it won't be making the news channels in the US, but it's big here!

Christchurch Earthquake

An unbelieveable tragedy in Christchurch today. I have friends and family there and only hope that they are OK.
This from stuff.co.nz:
An earthquake in Christchurch has claimed at least 65 lives and scores more are injured in what Prime Minister John Key says "may well be New Zealand's darkest day".

Key tonight confirmed that at least 65 people were dead after the shallow 6.3 earthquake, which hit 10km southeast of the city just before 1pm. That quake has been followed by constant aftershocks, some as powerful as magnitude 5.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker told TVNZ that figure could double.

Buildings have been destroyed, with an unknown number of people trapped inside, with rescuers saying some people would remain trapped overnight.

Parker said up to 25 buildings of significant size in the city were probably damaged beyond repair.

Civil Defence director John Hamilton said the death toll was expected to climb.

A Blog Book!

Well, I haven't posted a blog for ages and ages. Life in New Zealand - going to school, teaching, going home.... doesn't seem to have the same ring to it as life in France! But hey, I just have to share my book with you. I had my blog made into a book and I'm thrilled to bits with it. It's so professionally done. Hard cover, chapter headings, all the photos..... It's just a pity the video clips couldn't be published! Lol. So there you are!

Anzac Day

I started writing this as a comment on Beth's blog, (Be yourself.... everyone else is taken) but then I realised I was going on far too long and thought that I should make it an entry on my own blog. New Zealand readers will know all this, but my blogfriends in America might find it interesting. I am quite passionate about Anzac Day.
So... I want to tell you about Anzac Day coming up on April 25th. This is the anniversary of the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli, Turkey, in 1915. Not well-planned by the British commanders, it was an utter disaster, and over 7000 New Zealand soldiers were wounded and 2721 were killed. The Australian army also suffered heavy casualties. It was such a futile campaign, but both countries 'came of age' and it was the start of an emerging New Zealand identity.
Although Anzac Day began after WWI it is now to commemorate the sacrifices of all soldiers in all wars. Anzac Day became a public holiday and became a time to express sorrow and not glorify war. It is quite a sacred day. It is not our official national day, but in a sense it really is.
In the last 15 years or so young people have taken this day to their hearts, and many of them, usually those who are in the UK on a working holiday, make the pilgrimage to Gallipoli for the Dawn Service. My daughter, Sophie, went there in 1997.
My Grandad was at Gallipoli. My Dad, like so many other dads, fought in WWII. I was never very bothered about that when I was growing up but as an adult it haunts me. All those young men from the other side of the world... They never talked about it, and I didn't ask enough questions. Today is Poppy Day. On Sunday there will be services in every city, small town and country district across the country.

Good intentions!

You know, I really wanted to stay part of Blogland. I loved writing my entries while I was in France, and I also loved reading others' posts and commenting. I thought I would continue with random jottings, but the reality is that I am struggling for time. Do teachers in the rest of the world put in these ridiculously long hours? I'm at school by about 7.30am and usually leave about 5.15pm. Then I often need to do extra work at home. I know it's the beginning of the school year - it is here - so there's quite a bit of setting up, but I'm hot and tired and frustrated and wondering why at my age I haven't figured out a few shortcuts! Lol! So.... I haven't read any blogs for ages and I feel as if I'm drifting out of the community. So that's me anyway. Just a wee note to say I'm still here, but then again I'm not really. A bientot, I hope!

Oh yes, another thing......

When we went to have lunch with Marie-Helene and Christian in Poitiers, we stopped off at the local shops as I wanted to say Hi to Emilie, my hairdresser and now a Facebook friend! And I had a wee plant for her. Anyway, as I was walking along the street from where we had parked, the wee girl from the bakery practically leapt out the door and bundled me in! She seemed genuinely pleased to see me which was so nice. I also talked to the lovely newsagent man. If I had made a special trip to see them they probably wouldn't have cared or even remembered me, so catching up in a random kind of way like that was just great. But hey, get this.... the bakery is closing down! Obviously the sales of tartelettes au chocolat have plummeted since I left and the business is no longer viable! Oh dear! My departure may have impacted on the whole French economy. What can I say?