I've Arrived

I'm now in New Zealand.  There's a fair bit to do today getting all my stuff out of 'The Cupboard' and settling in and catching up with the family.  I hope to start blogging on A Hebridean in New Zealand tomorrow.  I hope you join me there.  Bye for now.

A Wonderful Flight

Yesterday I travelled from Stornoway to Glasgow: a journey I have made many hundreds of times over the last 35 years.  There are four seats on the plane from which decent photos can be taken.  I was lucky enough yesterday to have one of those seats.  The Captain had spoken to us before we took off and she said that she would be flying lower than usual because it was such a wonderful day that she wanted us to enjoy the views.  I thought that I had become blasé about the beauty of flying.  Indeed I had.  But yesterday was magical.  I took 203 photos.  They may not do the scenes justice because they were taken into the sun through a fairly dirty window.  But there are five of them:

Looking south down the east coast of Lewis

The Schiant Isles off the east coast of Harris

The rest are over the west coast of Scotland and the Inner Hebrides

The Journey Across The World

Today's journey is the 284k/177mile flight from Stornoway to Glasgow. I shall stay with friends John and Sue near Glasgow Airport tonight and Gaz will come tomorrow and spend some time and take me to the airport.

Tomorrow I travel from Glasgow to London Heathrow (556k/345m) to arrive there early afternoon.

Later in the afternoon I start the 26 hour flight to Auckland in two legs: 8751k/5438m from Heathrow to Los Angeles and then after a 1 or 2 hour stop for refueling 10360k/6437m across the Pacific to Auckland.

By that time it's Saturday morning and time for a 335k/208m flight from Auckland to Napier.  I always feel very emotional on this flight.  I just know that this Saturday it's going to be even more emotional than usual.

I don't know whether I'll have the opportunity to blog whilst I'm in transit.  I may have a chance in Heathrow.  We'll see.  I'm looking forward to 'seeing' you all again soon.

A New Moon

I usually concentrate on taking pictures of the full moon.  It's more photogenic.  However a few days ago it was the new moon and I realised that I could not recall when I last saw a new moon.  So I thought I'd share it with you.

It Always Happens!

I was so organised.  Good job too.

The central heating boiler is playing up and this morning when I woke the smell of oil in the house was bad enough to filter through to my bedroom which, in air circulation terms, is as far away from the boiler as one can get.  So I went into town, met Pat (who had just finished walking Briagha in The Castle Grounds) for a coffee at The Woodlands and then went to sort out a new boiler which will go outside the house.  So I'll have yet another appendage stuck on the outside!

Then I got an email from Air New Zealand saying that there was a change to my flight plans for an internal New Zealand flight early next month when I go away to a tournament.  Needless to say the printer chose this moment to malfunction and refuse to print out my new e-ticket.  It didn't help that I pressed the accept button too quickly before I realised I now have a 4 hour wait in Wellington Airport.  Oh joy.  Six hours and I could have gone into Wellington and seen the sights.  But four hours is waiting around time.

Lunchtime and we had a power cut.  It wasn't a problem.  I had plenty of things to do that didn't need electricity.  I have gas for cooking and secondary heating anyway.  I thought I'd use up some of the eggs and have an omelette for lunch.  I broke the eggs into the bowl added milk and some pepper and got out the whisk.  Put in the whisks.  Switched it on.  Yes.  You are right.  What was I thinking of?  So I had a flat rather than a fluffy omelette with parmesan and chedder melted in it.  Freshly made warm bread complemented it.  Lovely.  But how could I have done that?  An electric whisk!  Duh.

The rest of the afternoon went smoothly - Pat came round to make sure all the things to be kept an eye on were sorted (and have a coffee of course).  Tonight I've vacuum cleaned the carpets and washed the kitchen floor.  That just leaves the bathroom in the morning.  I am now waiting for a visitor (it's 8.30pm - we visit late around here) and relaxing.

My plan is an early night and an early start in the morning to get the bed changed and the washing done.  Let's see if it works out that way.

A Good Day For Boats

Today has been a good day for boats.  If one can call the cruise ship Queen Mary II a boat.  She's on a cruise around the British Isles at the moment.  The little sailing boat, on the other hand, was just out for a wee sail in the sun.

To The Other End of The Earth - Again

It is Monday night here in Eagleton.  I am almost packed.  Tomorrow I should have a relatively straightforward day cleaning the house and emptying the freezer and suchlike. Well I've said that before.  There are so many things that just pop up unexpectedly.  But, hey, life's too short to worry about them.

So I have two more sleeps before I leave here on Wednesday to stay with friends near the airport in Glasgow.  Gaz will come over and take me to the airport on Thursday.  That'll be good.

On Saturday at 1000 hrs New Zealand time I should arrive in Napier having travelled from Glasgow to London to Los Angeles to Auckland to Napier.

You just sort of get used to it really.

I've Decided, and Acted.

I wondered a while ago what to do about my New Zealand Blog: A Hebridean in New Zealand.  I decided yesterday to amalgamate both the blogs into the blog I used last year and continue just as one blog.  I'm not really sure why I started a new one last year anyway.  I've also altered the format a bit so that I can use large photos if I want to.  I have to be conscious though of the fact that some people are unable to get broadband (especially in rural areas of New Zealand).  I cannot get terrestrial broadband at The Cottage and have to use a NZ Telecom Mobile connection which is quite expensive and limited to 1Gb a month.  After that the cost soars even higher.  So I hope that you will continue to keep in touch when I traverse the globe later this week.

There is a link at the side of this blog but if you want to go and have a peek now then it's here: A Hebridean in New Zealand.

The Farming Of Fences

Crofting is often described as the farming of fences.  This is part of the view from my Study window.  I can understand how the description came about!

The Road To Stornoway

The peninsula on which I live has a low ridge down the middle.  I live on the East side of the peninsula.  The main road into the town of Stornoway is on the west side of the ridge.  So my journey into Stornoway involves a trip of a mile or more across the moor and the ridge.  This week I took the opportunity to try out Sony with a panorama of the view I see every time I make the journey.  Well every time the weather is sunny!

It's All The Little Things

It's all the little things that take the time and make me just that little bit anxious when I'm about to leave my Eagleton home for my New Zealand home in The Cottage.

What little things?  Well the one that always arises ('cos one cartridge has just run out!) is that if I don't take the cartridges out of the printer before I go and leave them for 6 months then they are useless.  But worse than that the printer doesn't think they are and gets its knickers in a twist and I have to spend ages trying to fool the electronics into releasing it.  And printer cartridges are expensive so taking all four out and wrapping them in cling film saves me buying four new ones when I get back.  As well as the hassle.

Spraying my tools so they don't go rusty over the winter.

Trying to make sure that the contents of the freezer have been eaten so that I can de-frost it before I leave.

Setting the mouse traps so that I don't have the garden shed (or, worse still, the house) completely over-run with the little people as it was a few years ago (the shed not the house!).  The irony is that I love mice but they are dirty little critters.

Making sure that the floor's clean under the fridges and so on.  After all I'd not like to come back to things growing out from under them! 

And there are so many more but I'm sure you get the picture.  I started a list earlier in the week and every time I manage to cross something off it I seem to write two more on.

Oh.  And then, of course, there's the big things like putting up the storm shutters over the door and window between the house and the conservatory.  Another hurricane may do no damage but I'm not taking any chances.  The last one was just too scary.

I don't travel with much luggage because my life is pretty much duplicated but last year I left the cable that joins the Olympus to the computer.  What a hassle (and expense) it was getting a replacement.  So I'll try not to do that again. 

Oh well.  Only 4 more sleeps and then it'll be too late to worry.