Had a very nice dinner, on Wednesday I think it was, as Aroha was moving out of 39 Fendalton. I will completely miss having her good self and Warick (currently playing in Europe) to pop in on.

Mark (my excellent flatmate) cooked a vegge lasagne, I made a choc mousse desert.. the bottle of wine went down (as did a small whisky after..). While they have moved out, I think this dinner thing will have to be performed on a fairly regular basis!

On Sunday headed up to porter heights with Glynn, Jayne, Graham, Myra, Dave, Heidi and Penny (who is off for 5 months in the Antarctic soon). Pretty rubbish conditions (I felt). It didn’t really soften up that much, and while they had got 5 cm of fresh, it had crusted over and broke up and formed chossy lumps as the day progressed. Soon twill be time to get back into tramping I think.

Glynn in the pic above on the left..
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Finally got round to writing a letter to my (sniff) only regular pen pal Angelica… if anyone else still believes in letter writing – the address to send snail mail to is on the right. But my thanks to all those who have sent postcards…

So yesterday was sitting in work when I heard this massive bang. Most of us thought a truck had toppled over but it was in fact a meteorite flying overhead. Exciting stuff.

Also checked out a new physio yesterday. He seemed extremely thorough and gave me a possible explanation for my stiff (and sore sometimes) back… here’s hoping my new exercises work… it has been a year since I was last able to play squash! which is a heluva long time. Perhaps the meteor is a portent of good things to come :)

Off to Temple Basin, the oldest club field in Canterbury (I think?)… it has had its fair share of bad luck this year. The goods lift broke with too much snow! and I have been keen to get up and give them some support (by skiing – not actually doing any work of course ;)

There’s a good 45 minute walk up to the ski field, but the terrain is excellent once you are there.

The pic above is from about 2/3 of the way up the walk in.. so it’s quite a hike. There’s also a funky wind up phone in the goods lift for communicating between the top and the road end.

So an enjoyable day spent boarding. My body has been falling apart lately (beginning to get very irritating actually) so I took a couple of hours off for reading in the afternoon, which was most pleasant!

After a quick tidy up on the morning after the night before, it was off up to Arthurs Pass for some more snowboarding action. Cragieburn being the destination with Glynn, Jayne, Graham, Myra, Dave and Heidi.

It was the first introduction to nutcrackers for a few of them. They all did really well, Myra did have one pretty nasty scary fall (it’s quite icy spring conditions and often doesn’t soften up until the afternoon).. two skiiers were instantly over to help her.

Spent a very enjoyable evening in the Bealey Hotel.. an oldish? pub nestled in Arthurs Pass. It’s a great place to go – I really like the ambiance.. (note trying to use more sophisticated language ;).

I got chatting (as I do) to the owner (leaseholder) – Ted

He has been running it for five years, and in a months time will be handing it over to an English couple. I really really hope they have the same attitude towards stinky trampers and skiiers coming in. So a nice meal, a few jugs of beer, Glynn and Jayne had a game of pool.. Glynn was unquietly confident about winning.. pride cometh before a ??

For $20 we could stay in the accommodation there. Really great value when you consider the views from our bedrooms in the morning..

Finally time for the annual mulled wine and mince pie affair. I’ve been having these for about 8 years now I think. I think the next party will have to be a summer garden party, complete with boules, croquet, ladies in summer dresses, pimms (or just cocktails?) and cucumber sandwitches ;)

After enough wine, Vincent decided to see if he could wedge himself between my swiss ball and the top of the door. He could.