Letter From New Zealand 10*

*With continued apologies to Alistair Cooke

Christmas Special…

Kia ora tatou, ena koutou kei te pehea koe? (Hello everyone, greetings to you all, how's it going?) Thought I’d start with a little of the local tongue.

Straight off I’d like to apologise for the lack of updates over the past few months, things have been busy, with new bathrooms and various other distractions….

So what’s been happening…
Well, Christmas is upon us, although it’s very difficult to get to grips with the idea of Christmas in the middle of summer! We’ve put up the tree and hung lights on the house (it isn’t dark until about 9:30 pm, a bit different from the 4:30 we’re used to).

Here’s a little greetings card I’ve always thought funny.

*Remember, if you click on the picture you get a bigger one ( most of the time)
















So, what’s happening in New Zealand…

In New Zealand the Pohutukawa tree is also known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree. Early Christian settlers so named it not because it looks anything like a Northern Hemisphere pine, but because its vibrant red flowers came to full bloom in December. If you've never seen one in person, here's the next best thing:















We had some large visitors last month: a huge 1km-long iceberg was sighted south of Dunedin, having made the journey from Antarctica over the past six to eight years. With usual Kiwi eagerness, flights were arranged to view the icebergs.
As can be seen from this picture, it is understandable now why the Titanic sunk.
Icebergs -- Below the Surface:




















As I’ve mentioned before, landslides are called slips here; this is a little slip!














Wellington Pic
A little picture of Wellington Harbour from the hills above my office..

















New Zealand “Most Beautiful Loo” Contest..
This year, the top prize for "Most Beautiful Loo" was tied and therefore split between the "Hundertwasser" toilet in the Northland town of Kawakawa and the "Pukuatua Street Palace" in Rotorua.

The former is a cacophony of stylised bottle glass and tile work somewhat reminiscent of Gaudi while the latter is quite simply a very large, well-equipped, and extra-clean utilitarian facility. See for yourself:

Hundertwasser Toilet Exterior:
















Hundertwasser Toilet Gents Interior:














Pukuatua Street Palace Toilets:















On to ‘us’ things…
We have just passed the 1-year mark here in NZ and it’s hard to believe we’ve been here so long.
And, on the subject of bathrooms…. (Smooth transition from last topic...)
We have finally got the bathrooms finished (bar some very minor tweaks), 10 weeks and a lot of bucks later! Here’s the end result, though for the amount of time, cost and temper loss that went into them, they really should look much more ornate!!
Main Bathroom
Before















During



















During




















After





















































Barbeques
Here’s what our first attempt at a real barbeque looked like. The prawns were a little limp (not cooked enough) however it’s a learning curve (hopefully, not via A & E). We’ve had a few good ‘stabs’ at it since then - Liz thinks it’s wonderful, as I do the cooking…














Adam decided it was time he showed his dad how it’s done.















We went to a friend’s Christmas party last weekend and met Santa, I missed it as I was away moving the car!!

































I can tell you that Santa was very hot in that suit, remember it’s summer here. (He also had a pillow strategically placed!)

Continuing the Christmas theme, we went with some friends (all these friends! isn’t it wonderful?) to see some houses decorated with Christmas lights (in a BIG way).







































We put up some lights on the balcony of our house and thought it looked brilliant till we saw the ‘proper’ ones .

So, one year has passed and we are settling in fine. It is still a little difficult to acclimatise to the new surroundings and to get used to being so far from our friends and family. But people here are very friendly, we have made some really lovely friends, and we get out and about quite a bit.. Christmas in the summer takes a bit of getting used to, however I’m sure we’ll cope . . . .

The house is coming on: most of the ‘little’ foibles have been fixed and it’s starting to feel like ours. The fact that we could fit our old home in it 3 times over also takes a bit of getting used to. Vacuuming is a major task!

Adam’s still working away, leaning more about the craft of spin metal production and is now an integral part of the process.

I finally got round to getting my NZ Driving Licence, with about a week to spare, you have to get it within 1 year of arriving or else you have to sit the entire Driving Test again, not just the ‘tick test’.

We’re looking forward to seeing Richard and Yvonne next month . . . they’re coming for a week, so fingers crossed for good weather. They are in Tasmania for Christmas with their pals (who are both from Tasmania).

Well, that’s it for this year. The Andersons in NZ would like to wish all our friends and family a merry Christmas and a prosperous and truly happy new year.

And finally, the Kitties from Hell.

Remember, if you want to see how the cats are doing:
http://andersoncats.blogspot.com/

As usual, Cleo’s contribution is somewhat lacking...

Letter From New Zealand 9*

*With continued apologies to Alistair Cooke

Kia Ora, folks.

So what’s been happening…

Meteorites crashing into Canterbury, a 5 on the Richter scale earthquake on Friday night (epicentre only 40 km’s away!) and exotic dancers/models parading topless down Queen Street in Auckland on motorcycles in an event entitled "Boobs on Bikes")... it's just another month in New Zealand.

This is an extract from an article on the meteorite subject:

SONIC BOOM OVER CHRISTCHURCH LEADS TO METEORITE DISCOVERY

On Tuesday afternoon, a massive sonic boom was heard throughout the Canterbury region. Christchurch and the surrounding area is a quiet, peaceful place where this sort of thing generally doesn't happen. Calls started pouring into the Christchurch emergency response centre soon thereafter as folks tried to figure out what could have caused all the ruckus (the local sheep and cattle weren't too happy about it either).

Scientists at several national observatories were asked to comment. The consensus was that a meteorite had entered the atmosphere over the region, broken the sound barrier, and either exploded or landed intact somewhere in the area. The next day, a 10cm (4")x 5cm (2") rock-like object was turned into police by someone who found it lying in his paddock 40km (23mi) south of Christchurch. Initial concerns that the object may have been nuclear fuel from a satellite's power source were put to rest when scientists at the National Radiation Laboratory in Christchurch found no trace of radiation.

A commercial airline pilot -- who wanted neither his name nor airline to be disclosed -- came forward with information that both he and his first officer had seen a smoking fiery object hurtling toward Canterbury while they were descending through 20,000 feet. The pilot stated that the object flashed directly in front of the cockpit on a heading very close to his own and was gone in an instant. He described it as similar to a meteor, "but different," primarily because it appeared to be spinning.

If we can assume that the two sightings are of the same object, then it remains to determine the object's make-up and possible origin.’

I’ll let you know if it's anything out of the ordinary. Hopefully, neither tin hats nor flak jackets will be necessary.

B-O-B PARADE

The Boobs-on-Bikes parade caused a bit of a stir in Auckland, and some local ‘Adult entertainment’ mogul (porn king) ended up with more free publicity for his event than he would ordinarily have had due to the media frenzy.

News Item on BOB Parade

On to ‘us’ things…

ANOTHER GROUND SHAKER..

Well the earth certainly ‘moved’ on Friday night (a rare occurrence, thinks Liz!)

Quietly in bed, reading, when a 5-pointer on the earthquake scale came rumbling across the land. It started with a faint vibration and rose to a bit of a house rattler, calmed down, then gave the place a good shake before heading off again. No damage or breakages reported.

Earthquake Recording Site

We are now drifting into Spring,, (and it’s mid September!) We are looking forward to the good weather, although the ‘bad’ weather hasn’t been too extreme compared to back home (apart from being colder indoors than we’ve ever been in our lives – Liz). Actually had to scrape a thin film of ice off the car the other morning!

Adam’s doing fine, working away. I got a very nice Father’s Day present (via his work)…

Liz has discovered the wonders of TradeMe, the ‘down-under’ alternative to Ebay. I have to say, it’s quite amazing what people will sell, and what people are willing to pay for ‘stuff’

Here are some of Liz’s purchases so far…*

*Remember, clicking the pictures will make them bigger!

We’ve had the underside of the house, and Adam’s wall, insulated with polystyrene. This was carried out by a very intrepid guy who has a business using recycled polystyrene, mostly from the film industry (we have some of the King Kong set stuck under our floors!)

Polly Palace Site

And finally, the Kitties From Hell.

Remember, if you want to see how the cats are doing:

Cats Blog Site

And here’s proof that they are not exactly overdoing it on the blogsite work front:







Well Folks, that's all for now.. Take care and think of us just moving nicely into Spring..

Letter From New Zealand 8*

*With continued apologies to Alistair Cooke

Kia Ora, folks. Woosh… the blink of an eye and it’s that time again. I wonder to myself if it’s worth continuing with these updates, and, if they are read. So I attached a visit-counter to the website and I now know that it’s visited more often than I thought. It’s been visited 15 times this week alone and around 1000 times in total so far. Probably not a very significant number in ‘Internet-Site-Visit’ terms, however enough to convince me to continue for a while longer. As you will have noticed, I’ve stopped firing out emails to the world telling them that the site has been updated because feel it’s a bit presumptuous. I’ll just try to have an update around every 4 weeks or so.

Well, what’s been happening? The weather has been taking its toll. The ground under some poor families’ home ended up sliding down a hill. This resulted in the houses having to be demolished for safety reasons. The landslides here are called ‘slips’ which I think doesn’t quite cover it…

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3758665a11,00.html

We have our own defence against the cold!

We had our own ‘slip’ the other day, part of a hill slid down onto the inlet road that we use to get to the railway station in the morning. We had a bit of a detour over the top of a nearby hill and were able to get to the station in time for the train. ( “Thanks to your psycho driving” says Adam!)

It’s a sunny day today, however you certainly know when the wind is blowing from the south. It’s inevitable I suppose, given that it comes straight off the Antarctic tundra..

http://www.niwascience.co.nz/pubs/wa/11-3/images/link1_large.jpg/view

Still, if this is winter then, no sweat. Ultimately, it’s our intention to move north to live where the climate is a little warmer most of the year round. New Zealand gives you the choice of the Antarctic southern tip to the sub tropical northern tip and diverse independent ecosystems throughout. It’s just a case of finding the right place to suit what we are looking for.

All is well in the household, Adam is still working long hours and enjoying the bits that don’t involve the train, bus and walking parts of the day.

Liz has discovered an organic vegetable delivery service that drops the stuff off at your door. We have to admit defeat in attempting to name or recognise some of the vegetables that arrive in the box, however the age-old system of chop, cook and eat appears to work.

The cats are getting much bigger now and are very entertaining, when they are not attempting to get onto or into anything that’s out-of-bounds. I think it’s getting near the time for Max ( & Cleo) to take the long trip to the vet and return a little lighter..:-(

Liz was trying out some meditation CD music the other night, it certainly had an effect on Max & Cleo!

Well That’s all for now folks, I’m going to have to keep a diary to log things of interest to put in the updates so that it doesn’t just dry up.

Regards to all, hope you are enjoying the heat wave in UK

Remember, if you want to see how the cats are doing:

http://andersoncats.blogspot.com/

N.B. There is a 5.9 earthquake happening as I'm publishing this blog!! Is it a sign to stop?? Perhaps I should keep quiet about wanting things to write about..

Letter From New Zealand 7*

*With continued apologies to Alistair Cooke

Kia Ora, folks. A little late…. sorry, it’s been quite busy here. Here we are again, don’t know where the time goes.

Well, what’s been happening, (apart form the Psycho Kitties from hell getting bigger and wreaking havoc around the house, more later). In fact, this is what we have to contend with now:

The 'Max' sign was eaten 30 seconds later!

One of the reasons this update is a tad late is that I was away for a week flying round the country on business. I stupidly asked for the emergency exit seats (for the legroom): this was met with laughter, ‘We don’t have emergency exits’ was the response - planes too small. At least they had two propellers! Also, no such thing as a life jacket; apparently, you take your seat cushion with you…..I collected half a dozen just in case….. ah, the joys of internal travel.

We had a little earthquake about an hour ago 12.37 Sunday afternoon, here), the house and contents shook a bit, cats didn’t bat an eyelid (New Zealand bred).

A quick visit to the ‘earthquake’ site will confirm… http://www.geonet.org.nz/x2599831g_l.html

The weather, whilst on par with a cool summer’s day back home today, has been pretty wicked at times (in New Zealand terms). Wellington actually had a slight peppering of snow the other day which caused some interest, as this is a rare occurrence. Plenty of snow up in the mountains but none normally down at our level. The ‘bad’ weather included a land slip that dumped the side of a hill on to the motorway, some poor bloke's house losing the ground from under it and now in the process of sliding down the mountain (on to a number of other houses…) and gale force winds and sleet… Ah the joys of an oceanic temperate climate.

I took these pics a few Sundays ago with the intention of showing winter in Whitby, however we’ve also taken a bit of a battering weather-wise. Although yesterday and today are on par with the photos.

The Lemon (Gin & Tonic) bush at the bottom of the garden

The tri-nations rugby is on at the moment, so the place is buzzing as usual: last night the All Blacks played the Springboks here in Wellington, the All Blacks won, however not quite the push-over that was expected…. We had friends over for dinner and then to watch the game with a few drinks, so it was good fun.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ (This is Cleo’s contribution, achieved by holding a paw on the shift and Z key until I notice!)

On the subject of cats.. They have now claimed the whole house as their territory (except for the bedrooms that we use). They have bonded with us. Max loves Liz and follows her everywhere and Cleo thinks my beard is her mother!. I’ve added some new pictures to the Link to Psycho Kitties from Hell web page.. Remember: Just press the Back button to get back to this page.

Well folks, even shorter and sweeter this month. Hope all of you in the northern hemisphere enjoy your heat wave, remember it’s mid winter down here.

STOP PRESS!...Monday 19th June…..

Adam now has permanent residency in New Zealand. Passport collected today with blue sticker permit and returning residents visa.

Letter From New Zealand 6*

*With continued apologies to Alistair Cooke

Kia Ora, Folks. Here we are again, don’t know where the time goes.

Well what’s been happening, (apart form the Psycho Kitties from hell arriving, that is. More later)

As usual a bit of local flavour.

We’ve just had the final of the Rugby Super 14’s in Christchurch between the two main NZ Teams the Hurricanes from Wellington and the Crusaders from Christchurch, unfortunately the Crusaders got lucky and won! Probably because the whole game was shrouded in fog. (That right Lorna?). Liz and I met up with some friends and watched the game over dinner in a pub in Tawa (a small town outside Wellington). The night following the match some of the team members were out on the town and following an altercation Tana Umaga (ex All Black captain and prominent Hurricane player) attempted to defuse a situation by clocking one of the other players with a ladies handbag, (not his I have to add…)

News Byte re Handbag incident

And needless to say, the usual suspects were rolled out.

The bottom line is that the $50 handbag was put up for auction on TradeMe (like ebay) and was sold for $22,800. He should go into business.

TradeMe News Byte

It’s the little things in life that make the world go round.

So, what’s been happening around the home. As you have probably seen, the ‘film stars’ went live last month, ah well you need a sense of humour.. Link to Clips

Adam is gainfully employed as an Art Worker for a metalwork company producing ‘metal stuff’ to order. (i.e. cufflinks key rings and corporate design items),

Link to Adam's work web site

He is enjoying the work. This has allowed him to apply for permanent residency and he is currently going through the process…

Liz was organised to start work on a casual basis doing massage and Reiki in a clinic last week, but was struck down with a type of vertigo (BPPV) and had to put everything on hold (she insists it's not drink related but keeps falling over). For those of you who are wondering why she's been absent from the email front, that's the reason and she'll be back when she's back on form.

Earthquakes. Had a few little trembles since we have been here, one last week happened at 5.30 in the morning as I was hopping about putting on my socks. I couldn’t figure out what was happening, thought I was having a ‘turn’ until some stuff fell off the bookcase, which was a clue that the problem was external..

On the subject of keeping a sense of humour, the two new additions to the Anderson household moved in on Wednesday. Needless to say, life hasn’t been the same since. Cleo and Max have firmly taken over the living area in the dining room for now, systematically dismantling anything they can. She, Cleo, is the brains, Max just blunders along with her (no gender specific comments please!). In order not to bore the disinterested, and not clog up this blog with photos of the Psycho Kitties from Hell, I’ve created a sub blog to hold the photos for the oooh and aaaah brigade. (Quote from the vet, “chocolate box kittens”)

Link to Psycho Kitties from Hell Pictures

Just press the Back button to get back to this page.

Well folks, short and sweet this month. Hope all of you in the northern hemisphere enjoy your summer, we are now in the 4th day of winter...

A quick update for those that are interested.

Here is the final output of the 2 days of filming that went on earlier last month. In our defence, I have to add that the four two-minute videos are distilled from about 8 hours of conversation…(and a few glasses of wine!)

http://newzealandnow.info/uk

N.B. you will have to select 'UK & Ireland' from the ‘view a [different] country’ list if you don’t see us listed in the profiles. (And have your speakers turned on..)

LETTER from NEW ZEALAND 5*

*With continued apologies to Alistair Cooke

Kia Ora, again. Time to update the log, Captain. I thought I’d just remind everyone that for the moment, it’s my intention to update it on a monthly basis - it’s boring enough without dribbling on at a weekly level. So I’ll try and update the site on or near the 5^th of each month.

A bit of light reading, less boring than the blog:
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/mg18524911.600?GXHC_GX_jst=8258c07850ea6164

A little game to entertain you also:
http://www.plasticmartians.com/play.php?gameID=5

A fact I thought I’d share with you all:

On the 4th of May, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.

That won't ever happen again in our lifetime, in fact it will be approx. 400 generations before it happens again. There, now you know….

So, what has been happening with us? Well I certainly failed the NZ test the other weekend. We bought some sports equipment for Adam for his birthday, a good deal from a shop just opening in Lower Hutt (north of Wellington). Adam & I were also invited to the ‘sausage sizzle’ opening on the Saturday morning. As one of the bits of ‘kit’ was cracked we decided to go and: (a) get a new bit and (b) to feed ourselves, as Liz was in Wellington on a course.. (This is Liz: of course, they couldn’t just cook themselves something. . .).

Well, all was going well until I went to get the new bit; as I walked in, this guy nodded a hello to me and I thought I recognised him as one of the sales people who had served us the other evening. I went over and explained the situation….as I was in mid-sentence I got the feeling that he wasn’t who I thought he was, so I said… “You don’t work here do you…” He shook his head.

“Are you a rugby player?” I asked… He nodded his head (We were getting on like a house on fire by now). I pressed on… “Are you one of the All Blacks?” Another nod.

I then had to explain the story of us just coming from Edinburgh. That did the trick, he had been over in Edinburgh playing at Murrayfield and loved it. Of course, on seeing Adam, his immediate question was “Do you play rugby?” (basically it was a case of, if not why not!). His advice was to get to work on the gym equipment and get playing, “we need guys like you…”) Needless to say Adam, like any sane person, respectfully declined, wanting to keep his, as yet undamaged body, undamaged.

And who was this individual? http://stats.allblacks.com/Profile.asp?ABID=1033

I got him to sign one of his promotional photos, just for proof, of course.

Some Pics

I’ve decided to add a few photos to distract from the ramblings; it lets you know how things look over here.

View from front balcony 1

*Reminder, if you click the pictures you get bigger ones...

Living room

dining/family area

View from front balcony 2

View from front balcony 3

Digging Panama Canal. Adam & I are still involved in project Panama Canal, digging out a trench for drainage hoses under the house.

.

Hopefully this will be completed soon, once the pipe has been laid a few tons of gravel have to be put over it, another exercise in labouring for Adam and me. Then I get the fun job of insulating Adam”s wall with Pink Batts, a torturous fibreglass substance to keep precious warm & dry. The house is slowly evolving into what we want. We still have to experience a winter and I think that will generate more changes, enhancements. We still have to get a large quantity of firewood delivered. Stacking and storing it will be more fun!.

I also thought I’d show my attempt at a panoramic view of the railway station (Paremata) that I get my train from. Unfortunately the weather hasn’t been as good as the day I made the decision, so here’s my effort on a cloudy day.

Wasabi peas

We have discovered a new delicacy ( for us) called wasabi peas, basically dried peas coated in dried wasabi paste, very tasty, provided you eat them one at a time (otherwise your eyes water). Here is a link for those wishing to know more..http://www.vinetreeorchards.com/wasabipeas.htm

The Weekend

We have just got through the weekend; our social life is certainly on the up, out on Saturday night - Liz had her first experience of Karaoke, and did very well, I have to add. It was the usual ‘I can’t do that’ situation, then up on the floor in a stylish duet with one of our new friends. ( Jennifer, for Lorna & Jim’s info). ‘Leaving on a Boat Train '(Oops, It was meant to be Jet Plane, thanks Debs), will never sound quite the same. (Well it sounded like Boat Train!)..... Out Sunday morning for drinks and nibbles at some more friends (with a house to die for!). Out Sunday night for dinner with friends (and ex-neighbours) who are now trying the city apartment lifestyle in the heart of Wellington. Back late and ‘bang’, Monday again…

Achievements:

Got permanent residency.

Liz got New Zealand Driving licence.

Liz sang karaoke

Things are still on the up……

Until next month...

E noho ra

STOP PRESS!....Breaking News…Wednesday 5^th April…..

Liz & Andy now have permanent residency in New Zealand. Passports collected today with blue sticker permits and returning residents visas (in case we want to leave and come back!) And now to Adam….

LETTER from NEW ZEALAND 4*

*With apologies to Alistair Cooke

Kia Ora, Haere mai and greetings from Aotearoa. (Land of the long white cloud).Thought it was time for another go at feeding the monster, at this rate I’ll end up looking like Alistair Cooke. It would be worth it if I had his literary gift.

Well what has been happening? Firstly some more little snippets about NZ. An update to my earlier musings about the decommissioned frigate, Wellington: a storm has caused it to break into three bits and they appear to be wandering around the seabed, so a little care and maintenance is being done to secure them.

Another article I read the other day succinctly highlighted the problem NZ is having with getting a decent broadband service. Basically you walk into a bar and the barmaid hands you a tall cold glass of beer, you look at and take it in both hands, it’s a hot day, you’re thirsty and can’t wait to take a big drink, but the barmaid stops you. You have to drink the beer through a straw; she explains that there are a number of straws, all different sizes and prices. You select the straw you can most afford and get ready to drink. But wait, she stops you again, you can only drink a certain amount of beer; if you want any more you need to either use a smaller straw or pay for every extra mouthful…. That sums up the current state of broadband service in NZ. Things are beginning to look up as the government is starting to put pressure on the provider to loosen up the system and allow other operators a better chance of providing a decent service.

So, on to us.. What has been happening? Well, I mentioned previously that we’d been selected from the pool and invited to apply for permanent residency. It sounds easy, ha! We’ve managed to put all the paperwork together (thanks Sandy!) and the application is now with the immigration service, to administer. So here’s hoping all is well.

Liz and I had another session in front of the camera. This time it was al fresco, walking along the harbour front on a warm sunny evening like minor royalty. We had attracted a fair bit of attention and I couldn’t help it….I started making comments like, “Charles and Camilla would love it here.” and such like, causing a minor stir among the older blue rinse brigade. At one cheesy point we had to walk from Scotland to New Zealand (in our socks - across a giant map of the world, close-ups of my size 13’s marching across Africa). All in the name of (insert your own word here)

Things are slowly settling in the house, still got some problems. We’re getting a dehumidifying system installed within the next few weeks which apparently cuts down the condensation and improves the heating of the house. (It does get cold here, however not to the extent it does in Edinburgh - Liz would argue that moot point, when it comes to no central heating or double glazing). The deck furniture is now in place and a monster barbeque sits waiting for a warm evening for me to incinerate some previously good bits of meat in my first barbeque attempt. Much to Liz’s disgust, I’ve discovered Trash Palace… This is the local civic amenities dump - with a difference - where they sort and resell ‘stuff’. See Link http://www.trashpalace.co.nz/

I wanted a workbench type thing for the garage and this is what I got there. Guess how much..

$10… (Under 4 quid) I hope you are impressed Anton. (If you recognise any of your tools, it’s not my fault!)

Adam is still honing his skills in the graphic design world, applying for jobs as they emerge. Unfortunately, I think the colleges are pumping out graphic designers over here and the competition is tough, however his portfolio looks good and he should score soon.

I’m still enjoying my work. The good news is, I get a lift to work most mornings, the bad news is the guy picks me up at 6:00 a.m., however I don’t really mind as I’m home again for 4.30. This is my attempt at stitching some pictures I took from the floor that I work on. It gives you an idea of the view…(That's the WestPac Rugby Stadium in the middle)

We have Jim & Lorna from Edinburgh visiting this weekend, they are over for a wedding and are ‘popping’ (7 hour drive) down to see us. It will be good to catch up on what’s been going on back in Edinburgh.

We’ve had Sky TV installed - of course as soon as we get it, the b*&^dy SKY satellite breaks down and thousands of people had no TV for about 14 hours. This is known as ‘The Anderson Phenomenon’ and Babs knows all about it.

Well, that’s it for now folks. I’ll send an update if we hear anything from the immigration people.