Not as Crooked

I'm still a little ill - I think I unlocked somat when I unpacked a suitcase of old clothes. In future I think I'm just going to throw the suitcase on the fire and enjoy it.

But I'm not as ill as some. Poor Alice spent most of last night being sick on Sarah. Now she has been diagnosed with viral gastroenteritis. Now... I've had that as an adult and it is deeply unpleasant, albeit one hell of an effective weight loss program (try twenty kilograms in three weeks), so I feel very sad for the little one.

This trip has, while being a trip of closure, also been a trip of hellos to a new generation. There are lots of little folk in my world (my brother and sister in law have nineteen month old Charlotte, Sarah and Craig have one year old Alice, Gabrielle and Clint have one year old Fearne, Chris and Sarah have three year old Aimee and nine month old Jessica, and I'm sure there will be more to come... It's been really fun. I've kinda felt like Uncle Richard to a lot of them as well as Sarah and Mike three wee ones, but to actually be a genuine uncle to Charlotte is very cool.

Tomorrow I am off to Rotorua to see Jolinda, then do some actual work with our New Zealand agent (a loud Yorkshireman). Then up to Warkworth with the family, then the three yearly trip to Cityside Baptist Church to remind them of who this person who is on the 'prayers for people who are far off' section lof the newsletter is, and hopefully continue to have my mortal soul prayed for for another three and a half years.

Drove for the first time in NZ today. Managed to fail most tests involving the location of the indicator stick and failed the only test of the NZ give way rule. Luckily no harm done. The drive to Rotorua could be a different matter.