It has been a while

It has been a while since I last wrote anything.... not without good reason!  We have been moving house and getting all sorts of furniture from all over Christchurch (lucky so many people are leaving the earthquake town!) ... Here is one of our amazing buys - Four orange vintage chairs for the kitchen table.... I am loving these. 

As well as all that we have had Nathan's mum come and stay which has been really nice.  She has looked after us as well as giving me useful NZ driving tips (how am I supposed to know about these silly NZ give way rules?!) as I terrorised her by driving us around the city picking up food, furniture and all sorts. 

I've also been to see the lawyers (very nice but no biscuits), had my immigration medical (doctor really couldn't be bothered - he wouldhave signed me fit even if I had been dying I reckon), found a midwife (have a scan on Monday and will find out whether it is a blue or a pink one!), been to an Amnesty International meeting (!), gone to pregnancy yoga (yes, you read that right) and rummaged through garage sales.   Then there is all the admin of having a new house - new electric, new internet and all that boring stuff.  

I'm having to access internet from the library at the moment which is quite amusing what with the kid's singing groups and the middle class women (or "ladies"!) who feel that they can have a long loud chat on their mobile in the middle of the books....

More soon....

Library (still standing although across the street is just rubble)

Ps Our view is still looking so very very very stunning

Monday done...

Here is what Monday evening looks like...

Lyttelton earthquakes

Ummm, this office building down the road from our house isn't looking its best.  I wonder if the workers will be in Monday morning.  Brings a whole new meaning to "open plan" and a "clean desk policy".

More food related shocks!

Ok so yesterday I read how a British woman cracked something like 29 double yokes in a row (Must have been a slow news week back in the UK as the other main story reaching over here was the "mother in law from hell" email story (have you read it?) which was equally as pointless...)

However, today at breakfast I thought I was on to a world record achievement when I cracked 2 double yokes in a row - woo!!  Apparently the odds of getting a double yoke are 1000 to 1.  With some maths this means that the chances of cracking two double yokes in a row is 1,000,000 to 1.  I knew we should have got a lottery ticket!

Evidence....

My first car!

After Nathan trawling the NZ version of ebay (aka trade me) and me getting funny about the need for a small car and a manual car we found this.... Ok so it is not a manual but I am getting used to the automatic but it is small.  Tiny in fact.  Only 660cc - vroooom vroooom!!  Oh people of Christchurch you are no longer safe as I whizz past you at top speed in my new Suzuki Alto!! 

We looked at about 6 cars in total - This one was the last we saw and after test driving it on the hills of Lyttleton, particularly our new house which has the steepest drive ever, we swiped it up right away...getting money out off all different accounts to get together the cash and ensure that the people who were test driving it moments after us did not get it!

Phew....

House

This is hopefully our new houe in Lyttelton... Just waiting for the estate agent to do their stuff.... a bit of quake damage to the house (cracks - nothing more than in a normal old UK house) - The drive up is steep though and the driveway a little bit cracked...! Great views and cosy enought to hopefully keep warm - a cold snap has settled....

small joy!

Oh the joy of a power point in the bathroom! So very sensible!  Bank visits, car shoppping and house hunting today...