Greetings to all.
Last year I wrote a
great multi-instalment account of what I and Eve had been doing in
the previous 12 months. My intention is to squeeze the account of
2014 into one episode. We shall see what my stint at the keyboard
delivers. I cannot hope to compete in human interest with my cousin
Mike's account of his desperate search for a lavatory near Buda
castle. But I can certainly promise that this epistle will be
illustrated.
At the end of 2013 we
hosted our first wwoofer. Wwoof is an acronym for willing worker on
organic farms. Through the year we have had a series of delightful
young people in the house. They work on the farm for 4 or 5 hours
per day and we provide board and lodging. They are usually
travellers, working their way around New Zealand, but we have had a
Kiwi, too. They have harvested last summer's garlic, hung it up to
dry, cleaned and sorted it. Wwoofers helped to plant this year's
crop, mulch it and weed it. And they have all been great company.
Christian (Germany),
Elisa (Austria), Fabian (Germany) and Eve. For some reason, the two
boys would do anything Elisa asked them to.
14 January 2014 was a
very important day for us. That was when Laurel Sara Heritage, my
first grandchild, was born. She had the great good sense to choose
Richard and Tansy as her parents and, as you would expect, is growing
into a delightful child. Not that Grampa is biased of course.
Laurel will be very
literate. She has no option. Aunty Elizabeth has already started
her on Pride and Prejudice and Grampa recites poetry to her; Spike
Milligan and Ogden Nash mostly.
In February we booked
ferries and drove to Auckland. Eve's niece Leigh was getting married
to Glen on Waiheke Island on 1 March and this was an excuse to visit
some other good friends. In Pauanui we caught up with Martin Little,
who I have known since he flatted with my brother, Nigel, in London
in the 1970s. In Auckland, John Vague, one of my many accountant
friends, took us out on Auckland Harbour in his launch. We had a
wonderful day, even though the snapper we caught were all undersized
and had to be thrown back.
The wedding took place
under a tree on a hill surrounded by grapevines. The weather was
perfect. The groom was dashing. The bride was beautiful. It
couldn't have been better.
Glen is from Ulster so
we met his mother and aunt. We got on very well, and have pressing
invitations to stay with them if we are ever in Northern Ireland.
Leigh is a singer, so the reception music was live and featured some
very well known (except to me, of course) musicians.
After a good party it
was agony to get up early the next morning. But it had to be done so
that we could get the first ferry back to the mainland and deliver me
to the airport. I then flew to Wellington to play hockey. I was
playing in the National Masters Tournament as a member of the Nelson
60+ team. So at the end of my hockey career I achieved
representative honours. Not that there was a lot of competition for
selection. If you were over 60 and still a registered player in
Nelson you were in the team.
Eve drove the car South
at a leisurely pace and collected me at the end of the week. After
the tournament I retired from competitive hockey (for the second
time). I still umpire and I will still play Golden Oldies hockey.
On the work front I
fired my biggest client! I had been contracting to the New Zealand
Institute of Chartered Accountants since 2004 to undertake quality
control reviews of chartered accountancy practices. In 2013 this
expanded to include reviews of licensed auditors under delegated
authority from the Financial Markets Authority. Over time this had
changed from being a largely educational process and become very much
a policing operation. I have been heard to say that the FMA should
have issued its reviewers with jackboots and a steel helmet. I did
not enjoy it nearly so much, so I gave notice that I would not be
renewing my contract.
Over time I had built
up a little list of clients to whom I deliver advice on auditing and
technical accounting matters. There wasn't enough of that work to
generate a decent income, but preliminary discussions led to talks
and then to an arrangement to help one of the national accounting
firms. Again I am a contractor, not an employee, but I have the
grand title of National Audit Risk Manager for BDO NZ. I even have a
BDO email address, but it only accepts internal messages so you can't
try it out. (BDO is a global network of accounting firms.) Quality
control reviews are a large part of my work, but it also involves
training audit personnel, and developing/improving audit policies and
practices. And I can still do work for my other clients.
Eve went travelling
without me in June. The original idea was to go with a friend, but
the friend eventually couldn't go so Eve took off by herself. She
went to the UK to see friends and relatives. These included her
brother, Geoff Franklin, and my brother Nigel. The visit to Geoff
and his wife, Stephanie, coincided with the death of Stephanie's
mother, Doris. Doris had been ill for some time, so it was not
unexpected, but it still made for a sombre visit.
Eve took a brand new
camera with her but she didn't use it much. You will not be
surprised to learn that nearly all the photos she brought home were
of plants.
While Eve was away it
fell to me to replace the car. The old one, which had given no
trouble at all, suddenly developed several ailments at once. We have
remained loyal to Toyota, but have gone up to a Camry because (a) it
is very comfortable and (b) we got a really good deal on a
not-quite-two-years-old vehicle. Luckily Eve likes it as much as I
do.
After Eve got home we
had less than a fortnight before we were off together. This year's
holiday was to Fiji. After trying snorkeling for the first time in
Hawaii last year Eve was very firm about doing some more. We did
lots more.
We actually went on a
package holiday. What? The Heritages are famously independent
travellers. The deal we found was an 11-night tour of some of Fiji's
offshore islands; the Mamanucas and Yasawas if you want to look them
up. We selected the grade of accommodation and the tour operator
selected five different resorts for 2-night stays and the last night
was at Beachcomber 'party' island. Naturally we selected the most
basic “1 coconut” resorts, but took the “Full Monty” package
with lots of activities included.
Every day a large,
yellow, fast ferry leaves Denarau in the morning and follows a route
to the most distant of the Yasawa Islands. Then it turns round and
heads back to Denarau. Along the way it picks up and drops off
passengers and freight at the many resorts. Only one resort has
anything so sophisticated as a jetty. The ferry merely slows down
and drifts while people, luggage and freight are transferred to and
from the resort's launch. Then it powers off to the next mid-ocean
rendezvous.
We had a wonderful time
and I could enthusiastically write at great length about out time in
Fiji. Our resorts were generally small and run by the owner family.
Our fellow guests were mainly young people on backpacker budgets.
Both groups were invariably friendly and good company. Our bures
were simple and comfortable and with one exception had en-suite
facilities. At one resort we had a tiny private yard with an open
air shower amongst the hibiscus. We generally had cold showers, but
that's no penance in the tropics. The food was variable, but if the
dining was sometimes ordinary, the dinner table conversation never
was.
Every resort had at
least one delightful, sandy beach. The sea was packed with coral and
our snorkelling equipment got plenty of use. We saw all sorts of
marine life, from living cowrie shells to sea snakes to manta rays.
The new camera was a waterproof one, purchased with snorkelling in
mind. For all that, it was an effort to break the habit of many
years and put an expensive camera under the surface the first time.
One activity was
advertised as feeding the sharks. The guides made much of the
sharks' alleged preference for white skinned flesh. In the event, we
didn't see the sharks eat anything, but we did gape at the way the
guides played with them – grabbing them and bringing them up to the
surface so we could all stroke the captive.
Fish amongst coral
Eve, Bill, Jess (UK), Simon (Germany) and Celine (Sweden)
A cowrie shell with the owner still inside
Eve caught the most fish
Who wants to pat the shark, then?
There are more
photographs on my Facebook page if you are interested.
When not actually
immersed in the sea we lazed in shaded hammocks, played/watched
volleyball, fished, were serenaded as we watched the sunset from an
open boat and, at one resort, dined al fresco just above the beach –
again at sunset.
Our favourite resort
was Naqalia, despite it having the coldest shower. They put on a
lovo (earth oven feast) and a wonderful demonstration of Fijian
dancing followed by a kava ceremony.
The tour operator was
Awesome Adventures Fiji (http://www.awesomefiji.com).
We recommend them.
Last Christmas I
recklessly promised Eve that we would adopt a puppy from the SPCA.
In August she exercised this option and we brought home Flossie.
Flossie is a 'summer'
dog. She's summer this breed and summer that breed ;-) She is
certainly good, exuberant company. We took her to puppy school where
she learned to 'socialise' with other pups, which appears to be code
for 'become uncontrollable'. We are trying very hard to mainly feed
her the recommended, scientifically correct puppy food, which costs
rather more than a restaurant steak. Flossie much prefers the
supermarket's own-brand dog sausage, sheep poo or (if she is lucky
enough to find one) a rabbit or hedgehog that has been dead for a
week. When we first got her, she was miserably car sick. Now she
sees a ride as a treat to be secured at all costs. A few days ago
she spotted a stranger's car parked near our gate with a door left
open. She immediately leapt inside and to our mortification ignored
all commands to get out. She is now six months old and has
successfully charmed us both.
October brought high
drama. We had a French couple, Nicolas and Charlotte, wwoofing for
us. Their English wasn't very fluent, but it was improving
noticeably as their stay progressed. One of their tasks was to trim
the twigs off broom stems that Eve's son Matthew had cut, and chop
the stems into firewood length pieces. One day they arrived at the
house in a very agitated state. Nicolas had been using a machete and
had slashed his left thumb.
I immediately phoned
for an ambulance, while Eve applied first aid. Both Nicolas and
Charlotte were in a bad state, and Nicolas would not let Eve bind the
hand properly. It was, Eve said afterwards, the first time she'd
seen the inside of a living bone – and she would have liked a
closer look. The machete had gone right through the bone and his
thumb was attached only by soft tissue. Anyway, Eve did wrap it up
in a towel and made Nicolas keep his hand elevated.
Rural properties are
often difficult to identify at the roadside, so I was instructed to
go down to the gate and make sure the ambulance came to the right
place. It seemed to be taking an awfully long time, and then a
helicopter appeared, circled once and then zeroed in on the house.
Once I had climbed back up the hill I learned that the ambulance had
been replaced by the rescue helicopter. The pilot had managed to
land on the only level-ish piece of ground near the house.
The medics praised Eve
for doing exactly the right thing and put a huge bandage on the
injured hand. Nelson Hospital does not have the right specialists
for sewing thumbs back on, so Nicolas was whisked directly to Hutt
Hospital, in the North Island, which has a Plastics Department. The
next morning the surgeon did his magic and the day after that Nicolas
and Charlotte were back with us. The last we heard, the thumb is
healing well.
Charlotte and Nicolas after the surgery
As if to compensate,
November brought a piece of luck. BDO asked if I would help to
present a week-long training session being run jointly with BDO
Australia in Sydney. Did Eve want to come to Sydney with me? Of
course she did.
The flight from
Christchurch to Sydney was remarkable for what happened on the ground
at Sydney Airport. Our plane was not directed to a gate with an
air-bridge, so we had to be bussed from the aircraft to the terminal.
We were seated close enough to the front of the plane to get on the
first bus. When it was full the driver started the engine and
pressed the switch to close the doors. The front doors closed, the
rear doors hissed shut but the middle doors only waggled a bit. Open
the doors and try again … After several attempts, some with
physical assistance, all the doors closed – but the bus's electrics
apparently didn't believe it because the vehicle would not move. By
this time the passengers still on board the 'plane must have been
getting very fed up.
The second bus had
arrived, so we all shuffled off the first one and traipsed over to the
replacement. The doors all closed to a subdued ironic cheer. The
lady driver backed out into clear space, turned so that the bus was
facing the right way and engaged forward gear. Nothing happened. It
was an electric vehicle, and we could see her pushing buttons, but
every time she attempted to move off one of the buttons popped out
and the bus stubbornly stayed where it was. After several minutes
she turned off the air conditioning and by some alchemy that allowed
the motor to produce forward motion so we could proceed to the
terminal.
We managed to have some
time to ourselves at the weekends before and after the course. We
took the ferry from Circular Quay to the zoo, which has a splendid
collection of Australian fauna. We saw wild kookaburras and heard a
clamorous reed-warbler. The latter has a loud, tuneful song, which
it delivers without ever seeming to take a breath. It was in a
fairly small cage but neither of us could see it! We visited Eve's
friend Tasneem and her husband Don in Brighton le Sands. Eve had
repeatedly told me that Tasneem is gorgeous. I can now confirm that
she is.
During the working week
I was coaching BDO senior auditors in how to do even better audits.
Eve ambled around some of Sydney's tourist spots, had an extravagant
lunch with Tasneem and devoted one day to the botanical gardens. She
reported back on a number of shops, but did very little actual
shopping. Her most notable purchase was a range of teas from a
bookshop cafe.
On our last day we
walked the Manly Scenic Walkway. The route is all within Sydney.
Some of it is through suburbs, but an astonishingly large part of it
is genuine bush. We enjoyed great views of the harbour, heard more
kookaburras and saw many interesting plants.
A pied currawong
Eve had spent most of
the week on her feet and had walked up some blisters. Near the end
of the scenic walkway a large blister burst and the raw skin
underneath was agony to walk on. Luckily we were approaching a
residential area and the sight of a bus stop promised relief. The
bus took us to the Manly Ferry Terminal, where we caught the fast
ferry back to Circular Quay and a taxi to the airport.
My parents' estates got
(mostly) settled during the year. We have paid off a chunk of the
mortgage, but kept enough back to make us think of owning a boat. We
have already inspected a few launches and hope to report on nautical
adventures next year.
My Uncle Norman
celebrated his 90th birthday in December. He is clearly
confident of eclipsing his brother's 91 years and 5 months because he
has already invited us to his 100th birthday party! And
look out for the celebrations next October when he and Chick will
have been married for an amazing 70 years.
Christmas was on a
smaller scale than usual. Matthew has been living with us for the
last few months and the only others to share our roast turkey were
our most recent wwoofers, Minako and Naoto from Japan. They are a
lively couple, who managed to maintain smiles on their faces even
after 3 weeks of weeding the garlic. Minako is a qualified teacher
and she spent a couple of days at Lower Moutere School observing the
end-of-school-year chaos. She also enjoys cooking and has promised
to come back in the New Year and cook us a Japanese banquet. Yummm.
You didn't think you
were going to get away with only one photo of my granddaughter, did
you? This is Laurel at 10 months.
**********
Eve here now, but where
to start? Bill has told you all of the news really but perhaps I can
add a few comments.
First of all I'm fully
in favour of having wwoofers to help on the farm. They've made things
much easier for me and I don't have to worry so much about getting
things done, especially in the garlic field. As Bill said, we've had
a lovely mixture of young people here to help out. In spite of a
neighbour telling us not to have under twenty year olds, this
nationality and that, because they're lazy, useless etc., we have had
very good experiences with all of them. Apart from being hard
workers and lots of fun, we've had some very good cooks here too, so
have tried many different ethnic foods.
One of the best things
to happen this year is Bill giving Practice Review the old heave-ho.
He is far more relaxed and happy with his new working life than he
has been at least for the past two years. He even manages to take the
odd afternoon off! Here's hoping that when we get our launch, he'll
find even more time to relax.
My trip to England was
quite leisurely. I spent time with Nigel in beautiful Dorset, and
had a lovely few days there visiting stately homes and gardens with
Vivienne, a family friend of the Heritages. We also had a great
morning, Vivienne and I, ratting round in charity shops. We went back
to Nigel's with some great bargains. I then went to visit my brother
and sister-in-law near Tamworth. The countryside around there is very
pretty, though in the circumstances we didn't go out very much. Next,
I went on to stay with a friend in Port Sunlight which is a very
interesting and attractive town, built originally by the Lever
brothers (Sunlight soap) for their staff and their families.
Another train journey
took me to Winchester to visit my cousin Geraldine and her husband
Paul. It was great to see them again. Winchester is amazing and has a
most beautiful old cathedral which was consecrated in 1093. There was
a church there before that which was built around 600 AD (the Old
Minster).
I then moved on to our
friend June's home in Norfolk near Norwich and had seven or so days
there doing her garden and going out with her to visit nature
reserves and other beautiful places. We didn't go to the Broads this
time.
After being home from
my travels for about a fortnight, Bill took me to Fiji for my
birthday. It had to be the best birthday present ever! He's told you
enough about all that so I won't carry on.
This year has to be the best one for the vegetable garden and it's simply because I now have drip irrigation for it. It makes such a difference to just turn on the pump from the stream and leave the garden to soak up the water. Everything is growing very well although I haven't got everything planted yet.
This year has to be the best one for the vegetable garden and it's simply because I now have drip irrigation for it. It makes such a difference to just turn on the pump from the stream and leave the garden to soak up the water. Everything is growing very well although I haven't got everything planted yet.
All in all it's been a
very interesting and enjoyable year but I feel as though I'm never
going to catch up on all the things that need doing around here! At
least I won't be away from home as much next year.
We wish all our friends
and relations a very happy and healthy 2015.
