The Book of Ashes

Meant to 8:23AM

I was meant to write more last night, but I never got round to it. I was feeling a little seedy on Friday morning and slept in a little. I got up and Gerry wasn't up (and didn't get up). I never know whether to try wake people in situations like this (incase they've slept in and are meant to get up) or just leave them cause they could always be sick. I left Gerry cause I know she can hear the shower going and usually thats a final wake up call for her. As it turned out she was sick so I made the right choice.

Thursday was quite cool. Got through a little work, then went out to Petone (20 mins drive from Wellington) and working from 1pm till 7pm. This was cruisy work, running scripts, checking and recording the results. One script took an hour to run so we (Bob & I) went over to the student caffateria and played pool for a while, ahhh life is hard sometimes. But then we encountered a few problems and had to work hard to fix those. In the end it all worked out ok so we decided to go off to a local pub for a celebratory beer. We found the Horse and Hound. A local bar on the main street. It was very sad, lots of old locals, drinking and smoking so we left there quite fast and decided to check out the Grumpy Mole. This was way cooler. It had a nice open fire (at waist height) with a funnel overtop to remove all the smoke. We sat round this, beautifully warm, talking and enjoying our beers. Bob is your classic English person. He has the accent and manerisms and is excellent value. I thoughly enjoyed the drinks there and realised that nothing beats a quite beer while sitting round an open fire. After that Bob dropped me off at the train station as he lives out that way and I waited round for a train.

I was in a great mood so I gave Tim a call in Auckland. I caught up with him and invited him down for my birthday if he could make it. Then the train came so I hoped on that and headed back into the city of wind.

It was a nippy night as I wondered from the train station to the Leuven bar. Kelly & Damian kept trying to call me but their phone kept cutting out (low on batteries). I pretended I was hurt that they kept hanging up on me but I don't think they believed me as I was in such a good mood I couldn't get close to hurt. I was a little disapointed at Leuven. Lots of people had already gone (or left soon after). I chatted to people while I caught up on the beers. We all got quite pissed and ended up going to Sante Fe Gold, but got bored of that real quickly and went home. It was late by the time I got home which probably contributed to my seedy feeling the next morning

Friday 8:39AM

So Friday was your average day. We congratulated ourselves on a job well done the day before. Bob handed over some of his work as he was going away on holiday for 10 days, conviently while a client was running a big procedure over the weekend.

Anyway... Friday night I went home early. Got a phone call from Martin asking me what I was up too. I told him I was having a quite night in as I was tired but he could come round if he wanted. So he turned up with Bev and Jo and we sat round and talked for ages. Gerry knew Bev from when he was a bouncer at the Cook in Dunedin which was cool. We discussed our plans for a trip down to Wanaka for a wedding around Labour day. I wanted to travel to Dunedin to see my brothers, then Alex to see Dad, then Queenstown to catch up with Dan, then Wanaka for the wedding to see Diana. I realised it was going to be an ex-speights flat re-union when we all got down there. Rock on... Then we got pizza and everyone left and a friend of Gerrys turned up to stay the night. We sat around talking some more then I excused myself for bed cause by 12 I was getting a little tired. The Fletcher Challenge had been planned for that night but it had been raining and all was wet so we postponed it till Saturday night, weather permitting.

Saturday I got up at around 11am, well refreshed and ready to face the day. The day was beautiful, fresh and crisp with virtually no clouds in the sky. Great, good day for a rollerblade I thought. Gerry went off to do some rockclimbing and I got a phone call from Fiona. She was (lazy) in her pyjamas at home (right next door to me) and wanted to know if I had seen the beautiful day and was keen for a rollerblade. But of course! What a silly question, I had already told her I would be keen for a rollerblade if she woke me at 3 in the morning. I can never get enough. So we went out and took it slow, I think the coolness affected our energy levels. I found I was gettng quite good at blading backwards and doing cross-overs. Fee had her brothers 21st to go to and prepare for that night, her brother who just anounced his engagement. This seems really young to me, but probably reflects more on how old I'm getting.

So I went out for a bacon/eggs/sausages + extras breakfast (at 1:30) met up with Damain there and we planned the Fletcher Challenge out a little better. It is now on people. I have set my alarm for 4:30am tomorrow morning. We are going to do it. We have the equipment, its a clear (and damn freezing) night, perfect for the caper (cape-er). You will see the photos up here soon. So I'm not watching the rugby, I'm not going out tonight, I'm instead doing a little bit of house work and some exercises then going to bed early. I'm going to make an excellent Grandpa one day. Oh what stories I'll have to tell to my little grandchildren as I sneak them sweets when their mothers aren't looking..