2024 leading into 2025 ....... Have a good one.

As seems to be usual, we are heading out of 2024, into a new year and travelling through mid December and what has become a bit of a habit - christmas.

To you all, I hope 2024 has been pretty good for you and has left you with some good, fun and happy memories. I also hope that 2025 is going to be a good, fun and happy year with not too many frustrating, upsetting or anxiety provoking times.

This is a bit impersonal I know, sorry about that. If you jot me a note I always plan to reply.

As usual, we're not sending cards or presents. We'll estimate how much doing so will cost and we'll send that and a bit more to Medical Aid for Palestine.

For so many it has been a rough time. Gaza, the refugee and asylum seekers who had attempts to set them alight in the summer riots, desperate people in small boats, the Lebanese and the Sudanese, and many many more, as well as all the floods. It's a funny and shocking old world, innit? Aren't we so lucky to be warm, pretty healthy, generally well fed and not ever so badly educated?

However, I MUST acknowledge that some of us have had a bumpy ride with worrying diagnoses, tragic and catastrophic events as well as sad but inevitable events of life. To you all - I was so sorry and sad to hear of your difficulties and turbulence, but I wish you improvement in how things are.

A few highlights from down here include the Gaza fund raiser which Medical Aid for Palestine with speakers who have all been to the illegally occupied West Bank, a wonderful bass/baritone singer and the Martinborough string quartet. I'll call it a success selling more than all the 130 tickets plus a few extras, ending the night with over $4000.

Ali and I have also organised a weekly Palestine flag waving in the village with a sign saying "toot for Gaza". We get a lot of toots and a few expressions of abuse, including being spat at!! It's all worth while because we have sent a decent amount to Relief Aid (water for Gaza) MSF and MAP. It's kind of important to maintain awareness down here at the bottom of the globe in a wine drinking reservoir.

Fun has been had. Our friend developed a theory that Bollinger tasted different if it came from Sydney duty free, Martinborough or flown at speed from Sainsburys with Ali. A blind tasting actually did prove his theory that Bollinger being warmed up in a container in the Suez Canal and Singapore did it no good. Each bottle was opened using sabrage. (Look it up - but you do it with a sword or cleaver).

Purely out of self interest Ali and I decided that an AED was a good idea for the tennis club. The committee was ambivalent, asked why and then said, "if you must have one you can raise the money yourself; no money from us". We've raised over $4000 for the AED. I hope I won't need it, but it'll be good to have it there when I do need it. Ali was also instrumental in getting one at the local community hall.

It's been a good year for vegetables. We've not bought anything but the exotics, like mushrooms, for ages.

a small lettuce

It's a good job we like fennel, lettuce and cauliflower.

The annual Glamorous Gumboots happened again. The queen and her corgis didn't win.

Coffee Art. I asked for my coffee in a red cup, so I got this! Don't you love fun!

We found this little chap.

It was alpaca shearing time. Turning an alpaca. Just pick her up and throw her over.

We have a coalition government. It seems to be a coalition of johnsonites, Trussers, patel/bravermaners, trumpers with farage thrown into the mix. Gone are the heady days of Jacinda. A Faragian called Seymour wants to rewrite the Treaty of Waitangi so the Maori, indigenous people of the land have reduced rights. It is divisive and utterly racist. You may have seen the amazing young MP leading the haka in parliament. Recently there was a massive march against his bill. It reminded me of brexit marches, Stop the Cuts and anti Israel marches.

Christopher Luxom our PM used to be CEO of Air NZ and in a radio interview he referred to us lot, the electorate as "the customers".

We've had a few wonderful people coming to visit us and add to our happy times. It's now your turn! We'll take you to our very own glow worms!! See you soon.

Another 'high-light' was an evening a few weeks ago when I organised a 'quiz-night' at the local community hall. It was a seriously fun and a moderately well organised shambles, but teams scored points, questions were answered, probably everyone laughed at some stage or other, there was a lot of banter, some frustration and good humoured abuse, prizes were handed out and they've asked me to stand up in front of them for another evening of being humiliated and laughed at! All this was accompanied by beer and barbeque. I need a pianist for the next one to play the piano which has been in the ladies toilet, of course, for years, is out of tune, has some notes that don't work and had mice nesting in it. Elton John will be envious, but I have suitable glasses for the voluntary EJ. (pianists please make yourselves obvious. accommodation provided).

The Glamorous Assistants: Samantha and Anthea.

The hall filling up. Prizes of cauliflowers and limes of course. The winners.

Finding enough tables and chairs was fun!

Ali was the resident Doctor at the local motor bike scramble!!

The Aurora came. Stunning.

We became a bit fed up when we saw that our neighbour had intensively planted the hillsides with pine trees so we decided to compete and plant indigenous trees. The auger was so much fun, once we started there was no stoipping.

Our usual welcoming party when we get back. They always want to know what we've bought and whether we've got a present for them.

Good tasting bread.

One night a local lad decided it would be a good idea to steal a front end loader from the local yard, drive it into the corner of the cafe and try to go away with the ATM. Even though it looks as if it isn't there I don't think he was successful and ended up running down the road empty handed. Poor lad. The post office were good enough to tell us that the post box was "out of commission"!! On the inside of the cafe is a sign saying that the ATM is "out of use". It's not there. We are a bit thick!

This is what farmers around here have for breakfast, apparently.

One of the problems of having such big glass windows is that the birds fly into them. A Shining Cuckoo.

I still get most of the thrills, excitement and frustrations of watching Wigan. I've given up getting up anytime between midnight and 05.00 to watch, but a 08.00 kick off is good. Of course I miss the atmosphere, craic and banter of the terraces and all the good people, just as I do the rest of you that weren't interested in Wigan.

Ali had a really successful trip with Bryanne to celebrate her Mum's 90th birthday! Wow!!

From my best mates and therapists we really really hope and wish you a great 2025, a happy time during the public holidays and that 2024 was pretty good for you.