But before all of that I guess I should get the standard bits out of the way - erm, job - well I am still working for TOWER but the team has shrunk again and we have just had tax year end. Let me say, working for a financial and insurance business during a recession, at tax year end with new legislation and new, smaller IT/business teams...well, fun is a word but unlike all the others I can think of, it will be the minority here - so moving on...
Relationships - ah, mmm, technically single but really like someone who I have known for a while and mentioned on here before - no not Caroline - I am not sure how much is there but I will update this blog if anything happens.
Anyway I think those who know me here have got my measure when it comes to relationships - there is an advert series here for a beer called Tui and basically they consist of a statement and the slogan 'Yeah Right' next to it. Of course to be interesting the statement is something normally controversial or though provoking - such as "politician x says no and means no" - 'Yeah Right'...OK, so you get the idea, well my boss created one of these for every member of the team and emailed them around - some were work related such as 'Bev does not like detail - Yeah Right' with Bev being our change manager of a very fussy nature... all very innocuous you may think...well mine came out as "Kevin likes to keep his ex-girlfriends at a distance - yeah right"... so there you have it, not quite sure how to take it but decided upon flattered and comfy that she knows me and we can have a laugh.
In fact the workplace in NZ is still a place of fun for the most part, even with the threat of economic doom just a few minutes away. This year the TOWER social club has indoor golf, a quiz night and I am also trying to put together a private movie screening, hopefully in Park Road (which is Peter Jackson's production company cinema) of The Wizard of OZ to coincide with its 70th and TOWERs 140th birthdays. Shhh though, we are not officially telling staff until the deal is sealed. We also still have a free drinks trolley on a Friday and I was chuffed to get a birthday card signed by the CEO himself together with a gift voucher.
Ah, yes my visiting friend - Catherine - is now safely back in the UK, but her couple of weeks here were reported as 'Great!' and the new photo at the top of the blog (Mount Cook) was taken by her and the 'new toy' of a £1200 zoom lens on a very expensive Canon.
The first week she arrived and toured the hill and volcanic North Island, including a couple of days up Auckland way - after that we both flew in a tiny plane over to Blenhem on the South Island (a very fast and fun way to arrive - unless you have a bad cold like I did, in which case you go deaf for several hours as the pressure does wonder with the snot in your head...mmm, tad yucky there but it happened).
So a week was spent driving around - counter clockwise - the South Island, which was my 3rd visit and Catherine's first. Many, many photos were taken and some family history of hers and potentially mine was also explored - yes Dafydd, this involved spending some of the holiday walking around graveyards - but in addition to the usual trinkets people buy on holiday, I saw and very quickly decided to buy a 2nd hand (well possibly 22nd hand) car just outside Nelson.
I say 'car', she is actually a 1962 Series IIa Land Rover SWB, and called Rebecca by a former owner and now me. So I am, I have to say proud, owner of a 47 year old NZ new vehicle - OK, she has had a replacement engine, new steering which is now powered, and various other 'modern' improvements - but her heart and mechanical bits like the gearbox, doors and switch gear etc are all vintage basic Land Rover - which gives her a delightful charm and... I would say grace, but with no synchromesh on 1st or 2nd, and a whine of vintage storybook stereotype 'van' - think postman pat noises - she is all swans legs and very little neck!
Anyway, here is a picture for you and my classic car insurance company (no, TOWER would not cover her as she is too old!)
Got to point out that she is a world, or half a world to be exact, away from my Lexus - but this is just it, I wanted to be different from myself in the UK, and I think if you ignore the ex-army stuff (we used much newer Land Rovers there) - however she still gets looks and comments as most of these vehicles are not on the road here, they remain tethered to farms and outdoor pursuit centers - but not this one, she is fully road legal (at least for now) and is rather fun and very involving to drive.
We all (Caroline, Charlotte, Chaz and myself) went into the city for my birthday on Sat night, and the hardest bit was deciding which song to sing as we trundled along the streets - well that and persuading the 47yr old brakes to live up to their name with mowing down fellow party goers!
Also to continue the 'lets all go somewhere in the comfort of friends but not cushions or air con of a car' adventure, we are planning a ferry crossing in Rebecca and another trip to the South Island in May - but already Caroline is bemoaning the 4-5hr journey...I think mainly because the back seating is a bit too al la sheepdog style ;-) Still I am hopeful she will 'come by' soon (or whatever it is that shepherds call!)
Well there you have it, another bit of blog for you to read and another promise that I will soon break about adding more pictures or blogs soon...but I will add another little pic of my house as the google street view only shows the distant trees surrounding it....
All the best till next time...