Land of the Long Gray Cloud!

Rain rain go away and come back another day. Like tomorrow. Even the locals are a bit annoyed with how much rain we have been having lately. Dennis soccer was cancelled again today, it was cancelled last Thursday, last Saturday he played in the rain (worth a blog posting itself) the previous Friday and Thursday it was cancelled due to rain. Rain.

I can walk to and from work without having a drop fall on my head and stand in a downpour while waiting for a cab to go between buildings during the work day. Not that I get drenched for I have a great raincoat a Norseware; it looks like an old oil slick rain coat. It has a double snap front, tight closure around my neck, a hood and the skirt runs down past my knees. It has another feature worth writing home about. The skirt has some straps which attach to my calves which keep my legs covered in the wind.

And yes there is some serious wind here. Quite frequently the house shakes from the wind. I have been woken up by the noise of the roof rattling due to the wind howling.

Mattress Muddle

I checked out the mattress stores during the week and then took Tom to check things out on Saturday. Fortunately the bed stores are all on the same road and close to each other.

So many decisions to make: old-fashioned innerspring, cloth covered coil innerspring, latex foam or astronaut foam. We eventually agreed upon the covered coil innersprings and then went to the store that had the best price for them.

So finally we ordered a mattress. We will now have a place to sleep when we move in August. It took a few hours and a lunch break at a cafe, but we did it!

We are talking Dennis into a trundler bed, but figure that can wait. Being small, he can sleep on a sofa for a while.

Places of Interest

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Common lights

I just came in from taking out the garbage. We have a small recycling container out side on the porch. After cleaning up the kitchen I added to the stack. As I went outside I looked up to see if the stars were still out, they were not, it is a cloudy evening. So I looked across Wellington over to Mount Victoria where there are a bunch of houses, they were all glowing away at 9:00pm local time. Then looking to my left I saw the bay, or the lack of lights that were the bay, and Eastbourne the area across the bay. Then continuing I saw the lights of the freeway, motorway, carriageway (whatever you want to call it) and then Petone and the lights going up Hutt Valley. Continuing to my left there is the motorway leading into Wellington and the lights of Khandallah dotting the hills to the West of the bay.

They are all beautiful lights. And I remember being back in the states looking at them via the weather cam http://www.metservice.co.nz/default/index.php?alias=wellington
(BTW that is pretty much our view as the cam is about 1/4 mile directly east from our home) wondering if I would ever make it to this beautiful city. Contrast this with today when I wanted to get back in and read my book.

Has Wellington become so common place after 80 days that I am no longer experiencing the awe and wonder of being here?

The 4th!

I had a great 4th of July celebration. The team held a morning tea in honour of my nations birthday. They decorated my office with a US Flag, pictures of America, a copy of the Constitution, and quite a few balloons. I was honoured and humbled by the attention.

Just to digress a bit when I say tea I do not mean a hot liquid with dried leaves. When New Zealand has a tea is a snack, in this case a meal. We had hot dogs, potato chips, jello surprise, corn chips, various dips, donuts, Afghan cookies, and a few other things I no longer remember. Come to think of it we actually did not have anything to drink.

Everyone who works for me came to the tea. My team is split between two buildings. The folks from the other building organized a shuttle and came in mass for the celebration which lasted about one hour.

I was asked many questions about the US and how we celebrate the 4th. Even what we call it. I explained everything from what would be the typical food at a celebration to the significance of "John Hancock." It was quite interesting speaking to a grown man my age who had no idea of the historical facts pertinent to the 4th. That is probably how they think of me when I ask questions about Anzac Day!