maximising the buy:shop ratio

I've shared on this particular hobby horse of mine before, but it wouldn't be a hobby horse if it... went professional?... hang on, think I've lost track a bit here. Anyway, today I went on a buying trip to Wellington.

Now many people go on shopping trips, an experience I detest greatly. To me, shopping is spending time failing to buy things, whereas (and this is the quite profound bit) buying things is actually buying them. I am reconciled to the fact that needing to buy things—oh, take clothes as a completely random example—is a fact of life. However, in my view spending much time shopping for them is not necessary. After some years of experiencing shopper's frustration, I realised that what I needed to do was to maximise the ratio between time spent buying versus time spent shopping. Being a person of a certain height and furthermore particular arm length, shopping can be doubly frustrating—the majority of clothes out there simply do not fit, I can never buy anything on sale, and for certain items I routinely require custom tailoring.

One technique I've developed over the years to minimise my aggravation is to do as much buying as possible all in one go, so I can then do no shopping for as long as possible. Around the time I acquired my first cufflinks I went on to buy at least four shirts, three or four pairs of trousers, and a few other things. I've then rested, for almost 18 months, I believe buying not a single item of clothing in that period.

Well today it was time again. With Bronwyn's encouragement that I need some additional items in order to look at least slightly presentable at her family wedding on Saturday, I set out to find a jacket. I found one—it's been altered this week—and added to the list two work shirts, two outdoors layers for hiking and getting about, a haircut, a power plug to rewire a British cable, and just to cap it off I am having a third (particularly nice) shirt made to measure. Phew.

Somewhere around that I caught up with Sally for lunch, another good friend we've missed while we've been away. This is what makes being back great.

And I won't have to shop again for most of the rest of the year.  :D

heart transformations

I visited yesterday at the church of my best man Andrew and his wife Georgie. It was a bit mind-blowing to see how much their children have grown up over the two years we've been away.

The pastor there was preaching on a difficult series of verses, discussing anger, lust, and integrity. He discussed the way that Jesus took the commonly-held views of society, but exhorted people to go beyond just keeping the extreme boundaries of acceptable behaviour, to being open to a transformation of their deeply held inner attitudes... work that he discussed can ultimately only be accomplished through the involvement of God in our lives.

In the verses in question Jesus is recorded with a series of statements, “You have heard it said”... “but I tell you...”. The pastor came up with a few current examples I thought I'd reproduce here:

• You've heard it said, “Don't drink and drive” but I tell you “don't rely on alcohol for your good times, seek what is really true, fulfilling and satisfying.”
• You've heard it said, “Don't speed” but I tell you “be courteous to all the other drivers on the road.”
• You've heard it said, “It only counts if I get caught” but I tell you “If you've got nothing to hide then hide nothing. Act with integrity.”
• You've heard it said, “Just do it!” but I tell you “don't let your every desire control you or it will be a life of meaningless destruction.”
• You've heard it said, “Acquire stuff” but I tell you “value your soul.”

Thought provoking stuff. I know for me at least I still need transformation in terms of some of the original anger, lust and integrity stuff too. I am a broken vessel.

Finally some words of Jesus: You have heard people say, “Love your neighbours and hate your enemies.” But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven.

I hope for a world where this principle genuinely guides our Foreign policy. (You can read the original passage here.)

deposition from cloudy waters

In the last week we've seen things settling into place.

We finally were able to extract our gear from the boat on Friday, after complications with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. They wanted to inspect our gear, but did not wish to do so until Tuesday. In the end an additional (ultimately smaller than advertised) fee and the disposal of our painted eggshell decorations from Prague saw our release granted. We thus bid a temporary farewell to Bronwyn's parents, and headed to old haunt Palmerston North. There it was great to spend four days with good friends in Palmerston, seeing families that had expanded since we were last here. So nice to return to the warmth of these long-standing friendships.

This provided a base for further discussions regarding employment, aided by a day trip down to the capital Wellington, two hours south. And after serious discussions regarding three offers of employment, I'm pleased to report I've now accepted a job! I've been appointed as a Consultant to the Massey University Psychology Clinic in Wellington. My role there represents a significant change from work in the past, moving away from full-time front line clinical work. I'll be working there over the next couple of months in developing strategic relationships with other health and research agencies, particularly focussing on clinical research projects that these collaborations may stimulate. I'm excited about the opportunities this new role offers, which represent the direction I want to take in the next stage in my career. And in terms of my role, well, watch this space!

Almost completing the set, finalising our city is allowing us to finalise where we'll live. We're going to be renting a house from family for a while, on the Kapiti Coast north of the Wellington, while I experiment with whether the commute is worth it. For those with local knowledge, it's in Raumati South. Meanwhile, we're already enjoying the Kapiti lifestyle as we stay with my brother and his wife in Paraparaumu, where we've finally met my new nephew Fin. Ahh... We like Fin! Another reason why it's good to be back.

We've both enjoyed being able to spend time face-to-face with Bronwyn's family too. Her Dad, David, has been given a positive MRI report regarding the shrinking of the main tumour, in his hip, with the other two believed to be gone completely. He's now finished chemotherapy, which is great. He's been booked for a hip replacement in 4 to 6 weeks time too—usual waiting time two years apparently—which will relieve the major pain he increasingly is experiencing due to the pathological fracture (neck of femur) caused by the tumour. Meanwhile Bronwyn's sister's wedding is fast approaching. It is down in Dunedin, deep in the south of the South... British people can think Edinburgh in Autumn... and the girls are wearing strappy dresses. Bronwyn will fly down Saturday, while I will join the family next Thursday. Due to our overseas sojourns, neither of us has met the groom! So as the MC at the wedding reception, I'll be able to share all those anecdotes of all the amusing things that have occurred in the long time I've known Michael, since the Thursday immediately before... Not much damaging material, I imagine. Maybe that's the point!

early in the morning

I've woken early, too early. 4:20am early. After lying in bed for most of an hour, I though I may as well be productive. Somehow I've ended up blogging instead...

Beyond the machinations around our gear, we've had a busy week. We're enjoying staying with Bronwyn's parents in the Waikato. The weather here has been pretty glorious, with blue skies and polarising-filter-loving cloud formations gracing balmy days. Both Bronwyn's family and other locals have been quick to advertise the superior merits of a life in this region. No doubt many of them true, though there is a sense of a benevolent advertising campaign going on round here, with the entire population in on the conspiracy.

Certainly involved in such proselytising are the staff I've met from Waikato DHB, who interviewed me for a post there on Tuesday. Following this I arranged to return for a further visit on Wednesday to tour the facilities I'd potentially be working in, and visiting the Psychology Centre the DHB jointly runs with the local university. While I'm yet to hear back from the manager officially, signs again highly positive regarding the interview process. With discussions continuing with other possible employers also, there are a number of options and I've much to think about.

Bronwyn's family are gearing up for sister Stephanie's wedding on Easter Saturday, with dress fittings for bridesmaids Bronwyn and Carolyn being completed this week. We've now got the dresses, and I can announce to you all the style is mfhhghg hggn rrfff and the colour is hhggngn gaaahh gurrgle. (Cough cough choke.) Why is my windpipe suddenly so sore? Ah well... [Jenny's ninjas apologise for any disruption to your transmission.]

This week has seen me putting time into a major re-deployment of the MMM International (New Zealand) website, the voluntary organisation that Bronwyn's parent's work for. The new version is almost ready for launch, though the existing site remains up this morning. It's been good to be able to use my ill-gotten blogging skills for “good” on this occasion, as well as for “awesome”. [Check here for a screenshot when the new site is live...]

We're still enjoying being back, and haven't been hit by total reverse culture shock yet. I still can't get my head around prices of things. Most items I select at the supermarket seems reasonably-priced now, but when my express-lane small pile of items comes to over $40 I wonder if I've got someone else's bill. Meanwhile, I ran the car down to the fuel light being on yesterday, and was therefore able to set a new record of pumping $80 of gas into the car, even using less expensive fuel this time. Wow. We're living on the NZ Peso again...

the day our boat came in...

Like the teenager late home from a party, our ship finally arrived into the Ports of Auckland a little after 7 this morning, with no explanation for its lateness. We're taking the concerned parent line, choosing to focus on how glad we are that it has come home safely, because we were worried sick about it. Well, our plans were disturbed a little, anyway, if not our sleep.

Feeling quite smug and self-satisfiedly organised we'd booked our gear to sail on the P&O Nedline Encounter (though then we weren't on first, second and third name terms) as we were told it was predicted to arrive in Auckland last Sunday. We were also told we'd then have seven days to uplift our cargo from Auckland, before we started being charged rent by the devanning company. (I've learnt a new word.) As we planned to be in the Waikato for this week, it sounded ideal.

Things began to slide with the call from the teenager from their mobile around midnight, to say they'd been held up. At least, paperwork received from our middle-man company, Oceanbridge, indicated they predicted our ship would arrive on Tuesday, not Sunday. Hm. OK. We consulted with them, and planned a Wednesday trip to Auckland to retrieve our “Twelve (12) cartons and two (2) suitcases” of unaccompanied personal effects. We arranged a relocation to Wellington for Friday, finally meeting for the first time my nephew Fin when we stayed with Tim and Megan that night.

We made the prudent phone call Tuesday night to confirm that our cargo had indeed been unloaded and sorted out from the contents of the rest of the container it was in. The devanning company staff helpfully were able to discuss the finer points of their job with me, clarifying the difficulty in doing this when the boat itself had not turned up in Port. Oh. Re-arrange week, moving Thursday appointments to Wednesday, planning to go to Auckland Thursday.

Repeat same procedure Wednesday night—boat remains AWOL... though with a prediction now that it would arrive this morning. Unloading and devanning would mean gear not available till Friday (here's the ominous bit) at the earliest. So everything put on hold; departure for Wellington postponed. We hope to collect our gear tomorrow... Online tracking and a phone call later in the day confirm the container is now at the devanning, um, depot? which is a start. They appear to work 24/7, and are confident we will be able to get our gear. So we're booked to go to Auckland, first thing tomorrow. Now we just have to clear Customs and particularly MAF. So I'm wondering, why on earth did we ship those two wooden ornaments?

in the heart of the waikato

We're back. And right now it feels good. We're enjoying spending time with Bronwyn's parents, and with her youngest sister who has moved up to this part of the country while we've been away. And oh, the weather has been glorious—just the way our English friends imagine New Zealand weather always is, if they haven't been here! Bright blue skies, warm sun, gentle breeze as I sit on a deck chair talking to friends on a cordless phone and wondering why we've been gone so long. The locals have been extolling the virtues of the Waikato (this mid-north part of the country), including this climate, in an attempt it would appear to recruit us. It would be quite a change of plan for us to settle in this part of the country. However, I have a job interview at Waikato Hospital tomorrow, so it's certainly not completely off the table.

Are we home? Yes and no. Over the last six years this part of the country has become family-iar territory, since Bronwyn's parents relocated here. But we'd never seen this area as home in the past. I expect things may hit us more when we travel down to our old haunts of Palmerston North and Wellington at the end of this week. Lots of little experiences show we've got unfamiliar with the place. I have trouble estimating how much things will cost, am constantly taken aback by the prices, only to realise it's about the same in relative terms as we were paying in London. The banknotes seem so small. The (silver) coins seem so large. There are no copper coins! (Thank goodness.) We notice New Zealand accents everywhere; sometimes miss spotting when someone is English. An English person (who admittedly moved here when he was 12) asked me yesterday if I was English! May have been biased by life circumstances though he was referring to accent.

We're on the move. People are asking us where we're going to settle, and the straight answer is we still don't know. But wherever we have to get to, we've got the wheels to get us there! With the assistance of Bronwyn's parents we'd purchased this beast before we'd even arrived back, and having seen and driven it now I've no regrets. This car rocks. It's a Ford Mondeo Ghia 1999 station wagon. You can see it comes with big grin for the driver—what the photo doesn't show is the heated leather seats, the six-disc CD stack, and a 2.5 litre V6 engine that will have us cruising up and down this country no problems. However, with the tank three-quarters empty the other day I filled it up, gulping a little as it hit 55 litres of fuel, emptying my wallet of cash at a tidy total of $69.80. Yikes.

Though they were valid for the two years we were away, In an ironic twist of timing our EFT-POS (British translation: SWITCH) cards expired last Monday. New ones were sent in the post, but are currently in the wrong part of the country. The next few days will mostly be filled with sorting such details... banking, our new internet access account finally being activated, getting our mobile phone(s) sorted. And, of course, pursuing that right job. Because, fun as it is, this “holiday” has to end eventually.

view from 39,000 feet

We have left Australia, en route for Auckland and then our final destination tonight with Bronwyn's parents in Hamilton. At the end of our time overseas, I have taken this time while on the plane to review our two years away. These entries a slice that represent the highs and lows of our time away from New Zealand, in our work, our church life, our family and personal lives. Here's the view, loooking down from 39,000 feet...

While comments are normally disabled on older entries, I've re-enabled them on these entries (for those since October 2003 when this feature was first enabled). So please feel free to respond to anything. Comments are automatically emailed through to me, so go and start a dialog, or if you prefer just be totally random!

Aotearoa, we're looking forward to being back on your shores, today.

First blog entry
SoE beginning
Wolfson interview
SoE initial result

Psalm 91
Job at the Wolfson
NZ departure
Finding Worple Road Church
Stopping traffic
Inaugral dblog competition
Eye on the beard
Work=Trauma
Blog lies
Bronwyn's blogging premiere
In humble submission
Sunday evening is Monday morning
Near miss at work
The Kingdom of Summer
Sleep well, my love...
Burn baby burn
Lines
Angry
Emerging
First northern Christmas

Dressed at the time
Dear New Zealand
Three Rs
Yearnings
The family business
To go extinct on Principa?
For whom the bell tolls
29th floor
Bronwyn's story
7 down
For unto us
Seven good years
Home, but alone
Viral meningitis
A tail of Neurologists
Home!
Queen Mary sets sail
Update from Bronwyn
Homecoming
I am thir…
SoE finished
Bittersweet times
In with the new
Test results
Primary Osteolymphoma
Welcome Finlay!
NZ return announced
Failure
Praying for Osama

31 days
A ship off...
Last night
Penultimate day
This is why
Unfinished

sydney

We've spent probably the most low-key week I've had in Sydney, which was just what the doctor ordered. Well, actually the doctor ordered a further dose of antibiotics, hard on the heels of the one I finished a couple of days before leaving London. Handy having an uncle coming to lunch whose day job is being a GP... We've been staying in the guest accommodation right on site at the extensive landscaped villages that comprise the Anglican Retirement Villages at Castle Hill. My grandma is a resident here, perviously in independent accommodation and now with a room in a unit where she can get more support. In my work I've visited more than a few such units, and I'm impressed by the setup here. I'm pleased she's in a good place. We've been able to visit her each day this week and have some precious times together.

It's been good as well to share this week with my parents, up from Melbourne and staying with us in the two bedroom guest unit. They've been working through the process of preparing to sell their house here in Sydney, the home I was born into and spent my first eight years in. I have no regrets about the sale, and it seems like the right thing to be doing. Who knew old Chesterfield Road was now a “blue ribbon” street, though? Nice. May our upcoming house purchase be so fortuitous!

We've had a few opportunities to catch up with some members of the extended family here. It's been good. Some people have had big changes, of all kinds. Others haven't changed at all, and in a good way. It's nice to be able to pick up, and find those bonds remain. Family is all good. We're carrying back with us too some items I've inherited from my grandparents, distributed out to various family members after my Grandfather's death and once my Grandma moved to her current, smaller, accommodation. Chief among these for me is the eleven volume published set of the collected works of my great great great great grandfather, Charles Babbage. Would that I could make even a fraction of his contribution, one day.

We're all packed. We rise with the sun tomorrow, to leave at 8am for the airport. Our journey will not have us in Hamilton until 8:30pm tomorrow night. Such a long day of inactivity will be tiring. But being reunited with further family will more than compensate.

New Zealand, we're coming home!