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Published: September 4th 2005
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In their element
The ladies spending money they haven't got - what's new?! Well, hello there.... It's been a while but I now have the time to do this properly as I'm currently off sick from work but more of that later.
We had a great weekend down in Christchurch a couple of weeks ago. The excuse was that an old colleague from work at Standard Life, Elaine Ogg, was cat-sitting for her brother in his house for a couple of weeks and we took the opportunity to fly down and keep her company for a weekend.
The flight down was fine but we had some trouble getting the hire care that we'd booked in that it wasn't there. Long story and we ended up getting it the following morning and had to get a taxi to where Elaine was staying. Needless to say we won't be booking through www.ginz.com or Ezy Car Hire again.
Anyway, we had a cracking day on the Saturday - we took the car into the city and strolled around in the bright sunshine enjoying the 19 degrees! A wonderful late winter's day! There's a weekly craft fare on beside the museum which was actually pretty good - needless to say Jo-Ann and Elaine bought some
Punting on the Avon
One of those Christchurch things that you just have to do. stuff and I got nothing but it was just nice to be wandering around in the warmth and the jazz band were pretty good.
We then had lunch outside at a place called Sticky Fingers where everyone was competing for the tables with the umbrellas as it was so hot and nobody expected to need sunscreen in winter! We all got some colour!! Then we did the classic Christchurch thing and went for a punt on the River Avon - not quite a gondola in Venice but very relaxing and the Japanese tourists were very impressed with the punter's mastery of their language.
Elaine was having some of her brother's friends round for dinner that she'd met before so some prep time was needed so we headed back to the house. The dinner went great - quality food and some good chat. Compliments to the chef....!
On Sunday we headed down to New Brighton Beach and onto the pier. The beach looked like it would be fantastic in summer but the pier was a bit disappointing as I suppose we expected an old pavilion style one like the original in the real Brighton but it was only
I tink I taw a puddy cat
Forgotten their names already but they were a cute couple. a few years old and was just a long concrete plank basically. However, we did get to see the amazing sand artist, Peter Donnelly, at work - he featured on Billy Connolly's World Tour of New Zealand show and the Big Yin spent some time with him at the same spot.
We then headed onto to Sumner, which is a suburb to the south east of Christchurch with another peachy beach and some interesting rock formations. After strolling up and down the beach, we headed off through Lyttleton to Governor's Bay for lunch at a smashing place with a great view over the bay. I was losing my appetite bit by this stage was feeling really tired and worn out so we headed back to the house.
On the Monday we bade farewell to Elaine and headed off to Mount Hutt for a quick day's skiing. It didn't quite go to plan though... Once we got to the ski centre after about 2.5 hours of driving, I was really feeling pretty average - light-headed, completely worn out and unable to partake in anything approaching physical activity. After about 20 mins attempting to get the energy to ski, the
Willow the Wisp
Peter Donnelly works his magic on New Brighton Beach day was aborted and we headed to the airport. I felt really bad for ruining the day as Jo-Ann had especially been looking forward to the skiing - although it was windy and freezing up there, the snow was pretty good and it was quiet.
Unfortunately, we couldn't get on an earlier flight so we were stuck at the airport for about 3 hours until we managed to get our flight home and I went pretty much straight to bed.
After a week resting at home, blood tests at the Docs and getting
slowly worse I eventually went to hospital on Monday 29th and was discharged on 1st Sep after being on a saline drip for 3 days.
Turns out I've got something called Addison's Disease which basically mean that my adrenal glands, which are found just above my kidneys, are failing to produce sufficient cortisone steroids and therefore my blood pressure was low and the levels of sodium in my blood were too low. The result was extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, skin discolouration and dizzy spells when standing up (this included fainting in the shower!). There's no cure but very treatable so I'll be on
The beach at Sumner
Had to put a photo of me in just to keep Mum happy! 2 doses of hydrocortisone tablets every day for the rest of my life! Could have been a lot worse.
I have to back to the hospital for a check-up tomorrow morning (Tues 6th) and all being well I’ll be back at work the following day.
Poor Jo-Ann was going out of her mind with worry, as were my Mum & Dad and my sisters - I’m just fine now and thanks to everyone for such great support when I was crook.
We’re still trying to buy a car - we almost bought a Volvo but I’m very glad we saw sense and decided it was way to early for pre-mid-life crisis. Our latest desire is a VW Golf - there’s one for sale that we’ll be going to see and test drive hopefully sometime this week. It’s under budget and has a CD player so I’ll be happy! Golf’s are also very reliable from what I hear so that will be perfect for us.
We’re been to couple of concerts in the last month or so. First of all, the majestic Interpol were on fine from at the Victoria Uni’s Student Union Hall. We also went
Let's Rock!
Rock formation on the the beach at Sumner to see the Finn Brothers (kiwi heroes and founders and creative force behind Crowded House). I was sceptical beforehand but we were both pleasantly surprised and it was a great to be at a gig and feel so young! The support band were Wellington’s own Phoenix Foundation who are brilliant so it was good.
In November, we’ve got the Foo Fighters at the Events Centre and also we’re going to see John Cleese’s stand-up show at the Opera House - no idea really what that’ll be like but it’s John Cleese so we’ve just go to go! Not sure he’ll be quite supple enough for silly walks at his age but we’ll see what happens.
As mentioned in previous blog, we arrive back in Scotland on Friday 30 September - hope to see a whole bunch of you then if we can. Until then, take it easy....
Angus.
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