don't let the bells end
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Saw King Kong last night. My word. Have decided that Adrian Brody is what you'd get if you morphed together Carter and Luka off ER. Phwoar. Fantastic film, too. And the refurbished Embassy has extremely spiffy loos.
In other news, my stoically resigning myself to our taking months and months to settle back to life in Godzone has proved a bit previous. In fact, it's all going much faster than I expected: Jack starts work on 4 January and we went unconditional on the house on Thursday. Won't be moving in until Jan is well under way for various tedious reasons I won't bore you with (for one thing all the lawyers have now gone off on their hols for the next three weeks). Still, while it may be glacial progress by NZ standards, after waiting four months in the UK just to exchange contracts, as far as I'm concerned it's all slipping past like line off a reel.
Other things I've been doing:
- spot of contract work, editing training manuals for NZ Post. Couple more days and we can afford a washing machine.
- practising balancing one-legged on my bad leg. Can now manage it with both eyes closed, so far without anything going *ping*. With any luck I should be match fit for fulltime Rebecca-wrangling by the time Jack goes back to work.
- reading Fleur Adcock, for some reason.
And, as you may have noticed, not answering my emails. Or sending Christmas cards. Sorry, sorry, sorry; much gratitude to the kind folks who have; half-baked assurances that normal service will be restored next year, when things may be less frenzied. I can't even post a wholesome family Christmas picture as all our photos are stuck on the camera until we can get our hands on the shipment, which is still on the Petone docks until the New Year. So instead close your eyes for a moment and picture, if you will, Jack in a reindeer jumper and comedy antlers, his countenance wreathed in a paternal smile, his arm around a beaming and sticky infant who is busy trying to jam a striped candy-cane up her nose and a harassed but happy-looking woman in a Weet-bix-encrusted kaftan, who is attempting to stop her. Or a scene of similar chaotic merriment. Merry Christmas!
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hopalong
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Still unable to bend left leg so am perfecting Dr Who monster lurch. Frustratingly slow: am reminded of a comment made on one of those '900 Years of Dr Who'-type docos, when one of the producers suggested that the best means of escape from a Dr Who monster was to walk away briskly. Rebecca, on the other hand, sprints for all she is worth and it is more than frustrating to be unable to intervene in her frequent plummets.
Speaking of the wee'un, the latest milestone is that, seeing the twisted remains of her portable cot the other morning, we decided it was about time to get her a big girl bed. However as we have as yet nowhere to put such an item (but watch this space!) we have got her an interim bed - a 'king single' inflatable mattress from the Ware-whare. So, less far to fall should she take a midnight tumble, and handy for trips to Auckland. Bug herself absolutely delighted with the new sleeping arrangement - radiant smiles last night when she saw it all made up with her bedtime companions Leo and Medium Bunny tucked in and waiting for her. She crawled in and lay there beaming and crooning 'Sleepies?' and looking most pleased with herself. And this morning after breakfast she kept getting back in and pulling the covers up to her chin, saying 'Sleepies? Yeh? Yeh?' Clearly a child after my own heart, not to mention chromosomes.
Did I mention it's all going astonishingly well on the house-and-job front? Will let J elaborate.
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handling the jandal
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
My what a busy week-and-a-half it's been. For those who profess to be avid readers, here are some of the things I've been up to:
- watched Billy Connolly's World Tour of NZ without getting homesick;
- went to see Roger Hall's Cinderella at Wellington's Circa Theatre (Christmas treat from my mother-in-law). Failed to understand most of the topical jokes; great fun though: as pantos aren't particularly part of NZ's Christmas tradition, the opening number was an explanatory prologue in song and dance during which the cast, in dressing gowns, outlined the various conventions and told the audience what was expected of them. Which was just as well, because at points Jack and I were the only adults yelling 'BEHIND YOU!!';
- dislocated my left kneecap (about as painful as it sounds) necessitating the mobilisation of about half (it seemed) of the ambulance corps of the lower North Island, as when calamity struck we were halfway down the Ngauranga Gorge on a track accessible only by 4X4. Sounds worse than it is: shortly after I hit the dirt, the renegade patella completed its return trajectory, bungee-ing back more or less into its correct location. A couple of days later I consulted a physio, who shoved it a bit further over to the right and taped it firmly into place, where it remains, quivering nervously;
- seeking gainful employment: have a couple of days of editing Jacked (or should I say Maire-d) up for next week and have been for an editing test with a local firm;
- read The Lovely Bones - reading somewhat coloured by wondering how Pete and Fran are going to transpose it for the screen. So long as it doesn't have Rachel Griffiths in it, it should be OK.
Other than that, it's all been about the hunt for jobs, baby groups, a house: a life. Business as usual, really. Missing all you UK-based buggers; you know who you are.
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recent reading
Friday, December 02, 2005
Andrew Collins, Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Anne Tyler, The Amateur Marriage
Margaret Atwood, Dancing Girls
Maurice Gee, The Scornful Moon
Michael Frayn, The Trick of It: 'To write a book you have to be obsessive. You have to be prepared to destroy everything around you. As she is. As I am not.'
Current reading: Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint (They fuck you up, your Momma and Poppa, oy vey!)
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