Had a slight fiasco with getting my Irish Passport renewed. I sent it away with all the documentation etc. and after waiting a week mailed them just to make sure they had received my passport. They said they had and to wait a further 6 weeks.

So I waited. And waited… and then mailed them on Wednesday saying ‘any chance of getting my passport back’. They said ‘What Passport?’. I got nervous.

About an hour later courier post rang me and said “We’ve been trying to get in touch with you for weeks… we have a package for you”. I was surprised as there was no message on anything.

Anyway, now that I have my flash new 10 year passport I headed into the department of immigration to renew my visa… and they gave it to me. So I now have an indefinite returning residents visa. So, if I want to – I can leave New Zealand for 20 years and still come back in as a resident. I’ve been wanting that for a while. It’s quite likely if I do end up as a teacher that I might travel with it a bit.. perhaps do a year in Ireland at some point. We’ll see..

So for about 2 years now I have been having lower back pain from a squash match I played just before going travelling (and thus didn’t have time to get fixed). Unfortunately it’s still bothering me 2 years later.

I took myself off to a good physio who came up with a New Plan of Action. So I was given new exercises to do – but they’ve not really had the results we’d hoped for. So I’m being referred to a Doctor, and then probably to a specialist. Hopefully it’s all covered by ACC.. otherwise I’m going to be impoverished..

What else.. pretty lazy weekend so sorry no pictures to show. Went to a few movies, did a little maths study, and played some cards with friends. I got slightly roped into a croquet competition which is kinda scary as I’ve not played a turn in months and months – also it takes up most of my free weekends which is *really* annoying as it’s prime tramping and kayaking weather. Still, hopefully will be able to get out for a few of the upcoming weekends.

Two Finally’s really. Firstly in this guardian article it talks about the shock revelation from Alan Greenspan that the war in Iraq was mostly about the oil. Note the heavy sarcasm! However, goes on to say (and link to) stories from insiders that Bush & co intend to do into Iran – for much the same reason.

I’ve been reading for a while about Peak Oil etc. and one of the things it talks about are resource wars… and it looks to me like that is exactly what is going on in Iraq and soon to be Iran at the moment. Sad really. Mind you, as oil hits $82 a barrel and our world ever increasingly dependant on the stuff it makes perfect sense to protect your supplies.

It’s interesting (in a scary way) our current civilisation is completely dependant on oil. And oil is a finite resource. And we’re taking about 82 million barrels of oil out per day. Every day. If the peak oil boys are right then world production will peak in and around 2010 (if it hasn’t peaked already). Once that happens there will be a series of price shocks etc. It’s also interesting that the Iranian Oil Bourse has come on stream which must be diverting millions of dollars worth of trade out of the dollar and into other currancies.

I mean hopefully new technologies will come on stream – electric cars etc.. but I do feel that not enough is being done to fix the problem in the relatively short amount of time we have left before prices start shooting up.

We’ll see, hopefully I’m wrong.. :) I mean I hope things do get sorted out ‘cos it might make the bi-yearly trip back to Europe a bit less likely..

The other finally – is that I finally got in touch with a local school and will be going in to do shadowing on October the 9th.. so quite excited about that. I do hope I find I enjoy the environment and feel that it could be the thing for me.

Ok, so while I am enjoying going back through old maths text books to bring my skills up to speed (should I ever actually go through with my current intention of becoming a maths teacher).. I do find some of the questions a tad challenging. Like the one listed below. Personally I reckon it’s impossible – but am keen to be proved wrong. Well.. keenish ;)

So if you feel like a challenge (at least I hope you’ll find it challenging) have a look at the following problem..

Last weekend headed up to Mt. Cheeseman with Dave and a New Person! (Viv). I was struggling at first with the T-Bars on the icy slopes. I think I almost (definitely) prefer a nutcracker to a t-bar. And that’s saying something!

Also made my first ever batch of bread. Very happy with how it turned out – and SO easy to make. Well, could have been beginners luck, but I’ll definitely be trying again :)

Also in town unexpectedly this week was Carole.

And it wasn’t for a happy reason. Sean – an Irish climber who has been holidaying in New Zealand had a snowboarding accident. He hit his head quite hard and sorta cracked his skull a bit. He was amazing in that he did manage to get down to the ski patrol station after his accident. Still, he’s making excellent recovery – though will put a dent in his travel plans.