Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Cold and damp = sickness


Every country has its downsides. Some have more than others. And for some it’s more a matter of personal preferences.

New Zealand is a truly amazing country in more ways than we could ever mention, and we just love living here. I could talk about why forever. Personally I think NZ only has two downsides in total, and one of these is that we have a reputation for cold, damp homes (the other being that we sit on a major tectonic fault line). 

Double glazing and central heating are uncommon – so in the winter people huddle together in the one room which has a log fire or expensive heat pump, while the rest of the house freezes. Many houses are inadequately insulated, and many of us wake up each morning to “crying windows”.

As a result, asthma, bronchial infections and general sickness levels are extremely high at this time of year.

We are very lucky that we live in a modern, insulated house, with some heating facilities (they’re not entirely adequate but they’re better than many people have) and our house faces the sun which helps keep it toasty warm in the afternoons. But never-the-less, our children are both picking up every cough and cold that’s going around (and passing them on to us!) at the moment.

Meanwhile, last week Molly had a school trip to Zealandia (our local wildlife sanctuary) where she saw Takahe – an indigenous and endangered species of flightless bird – and impressed the tour guide with her knowledge of different Tuatara species. She’s still a wildlife fan at heart, and her Daddy is very proud of her knowledge given his current role at work! 

It’s been an exciting time for our Molly because the next day she was presented with an award at Assembly, for having moved up two reading groups in the space of 4 weeks (and for having a nice smile?!)

The day after that was her annual Cross Country running race at school where the kids run quite a long track! They've been practising for weeks and despite being so tiny, she still managed to come in roughly in the middle of all the other kids so we were very proud of her. Although she had originally herself a goal of coming first, second or third, she was pleased with herself too - we told her she was the third person wearing a pink hairband and that seemed enough. 

And the day after that she came down with a cough/cold bug. It’s hardly surprising!

She is off school today recovering, despite pleading to go in because she loves it so much! (I wonder how many more years that attitude will continue for?!).




Thursday, May 17, 2012

A Year On


Today is the one year anniversary of the day we arrived (to live) in Wellington. And OMG, it has been the fastest year of our lives so far. We’ve tried both lifestyles now and can officially confirm that life definitely goes faster in the city!

We still feel like we’ve only just arrived here, yet we’ve done so much and achieved so much over the last year. We’ve found a suburb to call home, settled the children into schools, settled ourselves into work, started house hunting, hiked, explored, enjoyed – oh and we got married too!

Our children are growing into proper Kiwi kids and Alfie continues to make us chuckle with his lovely accent. The other night Jake was helping him clean his teeth before bed and all I could hear coming from the bathroom was:

“Aaaaggghhhhh, I’m all weird”

 “Dad! You’re making me weird”

“STOP MAKING ME WEIRD DAD”

Poor Jake was so very confused, but eventually it transpired that he was dripping water all down Alfie as he cleaned his teeth and he wasn’t weird after all, just “wet”.

It was my turn yesterday as Alfie kept claiming that there were “things floating in the ear”. I started to become really concerned and almost made a doctor’s appointment for him. Eventually, with the exasperated face of someone much older, he switched on his posh English accent for me and told me there were things floating in the “AIR”.

With all the recent misunderstandings, he has started to realise that it is in all our interests for him to use a proper South England accent occasionally, and he is becoming nicely bilingual.

Molly however retains an air of mystery about her and speaks in pure English at home. Very very occasionally she’ll say a word with a Kiwi accent and then correct herself quickly in fear of Jake’s mockery (he’s very good at it). I do wonder how she sounds at school though, and whether there may be a strong accent in her which we never get to hear at home...

Anyway, we celebrated today's very important milestone with a family meal out tonight at our local brewery/bar (I’m not sure how to describe it actually. New Zealand doesn’t have a pub culture like the British pub culture, but this local bar would be as close as it gets). Happy Anniversary, Wellington! 

Monday, May 14, 2012

Mother's Day (NZ)


It would be very helpful if the powers that be could co-ordinate things so that Mother’s Day could be celebrated on exactly the same date in every country around the world. And while we’re at it, Father’s Day too please.

We always miss the British versions as there’s no mention of them on this side of the world. So we are frequently in trouble with all the parents back home – often without even realising it.

However this year we were super organised and arranged for flowers to be delivered to both UK mums for New Zealand’s Mother’s Day yesterday.

After placing the order and paying for it I unfortunately then discovered that one mother was going to be away for a few days (and therefore likely to return to a bunch of dead flowers on the doorstep) and the company we ordered from is yet to get around to making their delivery to the other mother despite promising a delivery date of Saturday (it’s now Monday). Ah well. We tried.


Meanwhile I was treated very well here in Wellington! Alfie invited me to a performance at his pre-school where I witnessed about twenty or thirty 3 and 4 year olds singing "Tutira Mai Nga Iwi" - exceedingly cute! Molly wrote me a beautiful letter which made me smile and made me laugh too - apparently my hobbies are "she likes to look beautiful" (!) and I never realised that she loves me because I sometimes say we can go to the dairy! 

Not only that, I was allowed a lie-in until quarter to nine, given a magazine and a scratch card (I won a dollar!) and was taken out to a nearby cafe for coffee and a slice. And there’s more! I was given a spare hour to go to an extra Zumba class on Sunday and ....I didn’t have to cook dinner that evening! So it was a brilliant day all round! 

Sunday, May 6, 2012

The Capital of Coffee



Wellington has a bit of a reputation as the coffee capital of New Zealand and there are, I’m told, more cafes per head of population here than there are in the whole of New York.

Sincere apologies now in case anyone thinks this is shallow thinking, but the cafe revolution to me has been one of the greatest developments of the last decade or two.

OK I exaggerate a little. But every time I go to a cafe it feels decadent. A real treat. Completely heavenly. It’s one of my favourite indulgences. So perfect for relaxing, people watching, reading newspapers, enjoying good conversation (and drinking coffee of course!)

This weekend we unintentionally set out on a bit of a cafe tour of the city. We began on Saturday afternoon with a drive around the supremely pretty Miramar Peninsula (where film director Peter Jackson has his studios and production facilities), and ended up at the gorgeous Chocolate Fish Cafe in Shelly Bay. Many friends and acquaintances with children have raved about this place, but it was our first time – and it won’t be our last!

After an entire afternoon sitting in the Autumn sun with hot chocolates while the kids played on bikes and a huge replica model of the Inter-islander ferry, we finally moved on into the city to pick up a few shopping items and then realised time was cracking on and we hadn’t sorted anything out for the kids’ dinner.

So, our next stop was Midnight Espresso, a quirky and very funky little place with a pinball machine and a Pacman table. Choice! Described by the Lonely Planet as “the quintessential Wellington cafe experience”, it was a very relaxed and easy way of taking two young children out into the grown up world. Excitement built as they realised they were the only children there and that the name of the cafe implied it must be midnight (it was 6.45pm but we didn’t tell them that). They behaved impeccably, Molly ate a couple of whole chillies, Alfie stuck to bread, and we all soaked up the very cool atmosphere.  

Next morning we headed back into the city to pick up a pair of shoes we’d put on layby for Molly, and somehow ended up at yet another cafe! Cafe Astoria is a bit of an institution in Wellington, and as I placed my order at the counter another customer, who was just leaving, popped up to thank the barista for the best coffee he’d ever had.

So we started off with a good feeling about this place. And yes, I can confirm that Astoria (who, incidentally, roast their own blend of coffee) produce some of the best coffee I have ever tasted.

Meanwhile, Alfie has embraced the heart and soul of our nation and joined the local rugby club. At his first session he picked up the rules of “Touch” within seconds and is already completely hooked. Some of the other members of the team weren’t quite so quick, but he managed to keep his manners and if the ball wasn’t passed to him after a “touch”, he just smiled politely and carried on running around. We were very proud parents.