Brr... in Blenheim

We've definitely begun to approach winter with the shortest day of the year pending. BRRRR. But- I'm happy to report that my co-worker managed to track down a car windscreen scraper. I think it might actually be a paint scraper- but it will do the trick! I have no burning desire to bring out water and pour it on the window, as so many of the local folk here do. I think I'm residing in a much warmer house than the lovely old villa of last winter. Hurray! It's still COLD! But with a warm fire that I've yet to have to light, things are going fine on that front.

There was some drama in Blenheim on Monday- when a plane was diverted from Wellington. It was a littler one carrying 17 passengers- and when it went to land in Welly the landing gear wouldn't go down- so they flew the 20 minutes to Blenheim and circled in the air to burn off fuel before doing a belly landing. They indicated landing in Blenheim would cause less disruption to plane traffic than in Welly. I flew to Christchurch last week on one of those little planes. They have two seats per row with an aisle down the middle- so yes EVERYONE gets a window seat. The co-pilot person does the safety demos- and you can see right into the cockpit. Anyhow, things turned out well- they made it down safely. The passengers had the option of bussing out to another centre for a flight, or a ferry. I think you'd have to go for the plane option- time to get back on the horse before fear sets in too deeply.

On Saturday evening the All Blacks played Canada's rugby team. Did you even know Canada had a rugby team? I watched the first half in a pub with a bunch of Canadians and it was great fun when we scored a try! HURRAY!!! It was a football like interception- I have no idea what the rugby term is- if there even is one. The score was very respectible in the first half, the Canadians scored 13 points and were down by only about 20. The All Blacks turned things around a bit and ended up winning something like 65-13. But a jolly good show for the Canadian team who were definitely underdogs!!

On the immigration front, still no criminal check. I've obtained travel insurance past the end of my current one. And NZ immigration shall be looking at my work visa/permit, instead of residency within the next week- before I'm expired. :)

I'm looking forward to days getting longer... :) It's almost that time.