Must have been a rubbish Christmas to not get a blog?!

So the regularity of my postings is gradually diminishing. So am I so busy doing stuff and having a great time that I just can't find the time to blog - or is life so dull and boring that I have nothing to tell you about? Two extremes, neither of which is true. Probably somewhere in the middle is the truth. So what has been going on since the last blog? Crikey, December the 4th, that was a long time ago! So the training regime kicked in for forthcoming LA challenge just as the end of year BBQ and party schedule ramped up here in Chch. I did my best to be good, but reconciled myself to the fact that I did need some carbs at least to fuel the exercising. The events seemed to keep coming - PTA Xmas do, Simply Lean Xmas do, Fulton Hogan SQTE Dept party, Fulton Hogan Admin Division do, Maria's Works do, Chamber of Commerce, Business Mentors.....it was great! Chris also started his new job as Shift Supervisor in training at Wendys (Old Fashioned Hamburger) - and there was a friends and family opening night there too! Anything off the menu...gratis! Probably was the most calorific of all the pre-Xmas troughs if the truth be known. Their thick chocolate milk shakes (with extra whipped cream on top) are enough to clog anyone's arteries. Nice though! We also attended Sarah's School's Prizegiving Ceremony at the Town Hall. This was a really grand occassion - full of pomp and ceremony. It was on a different level to anything I had ever experienced back in Stockport or Derby. There was a great sense of tradition and occassion. Unfortunately, the week before Christmas saw me finish my contract with Fulton Hogan. A bit disappointed to tell you the truth. I think that there are still plenty of things that I could help them with given a bit more time. There were a few comments made before I actually finished that maybe we haven't seen the last of each other - so fingers crossed for the new year. So as of 18th December, I became a professional triathlete! The prize money now took on added significance...LOL! The Sunday before Christmas saw Maria and I head up to the Mud House Winery at Waiapra to see Blondie and The Pretenders in concert.

A great evening of entertainment indeed! A beautiful warm sunny evening and a blast down memory lane - I had forgotten just how many Pretenders' song I knew. We had been auctioning Brendan's campervan on Trade Me - at his request - and had been hoping that no-one would buy before Christmas - as it had featured as a key component of our Summer holiday plans! Bad move really - as it was sold on Christmas Eve! We spent a sunny Christmas Day on the beach at Taylor's Mistake with my 'training partner' - Rob Sherman - and his family before returning back to Desmond St for a evening of champagne, cray-fish and chocolate strawberries. Delicious.

And late night swimming!


Once the girls had had their Boxing Day Sale's fix - which actually included a 5.1 earthquake at 10am in the morning - we headed over to Akaroa for a few nights under canvas - taking Sarah's pal Molly with us for company.

Despite a rather claustrophobic pitch, noisey neighbours and some inclement weather on the second day (we spent most of it in a restaurant having a very long lunch with Matt & Lou) we did have a pleasant time of it! Maria's boss - Chops - has a bach over there and invited us around for a drink or two one evening (the wet one!) and then out on his motor boat for the afternoon the following day.

We also got to crew for his pal Rob in the evening Yacht Race around the harbour - a great experience. We didn't win, but didn't come last.

We definitely had the best post race buffet - cray-fish, salmon blinnies and fizz - consumed in a reasonalbe quantity aboard the boat as the sun gently set over the Bank's mountains. And once it did set, the temperature suddenly dropped by about 10 degrees - almost immediately. So off to Rob's bach overlooking the harbour with fab views of the environs. What a life these guys lead! We headed back to Christchurch for New Year festivities. Maria and I headed into town for a few drinks with Steve and Viv Frodsham whilst Sarah hosted a gang of her school pals at our place - for a pool party! We actually headed back home to see the new year in - plus to check that all was OK back at the ranch - and witnessed a mass pool-bombing by the girls at midnight! (Poor old Chris - he was at work serving burgers to late night revellers until 4 in the morning!). Maria had the week after New Year off work - most of Christchurch is on holiday for at least a week too - so there's barely no work to do unless you are in retail or hospitality! We spent the week chilling in and around Christchurch - no campervan, you see!



A few bike rides to Tai Tapu, a run up the Harry Ell track, a trip to the pictures with Sarah to watch the Young Fockers....and all sober....no booze for a week...how very 'un-kiwi' I hear you say! And then the holidays were over. Maria headed back to work and I started to look for work. I did find some quite quickly, TBH. Helping out at Business Mentors again. It's not the long term solution but will keep me out of the shops and pubs until I get something more finacially rewarding! So just as my swim times and run splits were starting to look impressive, LA pulled out of the event! All that training I had done - in vain?! He had a sore knee apparently. So I pulled out to. Anything you can do.....! Mid-January saw Mike Moran and his wife Dawn visit us, along with son Jack. We spent a pleasant afternoon touring the sights of Chch and hosted them chez-nous for a BBQ and a few cheeky ones (yes, back off the wagon by then!). They actually got to experience a big aftershock the following morning - a 5.0 shook the city from their beds at just after 6am. A few more during the day resulted in one of the shakiest days for a while. The BBQ is actually a recent purchase - we decided to host a few pals around here early in the new year and invested in a gas-powered model - so my days of charcoal-dirty fingers and waiting for the coals to glow before cooking are possibly behind me (just like a final-salary pension scheme!). So now I have the new toy, most food over the past few weeks has been BBQ'd!


Last week was a busy one in Chch. It was World Buskers Week plus the City hosted the World International-Para Championships.



Though we didn't make it to any of the athletics, we did go to see a few of the Buskers events - notably 'The Boy with Tape on his Face' at the Art Gallery. A great show. Despite not competing in the Roturua triathlon, I am continuing the train quite hard. Further more, I foolishly let the beer talk at one of my Saturday BBQ's - in the presence of witnesses - that I secretly wanted to do the Wanaka Ironman next January. I think Rob was a bit bevvied too and we now find ourselves 'committed' to the Christchurch Marathon in June, the Ashburton Half-Ironman in November and the previously mentioned Wanaka Challenge this time next year. One of these days I'll learn to keep my ideas to myself! Hope that's got you back up to speed. Just off to do a couple of laps of Hagley Park......not really....I'm actually going to fire up the BBQ....honest. It's been 35 degrees here today - absolutely sweltering. And today of all days I decided to take Maria on the 80km Long Bays cycle ride. Probably not the greatest of ideas. We did get round - eventually. It took a few coffee stops and a few walks up a few of the hills (not me, of course!). But hey, it was done. And now it's time to cook the meat to go with the Salad Nicoise that I have prepared and I guess we will swill it down with the fizz that I put in the fridge to chill about 3 hours ago. What a life these guys lead!