This week I ave been mostly eating…

I’ve been rather slack when it comes to my blog.  Oh well.  Life has been busy.

It’s winter here now.  Truly.  I’ve gone skiing twice now.  My second lesson at the weekend didn’t go too well.  On the first run down I stacked it and got sifted to the ’slow’ group, comprising me and 5 middle aged women.  It got worse as I went on though.  Felt pretty disillusioned with the whole process and had a bit of a strop until I saw a chubby guy about my age crying on his arse with his tutor holding him by the shoulders saying, “It’s ok Danny, we just need to get to the bottom of the slope; can you do that?; come on, we’re getting there, we just need to crack your balance…’, NO! I want to stop!”.  I decided to man up after that shameful display.

In the afternoon I progressed to the big boy slope and after 1 run of sheer terror I felt pretty good about the whole thing and was rather annoyed when the weather came in and we had to go home.

Ached like a bitch for the next few days.

A friend of mine let me know that the Blur set at Glastonbury was the best gig of his life which made me feel great.  Watching the footage on line it’s really taken me back to the old days, watching Blur with friends, crowd-surfing, singing to my throat gave out and leaving soaked to the skin with sweat, water and stale lager.  Upset I missed the gig.

I’m working in elderly care at the moment which is nice as I find old people fascinating and some of the most interesting people I’ve ever met.  You don’t seem to get as many war stories in NZ though and I’m not sure why.  I’m currently sitting waiting for a medical registrar job to come up but in the mean time I’ve applied formally for jobs in December.  K is working as an anaesthetic registrar which is pretty cool.  I’m proud of her.

So many things.

Right now I’m listening to an almost perfect live version of 2 rights make 1 wrong from the Evening session in 2001.  It’s glorious and well worth digging out.  Time for bed now though.

 

Ooops

This morning on the ward round we were hurrying around the hospital and as we came up out of a stairwell I reached out quickly to grab the door before it swung back and hit us.  Unfortunately one of the consultant surgeons strode through in the other direction at that precise time and I punched / bitch slapped him pretty hard across the face.

Mortified!

Trying to apologise, he ran up the stairs looking shocked while I tried to get out my words.  At which point my consultant fell about laughing.  And didn’t stop for the next 5 mins.

It’s a good job I don’t want to be a surgeon!

 

My badly strung declaration to you / love not by degrees

I am still alive.  Back on nights over the long Easter weekend.  Destined to work every Bank Holiday in NZ ever.  I really mean to blog more.  I really do.  I also mean to cut down the time I spend online which is the prevailing force at the moment.

Let’s see, what have I been up to since I last wrote something down:

• saw NIN in Auckland – different set from recent tours but energetic and great setlist.
• saw Kings of Leon -they  just don’t do anything for me
• missed Dan Deacon which really pissed me off
• got soaked on Franz Joseph glacier
• gently spun in a circle hanging from a log 25 ft up being watched by about 40 people while ice climbing and then dropped my axes
• climbed back up and got them
• went to Hokitika Wild Foods Fest
• spent more time in Greymouth than was really necessary
• made a hand forged knife and had fun axe throwing in Barrytown spending a brilliant day listening to Stephen’s terrible jokes
• drove a lot surrounded by stunning scenery
• sea kayaking in Abel Tasman
• going in the sea and not getting eaten by sharks
• managed to get K to walk somewhere
• got pleasantly pissed wine tasting in Marlborough and spent a lot of money
• decided I liked Nelson
• caught, killed and ate salmon
• dressed up in old clothes with shotguns in Shantytown
• watched a bunch of movies and bought (yep – bought) a lot of music (see above pages)
• went to the Food Exhibition and ate lots of free stuff
• felt bad about not keeping in touch with friends and family enough
• got snowed on walking in Arthur’s Pass and buggered my knee after slipping over
• shaved off my beard for the first time in 4 years and promptly grew it back
• found out that K still fancies me even without a beard (though prefers me with one)
• made soup!

And lots of other things as well.

Photos for all these things can be found here.

I’ll see about updating more regularly.  I should really go to bed now though as it’s almost mid-day.

 

The Beatles are dead, Andy Warhol’s shit she said, yeah…

So last week (including my 28th birthday) was spent on nights.  They were fairly quiet, interesting and there was a nice team on so it wasn’t too bad and K took me out to a ‘breakfast restuarant’ for a birthday breakfast.  She got me tickets to see Nine Inch Nails up in Auckland next week which is awesome.  I love me some mainstream Industrial noise I do.

Feeling like I’ve dropped off the face of the planet recently so have spent a bit of time making up for it by contacting friends and the like.  I still have a few to get to but I’m trying.  We’re just about to head out for dvds and dinner with friends so had to curtail it (and instead blog…).

Listening to old Underworld at the moment which is bringing back many memories (points for claiming the song the above is from) and as I mentioned to Kristin the other day I’ve been on a big Led Zep bender recently.  A group I’ve only got into recently which is a shame as I’d have loved them years ago.

A few things that have been keeping me happy recently:

Astronomy Picture of the Day: the pictures from this are just stunning and leave me staring at my computer for long periods wishing space travel really existed.  Sign up to their feed.

Wondermark: the comic that just keeps giving.  More hit than miss and invariably entertaining.  Plus he’s created some lovely collections available through Dark Horse Comics.

Anyway.  Enough for now.

 

That day of the year again

Well, I’ve already lost the whole of January 2009 since I last blogged.  Life itself is busy and fun and interesting – I just haven’t had much inclination to blog about it.  Shame really considering I moved half way round the world and was supposed to keep in touch with people.  Bad Andy.

In the last month we went away to Lake tekapo with friends, went tramping, waded in the dark though a river in a cave system, listened to Fat Freddies Drop (just enough to ensure I really don’t like them), saw lots of entertaining street theatre in the Buskers festival, got sunburnt multiple times, bought new walking boots, got drunk, had BBQs in the sun, went swimming in freezing glacial lakes and then immersed myself in hot springs, got my hair cut, got some sleep, got annoyed Blur have reformed just after I left the country ensuring I can’t see them on their come back gig (I did think very hard about flying back for it), spent New Year in an underground Korean Kareyokee joint to 3 in the morning (apparently I can sing Placebo songs really well) and today got a year older.

I will try to blog more and a whole heap of photos are almost ready for viewing.  Out.

 

End of the year lists:

So it comes that time when we all compile pointless lists of what we enjoyed throughout the year.  And I’m feeling it this time so make no exception.  So some top lists (in alphabetical order):

Movies:

• Cloverfield
• The Dark Knight
• Iron Man
• No country for old men
• Son of Rambow
• Wall-E

A quiet year for movies on reflection.  If I had to choose only one it would be Wall-E.  As much as The Dark Knight is perfectly accomplished and astonishing in its brilliance and Iron Man is just brilliantly entertaining, Wall-E is just a wonderful combination of stunning visuals, gorgeous sound design and heartbreakingly staged story.  I love it.

Albums:

• Crystal Castles
• Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
• Foals – Antidotes
• Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing
• Los Campesinos! – Hold on now, youngster
• Lykke Li – Youth Novel
• Metronomy – Nights out
• Mogwai – The Hawk is Howling
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Did, Lazarus, Dig!
• Remember Remember
• Vampire Weekend

Picking a favourite from these is extremely difficult.  Or very easy, as since The Hawk is Howling was released I’ve listened to very little else.  It’s a truly stunning Mogwai album and feels fully formed, like it’s existed for years.  And I love it.  However, choosing Mogwai as my favourite of the year is kind of cheating as they’re my favourite band.  So before that was released it was Fuck Buttons – Street Horrrsing.  I’ve been listening to this all year and still love it.  Powerful and compelling.  Regardless, all  the above have been on constant repeat since release and are well worth listening to.  Interestingly, my favourite album of last year: Low – Drums and Guns is still on heavy rotation.

Songs:

• Black Francis – The Seus
• CSS – Rat is dead (Rage)
• David Byrne & Brian Eno – Strange overtones
• Elbow – One day like this; Weather to fly
• Fleet Foxes – Blue ridge mountains
• Fuck Buttons – Sweet love for Planet earth
• Gotye – Hearts a mess
• Ladyhawke – Paris is burning
• Lambchop – Sharing a Gibson with Martin Luther King Jr.
• Lykke Li – I’m good, I’m gone
• Metronomy – Heartbreaker
• Mogwai – Scotland’s Shame; Devil Rides
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – More news from nowhere
• Noah and the Whale – 5 years
• Pete and the Pirates – Mr Understanding
• Remember Remember – Fountain Mountain
• Santogold – You’ll find a way
• Those Dancing Days – Hitten

Rather an indiepop-tastic selection this year (getting old?) but fuck it.  My favourite?  Hmmmm.  Fountain Mountain probably (the original version rather than the split version that appeared on the album).

Books:

I managed to get through an impressive 53 books this year (not including comics) and out of those my favourites were:

• We need to talk about Kevin – Lionel Shriver
• The Murder of Roger Akroyd – Agatha Christie
• I am Legend – Richard Matheson
• Regeneration – Pat Barker

My favourite was ‘We need to talk about Kevin’ – an incredibly powerful and compelling story.  Plus this was the year I discovered Agatha Christie and more importantly, Poirot.  The full list is at my Goodreads site on the right.

So, that’s it for the lists.  Not a bad year all in all.

 

I will be the angel on your shoulder…

So our christmas day was very nice.  Lazy, well fed, relaxed.  We spent the day sleeping in and then delayed just long enough before making a grab for the presents.  K  liked the surfboard I got her, I got a lot of books and dvds I wanted along with a few other things and we both got lots of chocolate!  We even managed to sort out a combined vegie and carnivore christmas dinner.  Saying that we still haven’t found room for the christmas pudding yet.

Plus having 3 days off has been nice and knowing we’ve only got 3 more until another long weekend (even if I’m working the actual weekend).  We almost have plans for new years and I’m being remarkably social these days.  A change of scene does me good.

 

Turn on the red light

I saw a car crash yesterday on my way home from work.  It happened 20ft behind me.  Just crossed a road 2 blocks from our flat, heard a screech, turned and saw one car which had run the lights plow into another just crossing.  The first car then aimed straight at me and a woman who was about to cross.  When the woman (who was closer) realised it was heading straight for us she turned and ran in my direction as the car smashed into the yellow traffic light pole.  Which stopped it.  Which was good as that could have been nice.  Sighs of relief all round.

No-one got hurt but the cars both got trashed.  Exciting!

And tomorrow is Christmas, even though it doesn’t feel like it at all.  Actually the only thing that made it seem christmasy was when I put on my christmas music.  After about 30 mins I got over the cheese and actually felt festive.  Out tree (artificial) has been up a week and has an impressive number of presents under considering there’s only 2 of us.

Anyway, we’re both working tomorrow as it is (myself from 8am – 11pm) which is annoying.  Our christmas is delayed until boxing day.  Shall update more then probably.

Merry christmas to everyone.

 

Out in the wild

Or at least I may be able to be soon.  I have one night on call left to go.  After that we’re off to Hanmer Springs for the weekend for some relaxation.  It’s not as if the nights have been tiring – in fact they’ve been strangely (insert that word that’s the same as ‘quite’ but with a different word order).  But a week is generally draining even if you sleep well during the day and fairly antisocial.

Anyway, I just got an email from Barry at Wilderness Medical Training after filling him in on my recent exploits on the Medex expedition and he’s linked to my blog and photo site from the WMT website.  Which is nice of him.

Wilderness Medical Training are the group who ran the Chamonix ‘Expedition Medicine and Field Skills for Diverse Environments’ course I went to this summer gone.  As you may remember from earlier posts the course was extremely well run, informative and damn good fun.  Plus you get to meet a whole host of people with a love for the outdoors and doing something a bit different with their training and lives.  They run courses throughout the year in a variety of locations for lay people as well as medics so there’s something for everyone.  Go check out the website for details.

My photos of the week can be found here, including us playing around on the glacier, ice climbing and building our tremendous ice cave.  As I said – great fun.

And speaking of photos – I’ve been using my downtime to sort out the recent Medex expedition shots so will be posting them to my site over this next week.  I’m also posting all the shots since we moved to New Zealand so if you’re really bored check them out (link is on the right).

 

Movies

It’s been a sparse month or so aside from Bond but there are a few things coming over the horizon that are getting me excited.

I wouldn’t class myself as a Trekkie; I’m a geek in many ways over many things but Star Trek has never been a huge one.  I mean I enjoyed Next Generation and I was quite partial to Voyager but only if they happened to be on when I sat down with nothing to do.  I’ve never really seen the orginal series aside from a few episodes (and I think nearly everyone has seen the Tribbles episode, fan or not).  But the new trailer that came out a week back for the new film looks stunning.  It’s made me really quite excited to see what they’re done and (much to K’s amusment) did make me spend more than a few hours on Wikipedia reading about Star Trek continuity.

And today the first proper trailer for the new Friday the 13th movie was released.  To me that is a very cool thing.  Regardless of their actual artistic value I love the Friday 13th movies.  I have them all (aside from Jason goes to Hell which I couldn’t find) and they sit side by side with my complete Nightmare on Elm Street collection and the orginal Hallowe’en (one of my old time top 10 movies and a classic of the genre).  F13th was all about schlock horror, amazing deaths and good old fun.  The new film is a reboot and is taking elements from the original 3 movies.  It looks awesome, visceral, fun and most of all scary.  Plus the trailer is a wonderful homage to the ’death count’ trailers for the orginal movies.  

Also about to hit screens is the Day the Earth Stood Still remake which intially never really got me but has slowly got me interested.  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button looks like it’s going to be well worth seeing and despite my feelings about Sin City and the like, I’m still interested in seeing The Spirit.

Bring on the popcorn.

 

Picking pennies from the floor with my cold, cold hands

Ah nights.  Barely have I started before going back onto nights.  Still, I quite like the solitary, dark nature of a week of nights.  I was awake from 9 to 18.30 which was pretty stupid – I’m going to be suffering for that soon.  Plus, daytime sleeping’s going to be tough as it’s so damn hot.  May have to sleep downstairs on our sofa bed as I can turn the AC on.  And tonight there’s no coordinator meaning I can be bleeped by anyone, for anything.  Potentially bad.

Got my first pay cheque this week which was nice and necessary.  I now owe K a huge amount of money so will be her bitch for the next month or two until that’s paid off.  It probably would have just been simpler to transfer my English money here but then if I always did the simpler option I’d have nothing to keep me occupied.

So we also saw Four Holidays the other night.  Now before you say anything, K got free tickets from one of the local radio stations.  Someone rang her to say they had got them so she should ring, which she did, only to be told by the DJ you had to ring when a certain song was playing.  Then he just gave them to her anyway!  Film was mediocre at best.  Occasionally funny but a lot of the characters where genuinelly unpleasant.  Glad I didn’t pay for it.

I’m gradually getting through a huge number of photos from Nepal and New Zealand (the latter number are steadily increasing just by being here) so will post some here once organised.

 

Flying Santa

As described:

How traditional!  Just like I remember as a kid.

 

The man with the second face

I am indeed still alive.  Just been having fun.

Our trip around parts of the South Island a few weeks back was wonderful.  The scenery and landscape was great.  Photos are being sorted out as we speak and I will post them up here soon.

Started work last Monday and so far things are going well.  I’m on one of the respiratory teams and my consultant is about the nicest man you could ever meet.  It’s very quiet though which is a bit annoying.  Right now I’ve got 2 patients and nothing to do for most of the day, and that’s after being on call all of last week.  Acting as a house officer again is a bit weird too as I want to get a bit more involved.  However, with so few patients it’s not really possible.  I’m hoping things will improve on that front – I want to get stuck in and learn something.

I’ve been on call twice and those have been for the most part really quiet too – I cover respiratory, cardiology and renal.  And it’s quiet!  I’ve not known it like that before.  Well, I start nights this Friday so we shall see how that goes.

Good things include days which finish at 4, free meals every day, nice people, fast and efficient service and a nice walk home through the park in the sun.

—————————————————

This weekend just past we went to the Coca Cola Christmas in the Park concert which was extremely cheesy but turned out to be quite good fun.  Picnic in the park, scorching sun, drinking wine, listening to Pop Idol wannabes singing christmas carols.  Plus we watched Santa arrive on his flying canoe.  It’s true.  See:

Funny night and they had a decent firework display to finish off the night.  The first photo takes you to the whole album.

Sunday I went to the beach with K and the girls while they all had a surfing lesson.  I stayed on the sand (it’s becoming increasingly common that I’m having to explain to people just why I don’t like being in the sea).  Weather wasn’t too nice though.

And tonight we went to see Ghost Town which I wasn’t fussed about seeing (just going as we were out for dinner and the girls wanted to see something).  However, it was really good; funny, Ricky Gervais is entertaining and easily carries the movie and for a RomCom (which it kind of is) it’s not too cliched.  Worth checking out while waiting for the release of the Spirit.

Anyway.  Later.

 

Remember Remember

Sleeping heavily once asleep and that seems to be my manifestation of jetlag.  We went climbing today at one of the local indoor walls and despite not going for almost a year things went pretty well.  The routes are fun and the mock rock is pretty good to climb on.  Lots of natural features to work your way up (K is so much better at that than I am – I just never manage to trust my body to keep me up against gravity).  Now my arms hurt.

Then we had food at Denny’s.  Yep, they have Denny’s here too.  Managed to avoid it in all the time I’ve spent in the states; ate there within 5 days of living in NZ.

And in a music related note: the amazingly good Remember Remember album has been released digitally (the ‘real’ version isn’t released until the 17th).  I checked with some of the local music shops here and no one has heard of them so there was no chance of picking up the cd so I relented and bought the digital version.  I would completely recommend it and you can find links to buy it here.  The Rock Action website itself has more information and direct sales.  Samples from childhood toys, looped instruments, catchy, organic and incredibly fun.  Go buy it.

 

Interupted and corrupted

So I like New Zealand so far.  Though there are a few changes to get used to.  For example, bank charges.  You get charged for everything.  Everything.  Want to take your own money out from an ATM.  That costs you.  Want to use another banks ATM?  Even more.  Cheques, setting up a direct debit, paying a bill, checking your balance on line…all charged.  Not impressed.  Still, have one now.

Mobile phones don’t come for free either.  And cds are really expensive.  It’s not like it is back home!

All told though, everyone is friendly and interested.  Went out for drinks last night and met some of Ks new friends.  Been mooching around Chch most of today, checking out the shopping and the food and then taking a wander through the botanical gardens.  Plus we got the dvd player working which makes us both happy.

And now we’re trying to sort out our holiday for the next week and a bit.  Should be fun.  Going to start sorting out my Nepal photos soon and will start posting them as and when they’re ready.

 

New Zealand

About 20 mins into the mammoth 27 hour plane journey to get me here I heard the immortal and feared words come over the tannoy:

“If there’s a medical doctor on board please would they make themselves known to the cabin staff…”

Great.  It didn’t catch me entirely unaware though as the woman with the problem was sitting 2 seats in front of me and I’d been eavesdropping.  That explains why I alerted them to my presence so fast.  She had a problem getting a blood sugar monitor to work and wanted some advice on insulin dosing for her partner.  I could do that.

Then strangely the connection from Aukland to Christchurch turned round as we were taxiing to head back to the terminal as a passenger was unwell and needed to get off.  Didn’t ask for a doctor that time though.

Aside from all that the flight was tolerable (Air New Zealand are pretty good all told, plus the nice lady at check in didn’t charge me for the huge excess I had on my weight allowance) and I managed to stay awake for the rest of the day after arrival.  Currently my body is telling me it’s confused and wants to know what time it is and whether I should be tired or not.

On first glance, Christchurch reminds me of small town America, which is no bad thing.  Supermarkets are different and buying unknown food will take a while to get used to.  But since yesterday we have acquired a sofa, kitchen table and chairs, brand new bed and a dvd played.  Just need a bookcase and a few kitchen things now.

Tomorrow I’m meeting the NZ medical council representative to go over my paperwork.  Then I’m off to set up a bank account, get a new driving licence and sort out a new phone.  This will involve me having to figure out how the buses work – I don’t do buses.  Plus until I start work later this month and get some money K is paying for everything.  Ha ha.  I’m now her house husband apparently.

And for those of you slow on the uptake – I’ve moved to New Zealand.

P.s. Well done America.  Good voting choice.

 

Pokhara me up, baby

To all the people that read this and would like to know: I am still alive.

I did not die in the plane crash in Nepal – that was an entirely different part of Nepal – I mean, if you’re going to care you could at least know where I’m going… I did not die up the mountain (though it felt like I had), I did not die from the fever and bowel upset (ditto), and currently i have not been run down by maniac drivers.  I am also in possession of all fingers, toes and other appendages.  Nothing has dropped off.  Yet.

So yes, the expedition was amazing, I climbed a 6038m peak (if being carried up and crying all the way counts), I got cold, I got sunburnt, I got woken up by sick people, I only lost a little bit of weight and I only got one leach!  More on all exploits will come in future weeks with photos but for now I’m just checking in to say hi.

Currently I’m enjoying the sun, buying books and eating.  I also can’t stay awake any later than 20.00 which is odd.  Back to Kathmandu tomorrow and then home on the 31st.  However, I leave for New Zealand to start my “New Life” two days after that so I’m not going to have much free time.

Later

 

Not exactly the happiest of bunnies

Well it had to happen someday.  On disembarkation the helpful people at Delhi airportdirected me and 3 others to the arrivals area (rather than transit which we were supposed to go to) at which point they told us to sit down and “someone will come to sort you out”.  No-one did.  Security wouldn’t let us back upstairs, until 20mins before due to leave we talked ourselves past security and found a nice man to sort things out.  That worked out fine for the other 3 (although I’m not entirelly sure they got the plane in the end) but I found out because the oh so helpful people at Virgin hadn’t alerted my connecting flight to my presence they had given my seat away.

Cue grumpy Andy.

After much waiting around they finally realised I hadn’t cocked up and got me on the next flight (without charge which they initially threatened).  It’s at 6am tomorrow.  I got into Delhi about 1pm.  I’m not supposed to leave the Transit lounge (which is a corridor about 50m in length with a coffee stand and a snack stall) until tomorrow morning when someone from the other flight team will “find me” at “some point” and sort out my bags (which they have – though I have actually seen them so know they do exist in my current location) .  I am officially Tom Hanks in the Terminal.

I lasted about 40 mins before getting bored, cold and uncomfortable so got up and wandered off.  In the international no-mans land that exists between the departure gates and the security clearance I found the Business Lounge.  I have been here ever since.  I have a sofa, a table, a free hot snack service, drink and (most importantly) a free bar.  Also internet, a massage chair (which I’m keeping a careful eye out for once the Chinese people who’ve been in it for the last 2hrs vacate) and the nice man who sorted me out is going to get all my flights and everything sorted in the morning.

Seeing as I didn’t really sleep on the flight I was pretty exhausted but have now eaten, had a decent coffee and had a nap.  I am using this time to learn some expedition medical skills.  And I’m stalking the massage chair.  I plan to get drunk too.

I have a sneaky suspicion that the flight tomorrow is magically going to be full without me leaving me the responsibility of no-one.  At which point I may well start to live here.  Just like the real Terminal man.  He went crazy I seem to recall.

Great start.  Still, at least it does take care of my not having found a place to stay in Kathmandu today!

 

A different key will sort it out

An 11th hour reprise meant I had to run up to London (well, run to the car to get the train) so I could pick up seemingly the only available public copy of the Oxford Handbook of Expedition and Wilderness and Medicine.  Which should make my life easier in the next few weeks.  It’s very helpful.

As such I’m still not packe and I’m leaving tomorrow.  I did manage to check my weight allowance and I thinnk I can squeeze my barrel under 20kg so all should be fine.  I will need to use a second bag for a few things though as physically I can’t get them all to fit.  Still I think I have most of the day because I don’t think I’m leaving ’til 22.00.  We shall see.

Tired.  Time to sleep.

 

A change of key / Breaking the wall

Gaargh.  Wrote a post earlier this week only for the computer to die at the posting stage.  Alas.

I leave the country for potentially a long time in 2 days.  I should really go and sort out all my stuff.  I am still alive though and quietly excited by the coming month and a bit.  Then I’m going to be increasingly excited at seeing K again.  This expedition has almost crippled me financially but it’s going to be an experience.  I should probably try and learn some altitude medicine before I go too.  Rather nervous about being the medical officer for my group.  Oh well.  Optimism is a great healer.

So I won’t blog at all while I’m out there but we should have the expedition blog running and updated as we go (if all the satelite communications work).  I did buy a new camera the other day too so I’ll bombard the net with all my photos (oh look – another mountain) when I get back.

I’ve also introduced my Mum and Dad to my blog so they can keep up to date with my life while I’m living on the other side of the world.  Doesn’t mean I’m going to stop swearing though.  Ha.  And yes you are able to leave me comments on posts (Mum).

And hello and goodbye to P&K again – just when you move over here closer to the grand ole UK I up sticks and move to NZ.  Sorry I didn’t get a chance to come over and say hi.  I’ll catch you up personally once I’m back.

Later