Run and Float

Clare and I have been running, 4 times a week since well before Christmas. We have a goal in mind and are progressing steadily towards that, however some days are just more difficult than others and you need a little something to motivate you to pick up the pace or even just to get out the door.

Since summer arrived it has been tougher on me, its just too hot to go running. I have bought super lightweight running clothes, the next step would be to run naked and that would be good for no-one. On one run after a brief rainshower Clare took to running under low branches to knock rain from the leaves onto her head, this may have worked for her but left me trying to run and laugh at the same time.

Usually I feel hottest when we stop running, last Sunday morning I was redder than my usual traffic light face and too hot. Salvation came when we made it back to the house, after throwing our trainers over the gate into the garden we headed for the river that runs past the side of the house and then out to sea. Jumping in we were quickly refreshed and cooled in one. We floated with the current out along the estuary to the end of the sandspit, got out and walked back up the beach to the house. I think I could get to like summer running.

Job shoes

There is an unwritten law somewhere which says all girls love to buy shoes. I am the exception which proves the rule. I don't hate shopping in general, although I am trying to avoid it where possible as part of my bid to save the planet from becoming a giant, overheated landfill but thats another story.... Today I was forced to shop for shoes, I have a job interview on Tuesday and no shoes.

I did bring a few pairs with me but I mostly haven't seen them since I arrived. Although a job was always on the agenda here, it was far from the front of my mind when packing. So, I have a couple of pairs of trainers, hiking boots, cycle shoes and flip flops.

None of these go with the chocolate colour suit I plan to borrow from Clare. She has a lot of shoes, she is one of the shoe loving masses. Unfortunately her shoes are just a little too big for me. I did once borrow a pair of shoes for an interview, many years ago - I was fine when I set off, by the time I got to the place I could barely walk my feet hurt so much. I couldn't concentrate in the interview and didn't get the job. I don't want a repeat performance here, I need to get a job and am lucky enough to have seen one that I like the sound of, I am not going to risk it.

It was a hot sunny day and I live at the beach, to me it made no sense to be going anywhere. I decided to make this a one trip only mission vowing to come home with whatever the best pair of shoes I found were, even if I hated them. I have never shopped like this before and with only 3 shoe shops in the whole mall it was a brave plan.




I tried about half a dozen pairs and then saw a nice pair of trainers in the sale - time to move on to another shop.....nice t-shirts...keep going.....2-for-1 paperbacks in the book shop.....after checking all 3 shoe shops things were looking dire, I was on my second lap and took another look at the trainers then I'm not sure what happened but I soon found myself buying not one but two pairs of shoes - sorry planet.

I just hope the interview works out as well today's mission.

Old Year, New Year

I have been mindful of not blogging for some time. I have had good intentions to extract photos from my camera and post them with an update but as the days creep by it just feels more and more like old news.

In summary, I had a great Christmas and a good New Year. Being a wierd bunch we went hunting for bugs in the woods after dark on New Year's Eve. Midnight passed as we were walking back to the house along the beach. We could have just as easily been asleep had the bug hunting trip been shorter. It was refreshing to see in the New Year with other people who like I couldn't give two hoots about "Celebrating" - besides we had to be up at 4.30am to go to the airport the next morning.

(Photo of bugs - Wetas - as big as my hand)



I spent the first week of this grand new year with Clare, carbo loading for the year ahead. That means eating more than we need to build a store of energy available for... well, for the myriad of activities we may plan this year. The first opportunity to burn some of these stores was taking her brand new mountain bike for some exercise. My year old bike looked equally new so rather than head for the recommended mountain bike trails on the West coast we opted to bike on some quiet tracks at one of the other regional parks where we could make fools of ourselves in peace. After a couple of hours walking our bikes up hills and re-learning how to ride down the steep bits both Clare and I looked well worn in but the lack of mud kept the bikes looking mint - bummer.

The second week of this year I spend updating my CV. I have not actually finished but when I do it will be superb. As well as having an amazing CV we will have the cleanest house in Auckland and I will have read all the books I recieved for Christmas plus those given to Clare and Malcolm. I have been procrastinating a little. But there is always this week. Apart from today which was spent cycling and preparing for Malcolm's birthday (tomorrow). I may have been able to put in a bit of time this evening but on the way home from shopping/work Clare's car broke down. We were left stranded on the side of the motorway with no Breakdown Cover. A few phonecalls later and we manged to establish the number for directory enquires (Here in NZ its 018, UK - 192 in case you ever need to know) and then numbers for tow trucks. The nice man loaded the dead car (broken clutch cable) on to the truck and we headed for the garage. Then he dropped us home, all in under an hour. Far better than any story I have ever heard of the AA and we got to listen to the police scanner in the cab of his truck. No idea what any of it meant but I'm sure it was very exciting really.