Slightly slack in ye olde posts of late… just been really really busy with working and playing. Haven’t been getting tramping like I meant to… I think this year has somewhat got away on me.

Anyway, some of the time has been spent in the garden. Maaike has taken complete control (which is great) and I’ve been roped in to help with some of the heavy digging. Not quite sure how it’s all going to turn out – the ground was pretty solid and clay-ee… so we’ll see.

So definitely busy there. We’ve also been taking part in the evening rogaine series (3 hour events).. this year, for a change, we’ve pretty much run the whole thing.. which has been lots of fun. It is, (for me), pretty much down to Outward Bound and knowing that I can actually do these things. So good stuff there.

And we do get some pretty sunsets from our house :)

Murmuration

Worth watching in full screen… only 2 mins long

Well… today… Greece has decided to put its bailout terms to a referendum. This is either clever or insane … and either way I think things are going to get very interesting before they settle down.

If this spreads to Italy (already at 120% debt to GDP) and onwards? Some massive proportion of bonds are covered by Credit Default Swaps – basically insurance which is taken out to cover the “risk” of a country going bankrupt. Unfortunately, the numbers are so massive that the banks who are covering these contracts will, most likely, go bankrupt when the contracts are called in. Most of those banks are (apparently) American (and maybe British).

And after all that, China will probably swoop in and buy up all the distressed assets they like with their fat wadges of cash. Clever.

(other than this – last couple of weekends have been ChCh bound – being quite lazy which has been lovely. Also, my instructor at Outward Bound (Viv) was down – and it was really lovely seeing her again. Had a dinner for my watchmates – and definitely need to learn how to make cocktails from Mike)

Maaike had headed away for the week tramping with her friend Rachel. Feeling abandoned, I decided to find solace in digging holes (and filling in other ones) at Mike and Heathers.

Here is a picture of a post, newly ‘quikcreted’ (like concrete, only quicker).

I also helped out lagging the pipes. It gets down to around about -7?! or something, and so the pipes all need to have nice woolen jackets to keep them warm through the winter. Fair enough too I say. Who thinks of the pipes these days? Eh? Who stands up for them? Do you? Do you think of..

ok, enough about the right of pipes. Here’s a picture of my nicely wrapped ones.

Don’t they look happy?

I also had a lovely bath in their outside bath (before watching the Ozzies beat the Welsh). I might have to get me an outside bath at somepoint…

Ok, not musical.. but still, funny..