Well, hello there!

It's been a while since I blogged.

Life has been pretty full on over the last almost two years.

I'd like to say all of it was good, but it wasn't. More difficulties than something to smile about.

My job is still good. I'm paid very well and have received regular excellent increases. So this part of my life has been okay...except for the stress. Somehow instead of just being a team lead, it's slowly morphed into being a manager. The more you do, the more your expected to do. It took a while to recognise this.

A brimful of excitement

This song has been running around in my head for weeks now. It's become a favourite for me. I am sure there is some significance but it's beyond me what that is. I'm simply going to enjoy it while it's here.

Fatboy Slim's mixes are amazing. It is one of the many first fond memories I have of living in the UK.

So...there are many changes going on since I last wrote. I find myself wavering between being stressed at the unknown and excitment at the potentials!!

A brief holiday

I took some days off to have a nice long weekend. I have so much holiday due, that I'm not sure what to use it for, lol.

One day to spring clean the house, again. Two days in the Coromandel, a beautiful coastal area on the Pacific that reminds both Greg and I of the stunning Garden Route in South Africa. Two days in Whakatane with family.

Push It, Ancestors, Quails n stuff

Sometimes I think how lovely it would be to not have choice.

We all have choices, facing them every moment of every day. There is not one person who doesn't face choices daily, from how to react through to what to eat or wear.

These days the damn pendulum swings are hard and crazily fast.

Au revoir, farewell

I'm sad today. I booked Traevis's ticket back to the UK. Truthfully I've been putting it off, but no more procrastinating!

He's woken with a sore jaw the last two mornings, the odd tummy pain, so despite his smiley face, I reckon he is feeling it too. To be expected as he's always been with us and now he is setting out on his own on the other side of the world. Thankfully he has some good school friends, one of which has offered him a home and will be collecting him from Gatwick.

The Pendulum

This is a long post!

It's been a roller coaster of epic proportions these last two months, hasn't it?

Quite often I wonder when it will all blimmin' stop!

A huge pendulum swinging backwards and forwards, moving from one extreme to the other. The extreme planetary alignments, eclipses, blood and blue moons, etc. has thrown us all into a bit of a tizz.

Give me one good reason

I think I've got to slow down. I am so tired, I don't seem to have the energy.

I'm working extra hours doing clinics as one of the physiologists is away for five weeks over Christmas/New Year.

My three week holiday at the end of next week cannot come fast enough. I used to take holidays all the time in the UK, but I don't think I have done much holidaying since arriving in NZ. I've collected so much vacation time in the last two years. Luckily we can role it over from year to year.

Respectful tact pays off

I view the improvements going on within the Sleep Clinic as a microcosm of the current/future improvements going on in the world.

The red-tape and bureaucracy of the hospital has always had us scratching our heads with its complicated pathways of getting anything done. The Sleep Clinic used to mirror this, but is now flowing better and is completely transparent.

Laurie Penny: The Unforgiving Minute

I came across this excellently written article. She has nailed it in a way I've never been able to express.


Longreads November 2017

“I’m sick of being asked to suffer so a man can grow.”

– Alexandra Petri

“Everyone. Fucking. Knew.”

– Scott Rosenberg

This is actually happening.

Change all change

Woohoo!

I got it.

I cannot tell you how much the wait has been preying on my mind.

Change of mind-set

We have some new neighbours that moved in about two weeks ago.

They've had more fights than the amount of days they've lived there. There are two little kids that the woman yells and swears at regularly, when she is not screaming at the guy, who never seems to say anything but leave the house, before slamming the door that the whole neighbourhood reverberates with.

Redwoods Treewalk, Rotorua, New Zealand

Mid July we went to Rotorua for a weekend - Ash, Traev, Jack, Greg and I.

One of the places we visited was the Redwoods Treewalk. I have a fear of heights, but was determined to do it. Wasn't too bad until they started jumping on the rope walks which freaked me out somewhat!

Oh and it was bloody cold...obviously as it was the middle of winter!

Long eventful winter

It's been a long and very eventful winter down here in the southern hemisphere.

Taking on the position of Team Leader, completely making over the Sleep Clinic - how it operates, it's protocols, re-arranging the configuration of rooms, interviewing and training new staff, meeting after meeting, etc., feeling so knackered after long hard hours of work putting everything into place. And then to top it all, our daughter leaving to go back to Sydney, the neglect of my husband, son and daughter. Pure exhaustion trying to fit in Skype conversations with family and friends in other parts of the world, juggling visits with family and friends here. Mostly everyone has been very understanding, supportive and not too demanding as I find my feet. It was my need to always be perfectly on top of everything that was not only (I realise now) impossible, but silly. But...I'd do it again in the blink of an eye.

I'm still standing

I am loving every moment, well most moments, in the position.

I've always been shy and, what most would call, aloof. That has changed without me noticing. I find myself being pushed into situations with strangers and to my surprise, I'm okay with it.

The British-ness of being British

Every so often, I get hit with a wave of homesickness for the UK, for being surrounded by British-ness, English accents in all their various forms, the subtle and not so subtle humour, the ability to laugh at themselves, English gardens, houses...just everything, including the weather.

De-cluttering and moving forward

The first two weeks in the position of Acting Team Leader has been quite a challenge, an exciting challenge. I was starting to get a bit bored with my job, feeling like I needed more stimulation and boy, did I get it in bucketloads!!

The next stepping stone

It's been an up and down week full of surprises and uncertainties.

I'd not heard anything from the business manager since her answer to my email last week. I was starting to worry that maybe I was jumping the gun in assuming.

Acting Team Leader proposal

I took the bull by the horns yesterday afternoon.

Quite simply put, it seemed that nothing was being put in place once our manager leaves tomorrow. Place is in an uproar cos no-one is taking charge and making decisions.

It is stressing everyone out.

Personalities and perceptions

Personality profiling has come to my attention again.

When my kids enrolled at the Steiner/Waldorf schools in South Africa (and later in the UK) they used this profiling to understand each child in the class. I found it fascinating.

Gridlock and Responsibility

Richard's in Melbourne this weekend. Says it's a great city with a good vibe.

But...he misses Hamilton and its laid back life.

Haha...I said I'd gotten a bit freaked this last week as instead of 5 cars on the road there were 10!