the day in Waikikamukau

starts with yours truly arising for the tea ceremony. This begins with a visit to the kitchen. The electric kettle (220 volts is useful for creating hot water in seconds) is set in motion and the brew concocted. Our current recipe is two bags of Bell's ('‘Feel alive!'’), two slightly heaping tablespoons of Dilmah loose tea ('‘Finely balanced richness, flavour strength & aroma for the perfect tea'’--no comma between '‘flavour' and '‘strength'’ is correct) and one bag of Twinings of London (the name says it all, apparently) Earl Grey. Two large steaming mugs of tea with milk are then transported upstairs for sipping by brewer and newly awakened sleeper. We draw the curtains, sit in bed and contemplate the view and the wood pigeons breakfasting on the really yummy young leaves in full view. Wim and Lily are apt to trickle in for a morning snuggle and the day has begun.

Today the temperature was 33 degrees in the morning, a hair above freezing. Hail was forecast for yesterday. Guy Fawkes Day on the weekend, by contrast, was about 80 all day. We all know the New England saw, if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes. A Dunedin native told me today that what they say here is: Dunedin has all four seasons, sometimes in the same day.

Willem news: 3 weeks ago Wim'’s Level 7 group went for a two night overnight stay camp--Camp Berwick is a couple hours drive from here. He had a terrific time. He greatly enjoyed archery, absailing and shooting an air rifle. (The teacher reportedly said "“We've got a dead-eye Yank over here"”) One of his prizes was a second in target shooting. The story that will enter family yore though was his 'solo'’. All the boys had to sit out on groundsheets in the woods on their own ('solo') in total silence, for half an hour last thing in the day. Apparently, Wim heard a possum sniffing around--they breathe very loudly, like an asthmatic with adenoids and a bad sinus condition. We asked Willem if he called for help--he said that was against the rules. "So what DID you do?" "“Well, I was scared so I rolled over and went to sleep" was the reply (played 'possum).…This Tuesday night, he had another sleepover with his class, this one in the Museum. He is quite the old hand now although the parents worry. Will he lose his stuff? Will his retainer get stepped on? Will his glasses survive? Everything turned out well--although yesterday his glasses got smashed in dodge ball (NZ$ 275 for replacements!)

Lily'’s school is having a track meet. We think it might involve other schools. This meet was originally scheduled for Wednesday but then postponed until Friday because of rain on Tuesday night. The parents will sit in the stands and the students need to have dry ground for sitting on in the infield. Lily says that she is second fastest in her class so she has high hopes of doing well in the foot race department. She might also be doing some sort of jumping. Her instructions read thusly:
We need to bring the following for the Sports
Sunhat/Sunblock
Small Morning Tea for school
Large Morning Tea for Sports
Big Lunch
Plenty to drink
Come in Tracksuits

Another omitted outing was family attendance at the RR bash. The Dunedin Railway Station, the most photographed building in New Zealand and one of the 100 must see structures in the world, celebrated its 100th birthday on Oct. 18th. We heard a brass band, speeches, a cannon and tonnes of steam engine train whistles. Train spotters were on hand from all around the world. We studied the old engines and took a train ride behind one of these beasts. It was all tremendously exciting and historic. The open air farmer's market being in an adjacent parking lot, we finally got to peruse this too. It had a Noho aspect but we are not accustomed to seeing homemade liquors and fresh beer being offered on Saturday mornings in a PC world. We fell for the venison salami, a smoked brie and the cheese curd (!!!**#@!)

The acclimating is in full swing...…