| It is fortunate for McD | Saturday, October 07, 2006 |
It is fortunate for McD that I am nearly always sleeping on my left side ... Due to a number of nose injuries (war woulds :O) If I sleep on my right hand side I can't breath well .... And since I'm one of those people that needs a breath or two of air in my lungs through the night I tend to lie on my left side and spoil myself with lots of air .....
However I am prone to violent movement in the night as well .... A few months ago I was dreaming about being stuck in a drain pipe ...(Please don't do the psycho-bubble analysis on me ) while stuck along came a big rat (don't they feature a lot in peoples minds ) anyway I awoke with a BAM_BAM as I did a double puch to the rat ... Safely absorbed by the bed and not McD all was well .....
A week or so back I deamt of a confrontation with some thug dude ..... That resulted in a karate style strike to his neck .... Several items cleared noisily from the bedside table beside me ...... McD awoken but again no damage done ...
Last night another confrontation with a dude on a boat ..... as we fought he messed up with his guard exposing his rib cage ..... BAM .... Finger tip strike into and between his ribs ...... Again I awoke .. This time a little pain ... As I had struck the bed but obviously my finger crumpled up in the strike and the joint is no somewhat sore .....
And McD sleeps on ..
And I don't even eat cheese !! so can't blame that ....
Bit of a worry for me really ... Probably a bit more of a worry for McD I guess ......
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It's just gotten very silly at work .... I'm swamped with work ... and a good percentage of it is stuff that shouldn't be happening or that our outsourcing vendor should be doing ..... The current Delivery manager with the outsourcer has resigned ... and Good riddance I say .... She's very very nice .. but just doesn't understand her role .... We then asked for a specific delivery manager and as it turned out they were able to assign him to us ..... We talk the same language and both know what needs to be done .... So thats a start ......
But I'm still too busy to do my real job ...
Had to do to Auckland Wednesday night (return friday afternoon) .. As is always the way when I book these trips, we had flights cancelled and big delays due to high winds and low cloud (almost fog ) .... So got to visit a few sights and meet with the Auckland division and Vendors ...and got grumbled at by far too many about issues they have with the IT systems ......
I've spat the dummy with them too many times in the past few weeks...But I did have the vendors national services manager with me at the meetings in Auckland ... thats like the delivery managers bosses boss .... It was really good of him to join me on this ... I hope he got to feel a little of my pain ....
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IT'S DIET TIME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I start a diet today ... Again .... I may start another diary to write about it .. .It can be a bit repetitive and boring listening to people's dieting woes ... But there again I want to dcument it and it's a diary I am writing here so where better to put it ...
So I'll think about that ....
I have a diet plan worked out .. Sensible (designed by scientist from the Ozzy CSIRO ) and have an exercise plan that is there but will need tweaking in the next week as I find whats sensible and whats not ....
Goals - to lose a couple of pounds a week over the next year ... 50kg or 110 Lbs loss...
Do you think I can do it - Bet you don't .........
But if I do lose it then I can get out into the wilds more .. and take pictures like this !!!!!
We Sleep Naked...........................
Some nights you can't be woken even with the house falling around you ... Some nights you hear a noise and you are awake and alert, just like that .... The first noise was the cat pat-pat-pat pat pat pat ing across the floor at 2am in the dead of night ... Not an unusual sound as George the cat often has a little play through the hall and into our bedroom ........ But then again the pat-pat-pat pat pat pat ing... Well thats too light for George so must be Mickey the cat for a change..... MICKEY !!!! Micky only plays if she has a mouse to run after ... AND She's in our bedroom ........
I just knew something was worse happening even then .... She suddenly bounded onto the bed beside me scaring the living beejeebus out of me ... .Pains in my chest turned out to be a pulled muscle from the reactive spasm as I leapt across the bed ...... "My heart !! The cats killed me" I'm groaning to McD as she's woken from her slumber ...
The cats not put off by this though .... Still on the trail she's now knocking books and stuff off the bedside cabinet as she stands atop looking down between the cabinet and the wall ..... Well .. no prizes guessing where the mouse is then ...
I crossed the room and put the main light on - I want to see properly for this exercise .... McD is now also up ... I'm back across the room again to the bedside cabinet .... As I start to get closer I grab the baseball bat thats coveniently handy beside the bed on my side... I peer down the gap beside the wall , eyes still a little bleery. Can't see anything at first and then realise I was looking too far down ... In beween the fallen books and water bottles there's a face with black black eyes looking directly up at me ...... It's a rat.... and my nose is little more than 6 inches from him ...........
Now I don't know if you've ever been in this position before, being face to face with a rat - I have on a couple of occasions - the one thing that always hits me is that this is an intellegent being looking back at me ... The other thing is that this intellegent being shows little fear in these situations ...... And then finally the "OOHHHHHH BLOODY HELL ITS A RAT !!!" explodes involuntarily from your mouth as your head recoils to a safer distance ......... McD is now fully awake and cursing in what I beleive to be many different languages and possibly many different voices too as the reality sinks in ....... WE HAVE A RAT IN OUR BEDROOM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A rat with pointy ears and long sharp pointy teef !!!!
McD is now saying 'throw the cat in' .... The cat on hearing this wants no bar of it and shoots off in the opposite direction and out of the house ... the catflap left swaying behind it as it exits the house ..... I think about using the base ball bat in a stabbling motion to pummel the beastie if not to death then at least an unconscious state... I peer back into the gap .... The rat's still looking back at me ..... no fear ...quite calm really - I know it's saying to me "Well we have a problem don't we...... You aint getting the chance to touch me and I don't know the way out ... So whatchya gonna do big guy ?? "
The chances of me getting a good shot with the bat are minimal to 'you have to be kidding' .... Sod it ...I start to reach down to move some of the debri .. .Rat retreats to behind the cabinet and then while I'm still moving things I realise he's just circled to the back of me and come in past my feet and arm to where he was in the first place ....... He might have no fear, but I do and again retreated hastily ..... Rat again made a move and is now under the bed ......... "Can you see him ??" I ask McD ... "No ! " " Well we have to get him out somehow...get down on the floor and look woman........" ...McD is now on all fours looking under the bed ....
"Well - That a little more of your posteria than I need to see this time of night" I comment to McD....as she's now head down and Bottom up as they say ...... "Oh very funny" ... "There's a rat in the bedroom you know" ..... (i've put McDs posteria picture in at the end....:O)
" I can't see him..." She tells me
I look around the room . No sign of him ...
"I'll lift the bed up " I announce
"He's still not there !!!
"Bugger......Where the sam has he gone !!!!! "
"McD will you see if you can get me a clear jar from the kitchen ...."
While waiting for Mcd I'm thumping around the floor trying to get the rat to flight again ..... Then I saw him ..Trying to get out from under the table but the gap there wasn't big enough ... (While I'm thinking how McD might react with a pointy toothed devil running down the hallway towards her the rat decides to abandon those efforts and take cover behind the bedside cabinet on McD's side of the bed !!!
McD returns with a clear plastic cookie jar ...Looks the part .... I take it and wedge it on the floor between the cabinet on my side and the wall at the back ..... Now again thumping around to make the rat run ....
He finally took flight and as predicted back to my side of the bed ...and Straight into the jar !!!!
"where's the lid !!! "
"Too late never mind " ...I make a rather brave dive I thought and upturned the jar with the mouth down on the carpet . Then seeing a sheet of paper on the floor (I do sudoku's before I fall asleep) I pulled the jar over the paper ..... I now have a trapped rat in a jar with the only thing betwen it and my hand being a bit of a4 paper !! .....
The rats now resigned to his fate and again showing little fear sits there looking out at McD and I .....
I could just put the lid on and suffocate him ... But with that not being an option just what else can a naked man with a pissed off rat in a clear plastic jar do ??
"I'll just let him go outside" I tell McD ... "He can beat the cat up another day" .... So off we go to the ranch sliders at the front of the house that lead to the decking ..... I didn't go to the back door ... I should have I guess but with Mickey the cat being out there that side I decided not to .....
As we passed through the lounge there was George the cat just waking up !! "This is your job!!!" I tell him as I thrust the rat in front of his face ...... The rat, on his hind legs as they do had started to clean his face and now all curious looks straight at George.... George got the fright of his life apparrently as the next thing he's stood high on all four sets of claws and then like a fat streak of grey he's gone ...out of the house ....the cat flap left swinging as he exits the house ......
Well we were impressed.............
So there I am at 2:30 in the middle of the night, naked as the day i was born heading outside onto the decking away from the door . It's raining and windy and barely above freezing......I lay the jar down and retire quickly ......
"you could have brought the jar back in " in McD complains....
"Yep - I could have........but the rat wanted to wait for the rain to stop" i replied.........
This is the Rat...In the Jar....Camera must have been asleep at the time as all the piccs were blurred...........
Oh!!! I lied about the picc of McDs posteria........:O)....But if you really want to see it let me know. I'll see what i can do :O)
| 30 centigrade Vanuatu - 1 Centigrade New Zealand | | |
It’s cold !!
Now I know our 1 degree of frost in Wellington will be laughed at by some of you living in more extreme climes … I have no doubt that our balmy 8degrees C would have many of you rushing to the beaches for an afternoons sunbathing and swimming …And god knows I used to be one of them when I lived in the UK …. But after 15years in
It’s cold
But even by New Zealand standards we have it pretty damned good here… the centre of the North Island have had much colder temperatures and a good dumping of snow !!! The south island had even lower temperatures and even more dumpings of snow And no electricity !! In some places no electricity for weeks !!! In the past 15years I’ve touched snow once I think … And that was on a trip back to the
And that’s why I live no further south than
Not that living further north protects you from the weathers effects. The center of the north island is a plateau and fairly high above sea level and usually prone to winter snow … They based their army camp up there – More of this Character building stuff I’ve no doubt … Then there are the volcanoes in the middle of the plateau ..No not t extinct things … They are barely dormant … With one popping its top within the last 10 years ..I know cause I drove up to it !! Well had to get a better look eh … Now where are those pictures ?? Anyway – There was snow on the volcano then so I lied about not touching snow in NZ ……. They even have ski fields on one of them … fast getaway perhaps when they go pop …….
Now despite living in Auckland for 8 years and loving the place, I usually take the same stance as all other New Zealanders south of the Bombay hills (where Auckland’s reaches end) which is something along the lines of a compassionate “oh dear, what a pity, never mind” said with the slightest hint of a grin that betrays any real feeling for anyone living in our major city. It’s unfair, but there you go … Aucklanders are routinely referred to as JAFAs (just Another F#$king Aucklander) everywhere except north of the Bombays .. Course I’m sure the Jafa’s have some choice words for anyone South of the
But now I digress …
Last Monday Auckland Lost their electricity and the
The Sunday night before I found out about the south island having problems. I was due to fly to
Not me … I wait 3 hours for a flight up to Auckland ... When I get there I have voice messages telling me not to try and get into Auckland Central ...An power blackout has caused Chaos with businesses and buildings in darkness and all street traffic lights out......I'm told to go back home ..... So thats what I did ...Walked from one airline to another queued for an hour to get my flight time changed while also berating my travel agent for not trying hard enough ...She got a flight for me about 6 people before the ticketing counter after an hours queuing .... And then caught a vey bumpy flight back to wellington .....
We didn't land the first pass .... having slid and skewed and bumped our way to the runway we over shot it and the pilot had to throttle up the engines and get us out of there !!! That does heaps for the old bodily functions I can tell you ...... "The wind change is right over the runway" we are told ...... "So we'll circle here for a few minutes till it's done its thing and try it again" the pilot tells us .....
Oh Joy !! We are all thinking .......
Holday Snaps ....... I love Markets :O)
This is Taro ..A white root crop bit like a lite potato ....
Thats Sugar cane in the foreground
These contained fish ..Big ones like baracuda etc
