Top Gear, Top Dogs, Top Notes

So another week down and another new addition to the Young household, a 13 year old Honda 4x4 in a tasteful dark green. I had given up trying to get a roof rack or tow hitch for our other car (Mazda gas guzzling people mover). I needed to solve the logistical challenge of getting all of us plus bikes and luggage plus 1 ‘mature’ (not elderly) Uncle Geoff (U.G.) + luggage back from Auckland in April at the end us (minus U.G.) spending a week exploring the wild Northlands area at the top of New Zealand. This Honda seemed to tick most boxes, it has a tow hitch which now supports a proper ‘Kiwi-engineered’ bike rack – solid steel and will hold 4 bikes with ease (see trip to Napier for the fate of the Halfords one!). It also has roof bars so I’ve just brought a roof box on the Kiwi Ebay (Trade-me) which I’ll collect later in the week. Our neighbour had a good look over the car before we bought it (he used to sell them) and thinks it looks pretty good – time will tell no doubt.

So theatrical news….. Lana has started rehearsals for ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ – a musical about someone covered in acne I think….. I (Richard) have landed a tiny role in Oliver! – I play Mr Sowerberry the undertaker who sings in the stage version – albeit only one song. Both plays are on in June so that will keep us on our toes for the next few weeks. Chris is singing with the massed choirs of Hamilton at a big open air event next weekend. And Kirsty is cracking on with her flute and singing – good old Kirsty. Kirsty has also started swimming after school – today the coach told her she needed to concentrate more on her breathing – I’m surprised that she made it to 13 if her breathing wasn’t great!

Dog news – Woof, woof woof, Grrrr, woof….. translation…..
“Monday’s obedience classes are great – I’m getting Chris trained really well to call my name and feed me liver cake for the simplest of tricks.”

Fence news – garden is now dog escape proof (I think), the hardest bit was the entrance but it is now closed up with five electrified bunjee ropes. Rudo hasn’t been out but then again neither have we…… I think I may still resort to a radio controlled rock by the gate that triggers a quick ping (OK – electric shock) should Rudo stray too close to it.

At work we managed to get into the paper again three times last week, one on the front page, but I’ve been on a charm offensive (difficult to believe) with the local mayors (did you ever see The Dukes of Hazard?) and I wheeling in my friend – The Minister – next week to announce some more good news. We must get those letters R and N stuck back on......

I spent two days in Auckland learning about her government here works. This trip coincided with the first night of the Jeremy Clarkson ‘Top Gear Live’ tour in New Zealand so I went along and enjoyed the string of stunts, super cars, Stig racing, jet powered cycles, flymo powered hovercrafts and chainsaw powered deck chairs. As I was leaving I picked up a ‘VIP Pass’ which the guy in front of me left behind and nipped off for a few beers at the reception – when they called us to sit for the gala dinner I discretely nipped off – as my shorts and Hook Norton polo-shirt didn’t seem to match the black ties that others were wearing! Anyway the girls each now have a Top Gear Live VIP lanyard.

Cycling, singing and politics.....

They say that a week is a long time in politics, well this week I found out that three days can also be a pretty long time…… As a part of my regular updates at work I have to give a brief update to the local councils on how work is getting on the Waikato Expressway (the project I’m running over here). We’ve been cracking on pretty well actually and are just waiting for the Minister to visit us next month so that he can announce that some work is actually being brought forward so we would be in a position to finish the all the road by 2020. Anyway the current ‘official’ timescale was that it will be finished by 2025, so not to steal the Minister’s thunder we presented the 2025 completion date at the local meeting. Now I’m not saying that it was a quiet news day in the Waikato – but they decided to run with this as the lead story…………….

I was ‘invited’ to visit the Beehive – (New Zealand’s Ministerial Office in Wellington) to explain to the Minister what progress we were making, which was actually a really useful trip. I dusted off my suit and gave the Minister a run-down on what was going on and we all came away happy – he knew a reasonable amount about what was going on and was looking forward to coming up to Hamilton in March. Harry – my Regional Director – muttered something about me looking like an innocent choir-boy!

On Friday the team and I took a minibus tour along the route, stopping off at an 1863
battlefield (which the existing road destroyed - Ooops), several major junctions (which are currently inhabited by fields of cows), and spotting who has built the largest houses close to the route on the naive assumption that it would never get built.

Saturday saw me compete in my first mountain bike race – the “Black Stump” I opted for an 18km team race and the social cycling group I’ve found ‘No Boring Bits’ fielded a couple of teams. It was a tough old course, either steep and long uphills or muddy and steep downhills – but after all New Zealand is known for its hills. I put in a creditable 1hour 51minutes making me the 15th 45-55 male in the 18km race – other more roughty tuffty cyclists did 30km and 40km but 18km was just perfect for me.

Chris started work on Monday at a school in Cambridge, working with a partially sighted 8yr old who seems nice enough. And then she’s got one afternoon assisting with the school orchestra - but it's run by some lady who's been doing it for over 20 years, so she probably wants to keep on doing her own thing –who can blame her. She's leaving at the end of the year, so Chris will bide her time till then. And on Fridays it's choir - apparently between 60 - 80 kids are expected, which is pretty impressive. Chris managed to speak with the assistant who helped run it last year and was told, "we don't do action songs" and later "we don't sing in parts" Well, Chris will see about that!


Chris writes….
I never thought I'd say this, but it was a good feeling to be back in the classroom! A bit strange not knowing anyone - pupils or staff, when I knew the name of every child in the school at Kineton. And they're much more unusual names to learn, so I've got my work cut out - and it was never my forte. It's also frustrating not knowing where anything is, or even what some things are - crayons are Jovis - a brand name I think, while a toka (or something) is a tray in Maori, and on Thursday I knew how to say good morning - but I've forgotten that one too. It seems that occasional bits of Maori are dropped in - the teacher might say 'be quiet' in English, but 'sit down' in Maori. Just to keep us on our toes!

Richard auditioned this afternoon for a part in the local AmDram production of Oliver. I think he'd be suited as Mr Bumble!! It'll be a big time committment if he does get in and that added to the cycling at weekends and the drinks after work means I'm going to have to mug up on my maths and science to help the girls with their homework. I was struggling with sets with Lana last week - all those funny symbols that I'd forgotten the existence of!

We're continuing to enjoy Rudo the dog. He's very placid but a bit of an escape artist, so we've spent hours and hours reinforcing and now electrifiying the fence. He's very friendly with the dog next door and seems to find the pain of the electric shock as he wriggles under the fence worth it for the pleasure of playing with his ladyfriend! I'm getting into a routine of taking him for walks in the morning before school and as that's 100% more exercise than I did before I'm hoping to see the benefit. I also get some good runs in too, when I have to chase after him to stop him getting to someone's picnic before I get to him. He's usually very good at coming when I call - but not when there's a picnic in front of him.

Summer seems to be drawing to a close - at least, the rain has started again, so I'm assuming that was it. It was extremely hot and humid - unpleasant really - but no doubt we'll soon be longing for it.

Puppies, pruning, puddles and electric fence installations..

OK so we've now got a puppy dog – a five month old black lab from the pound in Hamilton – and he's wonderful - really good temperament and very soppy. The ladies have been deciding a name for said pooch for the past three days and I think it's finally been settled as Rudo – which means Love in Shona. It was also a very belated birthday present for Chris.

(And some cunning photos of the girls school uniform)

The new arrival was preceded by the ultimate in garden tools in the form of a tractor mounted telescopic hedge trimmer - well actually four of the largest circular saws I've ever seen which munched off the top third of our row of conifers. It was the type of gadget that James Bond would be chased by...... It did leave a tangle of branches and debris down one side of the garden for me to tidy up…….. (but no dead 007's) .. it's still there and but we now get an extra half hour of sunshine!

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Don't laugh but I (Richard) have enrolled in a six week swing dancing class which one of my team runs one night a week - so far I've done one lesson – Rock Step, 1-2-3, 1-2-3……..

The girls made their long awaited return to school on Friday and I got my own back today (Monday) as I had a public holiday (Waikato Day) and they had to go to school. Having said that I did spend most of the day putting up 250m of electric fence around our perimeter to ensure that our black dog does not become a flat dog. I did feel sorry for him as we enticed him to explore the fence-line and get zapped two or three times but I think it's had the desired effect and he now seems to give the fences a very wide berth. He has his own private quarters in the garden in the form of an empty shed and thanks to some more of my handiwork he now has a (non-electrified) fenced area in which to sunbathe and poo. The hanging Barney is not some ancient Kiwi sacrifice but somewhere for them to dry out after Rudo left out in the 100mm of rain we had yesterday!

Sunday was forecast as light showers so I headed off to join a 50km cycle trip up the nearest big hill. By the time I'd done 10km I was soaked through from the torrential rain and the perspiration of climbing some 500m, the remaining 40km were basically going down the other side on a great gravel track and then looping back up top the top (another 500m climb in wet gravel) before a final 10km descent on tar roads back to the cars. The final climb was a complete killer, but I made it – just. Got home and didn't get any sympathy despite suffering painful cramps – Chris muttered things about self inflicted injuries…….

So there we are - another week in paradise.....