WWQP Bulletin Board Chat

The unsettled spring weather has continued on into early summer. The growth in the garden is unbelievable and the weeds are impossible to keep up with. The colour out there is wonderful though , it's a very pretty time of year. So refreshing to come home to.

A friend has just had a skin cancer removed from her nose. A very painful operation but what a clever surgeon she had. It's only a month since surgery and you can hardly see any evidence of his handy work. Another friend has just had breast cancer confirmed so she is now anxiously waiting to hear what the next step is for her. Getting older isn't for wimps is it ? DH and I keep reasonably well but people around us seem to be falling like flies. !

The council has arranged bus trips through the red zone in the central city (still cordoned off) There has been so much demolition there that people were feeling that they wanted to see for themselves before all remembered buildings had gone. We went on Sunday afternoon. It was a sombre affair. Before we left, we were told that we would be going into an "unsafe area' and that, in the event of another earthquake, we should follow directions...The buses ran every ten minutes , quietly and slowly, through the wasteland. It was really hard to remember some areas they were so changed. They have fenced off the main shopping street (where only one shop remains) and imported 24 shipping containers which are now being used a temporary shops... It's a statement I suppose, that Christchurch is determined to rebuild, but I thought it all looked very sad and very temporary.. When we arrived home after this outing, I found the kitchen full of smoke....I had left eggs on the stove to boil so that I could add them to a salad for our evening meal....The smell was ghastly but, being a fine evening, we were able to have all of the doors and windows open and it wasn't too long before the smell was bearable. (It's just about gone now, three days later)!! A sick feeling inside though, we could have come home to a pile of ashes.....

My sailing nephew is back doing the Volvo Ocean Race again (his fourth time) They left from Spain earlier in the month and are now heading for Sth Africa. They should be in NZ in March so I am looking forward to that. I check on the web site every morning and sometimes there are recorded interviews and videos with him which are so clear that it's like having him in the same room. Technology is wonderful when it works isn't it ?

Time for bed now. Most of you will be waking to a new day, I hope it's a good one for you.

Marion.