[Diny]

Today our fridge gets delivered !!!!

I have absolutely no idea why we're buying one at this stage. Leaving the food out on the 'counter top' is adequate to keep things from going off !!! Cold house? Just a little yes.

I'm afraid I've had to strike one of the great Kiwi institutions off my list. Yesterday I went to Pak n Save. Usually I'll wave the banner for this particular grocery store but after yesterdays visit I feel it will be a while before I venture that way again. For those of you who've never crossed the threshold of this 'megga store' let me fill you in with a few details. It definately adopts the 'stack them high sell them cheap' maxim (which in my book isn't a bad thing). They certainly don't spend much cash on the presentation (there again - not such a bad thing). However, I ventured into the Palmerston North branch yesterday and quite frankly I found the whole experience nothing more than confusing. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the place, no continuity and I still can't fathom out why they were displaying baseball caps amongs the pasta sauces (and no - they weren't some kind of promotion). Of course there were the half dozen obligatory sparrows flitting around and a liberal sprinkling of bare footed, dirty urchins. I couldn't find what I wanted and got totally cheesed off with the whole process. I bought a pack of chicken fillets, some spuds, a green onion dip and a bag of sugar !!!! Hey hey hey ..... big feasts in the Norrie household. Wonder what the guys on Ready Steady Cook would make of that?

Not writing off Pak n Save totally but I can't see myself visiting the Palmerston North branch again too soon.

On a more enjoyable note, we went to have a look around the boys school yesterday. Have to say I'm very impressed !!!!! It's an old building but the general upkeep is very good. I know this isn't the most important thing but it was my first impression as I entered the place so I thought I'd mention it first. We had a long chat with the head mistress who answered all our questions and gave us an overload of info. We were introduced to alot of the staff, especially the boys new teachers. Both of them have male teachers - something which is completely new to them. I must admit to doing a double take at how young they seem - but I'm painfully aware that it's not them who are young - it's me who's getting abit long in the tooth :(

We were shown around the school saw all the facilities on offer. Coming from a very small village school with just over 60 pupils to a school with over 300 was quite an eye opener - not in a bad way - just totally different that's all. Had to smile at the lines of shoes outside the classrooms (outdoor shoes not allowed inside during winter). At playtime several of the kids went out to play without putting them back on ...... middle of winter and kids running around the playground barefoot .... most odd.

We have been invited to a dance demonstration which is being put on by the school this afternoon at 2 o'clock. Tomorrow morning the boys are going in for a couple of hours just to get the feel of the place and then they start full time on Monday morning. Although there's a certain degree of nerves, they're both looking forward to it. Since the school visit their moods have lifted, they were starting to feel very lonely and abit 'lost' with no friends here and nothing to do other than follow us around as we get things sorted. I have a huge lump in my throat as it's going to be 'first day nerves' for me too.

We've had a load of wood delivered which cost $60. Abit on the steep side but it's difficult to get dry seasoned wood at this time of the year. The chap who delivered it - a man called Barry - was a nice enough guy but I wasn't suprised to see a banjo in his wagon (joke) ..... the NW crew will understand what I mean by that comment. He was straight out of the woods !!!!!!

This morning we're going to go and have a look at a couple of houses which are being built in Ashhurst. I always fancied buying an older style Colonial Villa, but now we're in one that desire is fading fast. The idea of a brand new brick built beauty is more than appealing.

Now it's time to go and light the wood burner and turn off the electric heater that's been ticking over all night. Stuff the cost of electricity ..... my warmth is worth every penny.

Diny

P.S Jan & Jo .... have seen alot of scrap booking stuff in both the Warehouse and K-Mart so you'll have no worries carrying on your hobby over here. There's heaps of craft shops about too ...... it seems to be big business over here.

[StevieD]

Hiya ol' girl, nice to see you getting on now you landed in the land of the long white cloud. Kieran and Louisa say hi to the boys. Jan and I had a lil' bit of a boozy weekend at Jo's, obviously discussed everything under the sun. Were your ears burning? They could have warmed you up in that cold house! :laugh And here were we, sitting in sunny Wigan, watching Ian slaving over a hot barbie and having a few beers. Couldn't help thinking that it will be nice to have a good ol' game of rounders, none of that namby pamby cricket stuff.......

Keep the updates coming. See you soon.

Steve and the nutty gang.

[StevieD]

Diny, sorry but Steve missed the bottom bit of the post before he got excited and posted a reply! Thanks for that bit of info bout the scrapbooking stuff. Good to know that :nice1

Was the wood guy from Dannevirke??? :laugh

Jan

[jo b]

Wayhey scrapbooking that's it book my ticket now.

I have to say Jan has a lot to answer re the scrap booking ;)

Diny

you never cease to amaze me to put bits of humour even in the face of adversity "That's my kinda gal". i.e the fridge comment.

Glad to see you are coming around to the new build idea. I didn;t want to say anything but glad you have realise that comfort and warmth are sometimes better than food!!!!

Have you had chance to time the trip from Ashurst to D'virke yet :mrgreen:

Take care I am getting bloody depressed if this house doesn't seel soon I don;t know what I am going to do. I don;t fancy being a single parent for a while I can tell you.

Give my love to Mark and the boys and wish them well for there first day.

Jo & Ian

[selchie]

The idea of a brand new brick built beauty is more than appealing.
I hope NZ's building code ensures that it will be earthquake safe. Falling masonry is no fun.

[ruthyroo]

Ha ha building legislation in NZ is only just getting round to the idea that buildings really should keep water out, never mind cope with earthquakes!!

Diny - loved your post. You listed so many of the perception / reality wake up calls that we all get on arrival in NZ. Like bare footed kids implies innocence, warm weather, lack of label trainer madness etc when you hear about it in the UK - nope! It means poverty, dirty feet, and is usually paired up with a dirty, hand me down adult t-shirt and a very runny nose. And Pak n Save - I've decided that it is only bearable if I can get there any day except benefits days, which must be a Thursday around here, and only shop from about two aisles, avoiding all the additive-heavy crap in the middle. Oh and the wine section is worth a visit! there is definitely variation between the branches - while Rotorua's is basically pretty rubbish, the Tauranga one had.... fresh duck at the deli counter... and was the only place I've been able to buy proscuitto since arriving here. And it was much cleaner too.

Heard a kiwi building friend recently laughing about immigrants buying up old villas for about $200K - and then having to spend at least the same again to get them liveable. Most kiwis I have met would go for the new build option any day.

Hope the boys settle well to school - and you learn your way around PnS!

[veronica]

hiya diny and mark, have to agree about the fridge, we didn't buy one for the first 2 months we lived over the warehouse, just left the stuff on a shelf downstairs. there was an article in the paper on a survey done on student acom. in dunedin, apparently the temp of the flats was colder than the inside of the fridges. :uhoh
on older houses, if you can get them cheap enough and have the time to renovate them, ie insulate them they should be ok, but with new its all
done for you.
once you have been to any supermarket a few times you find your way around, they do have helpfull signs up on the end of the aisles telling you whats down them but i have to admit that sometimes their designation of things isnt what i would expect. Pac and sav isn't my fav either as i find the choice too limited.
hope it all goes right for the boys on monday.

[Glenda]

Hi Diny,

Great post!

I'm sure the boys will be OK at school. The three I have got into school seem to like it after three days. My daughter, however, is a little put off by the 'laid back' attitude - she says she has to bite her tongue not to tell the other kids to behave and tell the teacher to do her job properly!!! :eek

That fridge will become useful, when ant season arrives. :roll: Just a thought ... you could have a brand new house built in the colonial villa style.

:smile

[jubjub]

Hope the kids have a good first day, male teachers are a bit unusual, when i was doing my training, out of 60 there were just three blokes. Maybe its different over here?

Hope you can find a house you like to buy. Dont worry about an extra fridge, it will come in handy for summer for storing all the wine and beer in :cheers .

Brick v wood houses, I cant believe the difference in temperature between our rental and our own house, our rental was entirely wood, whereas this one is about 70% brick, then wood, and it is soo much warmer, we had NO heating on yesterday at all.

Pak n Save, it can be a bit odd, but I think I like it, although just having to get used to a new one is not much fun, why cant they lay them all out the same!!!! I think we have been lucky though, the ones we used are both new, and if you dont go on a Saturday they are not too busy. Not seen any sparrows yet though, maybe I am just too lazy to get up early enough for that. Still shop at other places as well though just to get some more "exotic" stuff. enjoy your chicken!

[veronica]

hey Ruthyroo, its not like that down here with the barefoot kids. most of them in the schools I have visited are from normal backgrounds but as they are allowed to really play out in the field/playground they get pretty muddy and its for the schools sake they take their shoes off. Think it might pay you to consider moving out of Rotaroua and living somewhere else in NZ for a bit. They need planners down here in Chch too, especially some with a sense of humour!!

Regarding the wood v brick debate......its not the ouside material that makes the house warm, its whats put in the floors, walls and ceilings. Most of the houses in Canada and the alps are timber, and they are really warm because they are properly insulated and double glazed, thats whats lacking here. We are in the middle of transforming a tin double garage into a sleepout with more than full spec insulation and double glazed patio doors (ranch sliders here) and will let you know if our theory works. I just know that I have never been so cold inside a house as I have here, thankgoodness for hotwater bottles.

[ruthyroo]

Veronica, you are very right. When we first told people we were moving to Rotorua, one wise old bird who'd lived in NZ for some time told us "don't judge the rest of NZ by what find in Rotorua - it's not all like that"... which was useful to know but might have been more so if we hadn't already accepted jobs etc here! We are planning an escape to the SI asap - hopefully Dunedin - as soon as the school year ends.

The PnS comments reminded me of something my sister said when she visited... I'd already taken her to PnS and she didn't say much but I could tell she wasn't much impressed... then I was saying to her that I would take her to Countdown instead - it's a bitmore like Saisburys or Tescos, rather than Kwiksave... her response? "Oh you mean people actually bother to wear shoes to Countdown then?" !!! Miaow!!

[Miffy]

I HATE pack n save !!!!!!
Yes the prices re slightly cheaper but the thing that really winds me up is the check out.

Now I'm used to packing my own bags once they have gone through the till, pretty much common practice in the supermarkets back in the UK so its not that but the check chick once bleeped through puts the stuf back in the trooly (err I mean trundler) then once paid I then go over to some shelves and then have to re-pack everything.
I tried grabbing the food from the check out chick and putting it straight into the bags but I was told :we are not allowed to do that" and "customers aren't allowed to pack at the till its company policy..."
why?

why?


how dumb is that ?



AHHHHHHH you see I'm all wound up about just talking about it !!!!!! http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/sauer/angry-smiley-042.gif http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/sauer/angry-smiley-052.gif

http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/sauer/angry-smiley-052.gif




considering its only a few dollars in it I prefer to take my custom and money to New World, which I think has nicer food, better selection, a packer girl (or boy) on each till AND fly buys :smile

* Haven't seen any birds / sparrows etc in the dunedin PnS *

[veronica]

We've always packed our bags at the checkout at P&S, never had a problem. was under the impression that as long as you didn't slow them down it was fine. or maybe I look sooo scarey they dont like to argue with me :mrgreen:

[nickchilli]

The idea of a brand new brick built beauty is more than appealing.
I hope NZ's building code ensures that it will be earthquake safe. Falling masonry is no fun.

nz building code is ridiculously over the top with shake rules and regs, the brickwork is but a veneer , and it surrounds timber framing, bound together with straps etc

welcome to palmy diny , there is a good chance i worked on the house as there is only a handful of bricklayers in town of which im one .
should get a shake soon as we have not had one for a while ;)

p.s have you had a butchers at the windfarm yet?

[Carol]

Never bother with the terrible P&S now......and Countdown is worse!!

Ah Diny.......
tonight we went to see Jennie and Rob after school......
Took the boys with me - who, after stuffing their faces with doughnuts went to the beach for half an hour to work it off.
Nothing unusual in that - except it was HAMMERING down with rain.
They were soaked!

So half an hour later .....
Off we went to the "world famous in Porirua" Aladdins for a kebab.
Thursday night being takeaway night and all....

Jumped out of the car to walk across to the shop.
Out hops Craig - no shoes or socks - still in the pouring rain and now it was dark too!!
Saunters over to kebab shop to choose what he wanted - sauntered back -could have been walking around his bedroom!!


Made me laugh somewhat!!

[Mildred]

I detest wearing shoes and slippers. Can't wait to join the bare foot brigade - will have to work on the snotty nose bit first.

Haven't seen any birds / sparrows etc in the dunedin PnS *


You don't need to go to NZ to see them. Just visit my Broadstairs Asda and you will see plenty of sparrows flying around. The only thing is Asda refuse to provide an opening panel in the roof space to let the poor things out again. Once a month a man with a gun comes in and shoots them!

Hope the boys enjoy school - think of all that spare time you'll have on your hands Diny :laugh

[Paul and Linda]

Hi Diny,
What's this, talk of buying in PN now! Looks like we could be neighbours. We're looking at PN and Feilding as I have 2 applications on the go at the moment, one at the university and one with the council.

Could you help us out with some contacts for rentals? Any joy on the car buying front yet?

Our kids would love to be barefoot at school, they're like a couple of little hobbits!

All the best,

Paul

[Nicola]

Diny

Keep us posted on how the boys get on at school. My youngest will be moving from a school of 9 boys in the wilds of Northumberland to a school of about 250 in about 6 weeks time. I would value any tips you have in settleing them in.

Nicola

[Simon & Emily]

Hi Diny,

Thanks for taking the time to post such an interesting thread. For those of us still at home it's really nice to hear how 'old friends' are doing once they have finally set off.

Good luck with the boys starting school - my son also currently attends a school of about 80 children, and so a larger school may well be more intimidating to start with for him too. I'm sure they will take to it like ducks to water though - it'll be you and Mark who suffer ;) Don't knock the removal of shoes - we also do it here (but they do wear soft black daps inside) to try to stop the spread of mud into the playing areas. But the socks are filthy each day .......

All the best to you all,

Emily

[Diny]

Thanks for the replies folks. I have to admit to feeling quite homesick at the moment so words from home are great.

Paul .... give me a day or 2 to get sorted and I'll send you as much info as I can regarding rental companies etc.

PN is a great place, big enough to make shopping entertaining but small enough to have that country town feel about it. Fielding is great too. I would love to buy a place there but it's just that little bit too far from where we want the boys to go to school.

The boys are going into school this morning for 2 hours - I'm all churned up about it and getting abit weepy - they're well excited and they think I'm a whimp :eek We went into school to watch a dance demo put on by the kids yesterday, it was great - such a happy atmosphere.

Just something that my boys have said which may be of interest to those of you with young kids starting school over here. Because the kids don't wear uniforms it's all very casual. I was abit 'so so' about this but my boys reckon it makes it feel like more of a 'youth club' atmosphere rather than school ...... in turn this is making the whole starting off thing a more relaxed experience for them.

Oh yeah ....... just something that Fergie said the other day. We were walking around Woolworths when he said ....'Mum - the girls over here are abit rough aren't they'................. from the mouths of babes.

Diny

[Paul and Linda]

Thanks Diny,

it's raining here

it's cold

and the future does not look bright.

Enjoy your new home.

Paul