We began our new year in the tent at Wooded Gully. (Which is
just as well, as that is where we finished the old year.) The wind died down
about 5am, which was a great relief, as I had been a bit anxious with the tent
poles bending and the material flapping.
We went for a walk in the woods. The next day we went for a look around Oxford,
which is a much more happening little town than it used to be when I was a
girl. We think we would rather like to live in Oxford, and I now have a picture
taken from our future home (haha) as my screen-saver. Jessica, William,
Jonathan and Seth came up to see us and go for a swim in a waterhole we had rediscovered
a few days earlier. The Clendons also came out to see us.
Amazingly enough we did manage to get everything back into
the car and arrived home midday on Saturday. Mark and I heard a programme on the
radio about walking holidays and walking the streets of New York. So we have
set out to walk the streets of Christchurch. We are working backwards through
the alphabet, doing areas around the street of choice. We have so far been to
boring suburbia (Zenith Place), post-apocalyptic wasteland (Zena Place), and
medium industrial (Yukon St).
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| At the swimming hole |
It is SO good to have church in the morning after more than
two years in the afternoon, thanks to moving chapels. I am having a great time
as counsellor in Primary, working with many fantastic women, and a large (by
our standards) primary of mainly wild boys. I am looking after the Sunbeams for
now, until we get a teacher for them.
One day Mark did amazingly large amounts of ironing, so he
has taken photos to show you.
Nathan and Vernice had a REALLY short visit to Christchurch,
flying in late afternoon and driving out the next morning. We took them for a
drive to see the earthquake sights. It was great seeing Vernice’s comments on
Facebook as she got to see our beautiful island over the next few days.
Jessica has several jobs now, as well as being Seth’s mum.
She is a web content-manager for Crucci wools, works in a Toy Library, and is a
mother educator/facilitator for Plunket. And she does some housework for the
next-door neighbour, who is also their landlady. William is working part-time
for us again, for 15 hours a week and has finished another three videos, which
have been just in time for the new school year. He is going to CPIT for two and
a half years to learn computer programming. He has got half a year credit from
the course he did at Yoobee. I think it is a better setting for him than
University, and he will end up with a degree, and industry experience. Seth
will get subsidised DayCare, which I am sure he will love. He is a very active,
interested, social child.
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| Before |
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| After |
My mother is happy in her new home at Holdsworth House. She has
a studio, which means she has an ensuite and kitchenette, as well has having
all her meals, entertainment, cleaning etc taken care of. She has lots of
people to talk to, rather than being on her own, and the entertainment person
does a really good job with trips out, people coming in, games, quizzes etc.
I am enjoying having a group of women to be friends with.
One Saturday five of us, including Jessica, went over to Governor’s Bay for
lunch at She Chocolate.
The weather has been pretty hot most of the time in
Christchurch, so we have had a couple of great swims in the water. Jonathan
loves sea swimming, but I think we would all prefer the water a few degrees
warmer.
The 20th of January was a momentous day for the
business. I turned off most of the videos on Youtube, which were available for
free. This means that teachers, schools and pupils will need to subscribe to
our site in order to use our videos. This was a scary thing to do, as we have
been providing videos for free for several years now. It seems to be paying
off, though, as we are getting many more registrations this year.
At the end of January I flew up to Auckland for some school
visits. This time I stayed with my brother, Peter, who is in Titirangi. He was
a great host, and the setting is sublime. We even went for a swim in the
Manukau harbour at high tide. I also did something I have never done before –
bought four pairs of shoes from Piccadilly, a shoe shop in Newmarket. They were
having a sale, and the shoes fit beautifully and look so stylish. They are made
in Brazil.
And that was it for January. This is written one week into
February, and I am happy to report that our business is a success. We will make
enough money to carry on. It is a great relief.
Much love
Nicola, Mark and Jonathan
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