Catchuppage

Well, it’s been a while since my last confession and a lot of stuff has happened!

We’ve moved out of our flat in St. Kilda and into our house - yup, no longer am I paying rent, but on the down side the bank owns my ass. The process of applying for the loan was quite straightforward, but our over-eager home loan consultant decided that it would be right for us to get a couple of credit cards. Given the option I probably would have agreed but the first I knew was when the bank called to ask for a PIN number. I didn’t even know what the security question was, as it has been set up by the loan consultant! This combined with other fubars didn’t help the stress, but it is all over now.

We took a week out of our busy schedules for a surprise wedding anniversary trip to Stewart Island (the island off the bottom of the South Island). This time around it was my turn to organise the destination, with previous anniversaries seeing us in Venice (Italy) last year, all of Ireland in 2003 and Arrowtown (NZ) in 2002. The pace of island life was slow, and the wildlife was amazing. Linda and I have never seen so many Tui and after a while they became annoying as we were wanting to see other birds too! (More info, including photos coming for this great visit!)

We were on the island for 4 days, and then spent another 3 days driving around Southland and Central Otago, staying in Invercargill, Te Anau and Alexandra before arriving back home.

The next weekend was Operation Move-Out-Move-In. With the help of friends and family we left our flat in St. Kilda and moved into our freshly mortgaged house in Brockville. There are still boxes that need to be unpacked, and homes (cupboards) for things to be found. Having our own place is a great feeling, although after looking at the breakdown of mortgage repayments and seeing how much interest we’re paying I was frightened to the point where my bladder threatened to go on strike and empty it’s contents forthwith.

With Christmas rapidly approaching (I can hear the rushing wind generated by the stampede of frenzied shoppers down town) we’re getting things ready for our impending visitors. Two of our friends from the UK left for Australia the other day and I had an email from them from Sydney. Also with a bit of luck the great Glutnix from Wellington will be coming, although I need to confirm this with him.

Linda’s bump is growing - the amount of kicking has increased to the point where we both have now felt movement rather than just kicks. Antenatal classes have been fun, but a little disturbing at times. I guess the idea is to tell you everything that could possibly go wrong just so that if it does you know about it. “The baby is coming out UPWARDS! Oh, it’s OK, they said this might happen…”