On This Day Dec 30

29th	30th	31st
1965	Steve and I went to Zimmerman's to jam (acoustic guitar and me on bongos) mostly doing "House of the Rising Sun". Walked Debbie home and asked her to go to the NY Eve party with me.	Zimm
1969	Hawaii: Details in Peace Corps Journal.
1970	Yagona in the engineers' hut until lights out.
1971	Steve called from Chicago. Gail and I bowled at Stadium Lanes with a drunken Kincy (Angi and Tom didn't come because they have split up). Threw a strike on my first ball and ended up with 193.
1972	Hayson's at 2PM to invite them over and ended up playing billiards until 5:30PM. They came at 9PM. Brian taped "Seasons' album while we played 500 until 1AM.
1973	Called Paul to tell him about his "Jennie Lee" mistake [ed. - by "Jan and Arnie" not "Jan and Dean"]. Gail fainted at store. Mariasoucce's over for a chat while eating shellfish and downing 7 bottles of beer.
1975	David slept from Samoa to Nadi, arriving there at 11AM. Air Pacific didn't have our reservations. We washed up and changed clothes and waited until a plane showed up. Gail and I had to be weighed before going onto the trislander. David enthralled for the whole 45 minutes, as you actually "feel" the flight as the plane bounced around. Ian was waiting for us at Nausori. We made it but our luggage didn't. Well, it did, but was locked in an office? Went to Suva so Gail could buy diapers. Ran into Lu and met her husband Pita. Went to Doug McKeating's and found out that the Hunts live next door, so I went over and surprised Lyn. Picked up Susi and Domo and went to QVS for our first sleep on a waterbed.	Nadi Interior Rewa River
1976	Heather visited. Mike picked up the ali baba basket.
1977	F - Gave Mom a tour of Papakura. An evening of listening to Mom's stories. Te has attached himself to her like a leech.
1978	Sa - Chris Scott arrived (from Fiji) at 4PM and stayed the night. He brought along a couple bottles of Woody's orange flavoured homebrew "wine" that we sampled.
1981	W - Stroms over at 5:30PM. Kids played with the train set. Tom called to say there was a blowup, but I refused to go in. After a meal we surprized them when we gave them gifts.
1982	Th - Dr Roberts said right ear looked good (it hurts) but there is an infection in my left one (it doesn't hurt) [ed. - this pattern would repeat into the future] so antibiotics and codeine.
1983	F - Rolling Stone for Mary Doyle's farewell. Rode with Chris in Steiner's Blazer and back in Schauer's Fuega. Chris put away 5 beers during the hour we there. Owner gave each of us a coin purse. Mehus had his 6 month review and told me that Chuck felt I was doing System Programmer Analyst work. Letter from White & Wilson and they still don't understand. Colored with Ne. Watched Carson: tape.
1986	T - Cards from Lamorna and the Bensons. Cards and letters from Leland and Swanson. Aldersons came - they had left all their Christmas gifts here. I showed Doug a "The Young Ones" episode and he loved it. Lees boys came to sleep over but Ben went home over a minor dispute.	Swansons
1987	Ne's bank and was helped by Tricia Hunter whom I taught in 5th form many years ago. PSIS to return Gail's dud camera and get a juicer. HUB in Takanini to find out that a queen size mattress will cost $700, but the factory is closed for 3 weeks. Completed first coat of white onto the roof fiberlite siding. Watched Splash then Ferris Buller's Day Off. Tom called to say that they will stay 3 weeks and give Australia a miss.
1988	Big torrential downpour in Auckland causing many problems including closing of highways. We only got rain. Hunua flooded - main water line to Auckland burst leaving Papakura without water and 20 families evacuated. Went ashore and walked up to Stoney Batter, left over from WWII. Rain sent Simon back, we gave Fran our umbrella. Explored many tunnels and stairways and found a couple gun turrets. Rain turned heavy and we decided to return back through the tunnels. Needed flashlights as it got very dark outside. Chris swam to boat to get Simon and the dinghy. After hot dogs and sauerkraut we played Uno. First time for Breezes. Mussell boat came by and we bought a sack of them that Gail made up with garlic butter. Ne used them as bait and caught a couple big herring. David's Aussie hat is not waterproof and it bled in the rain turning his neck green. Read The Inner Wheel by Keith Roberts.	Simon herring more photos
1989	Leszeks' - looked through a Polish cookbook, had a mince meat wrapped in cabbage meal (Babich chardonnay) around a very small table. Drank Polish vodka (gave me the bottle to finish off) while we played Wheel of Fortune. LPK so serious about choosing his letters. Christina came over - she still speaks no English.
1990	Bette brought over a cake, muffins and "our" Christmas card that Gail had sent her. Gail called and seemed happier. Card from Neil C.
1991	Card from Benson. Maraetai at 3PM and floated in tubes for an hour. We were joined by Whites who had gone to Kawakawa by mistake. Had a barbecue under the trees and then it was beach cricket. That ended when David got a fishhook in his hand. Stopped for ice cream in Clevedon. They stopped in for a coffee. Jackie entertained us with magic tricks. Ne has a NKOTB wall.
1992	Here is a typical day's activities: work on house (interior/exterior), prune/make firewood, weed, compost, weed veggies, work on a vehicle, do next activity in garden book, harvest veggie/fruit, sweep, clean garage/shed, water (lawn, garden, trees), remove mould, repair fences, read...
1993	Trish came to say goodbye to Dad who was nervous about getting to the airport on time. We had to remove beer from his suitcase and I noticed the wine bottle was out of it box, so worried what damage might be done on the flights. Stopped at Manukau City on the way back where I bought a R'nR Trivia book. Ran into Bob Lawton and lost Gail. Found a Jarts-type game and bought a couple for Whites and Aldies. Letter, video, card and photos from Mom. Card and photos (day of wedding to Doug) from Signe. Card and photo from Jim F. Card from Eliason, Card from Angi, Card from Lesser. Played croquette - regular, then soccer style (kick) and marbles style (rolling). Doug over for Rock Fever.	Signe & girls Fishers
1994	Test drove a '90 Toyota Starlet in Takanini - not impressed. They offered $1500 for the Mitsubishi. Transplanted cherry tomatoes. Van repaired, so biked over and paid $1648 for the rebuilt tranny. Tried to put bunk together - a couple bolts had no threads.
1995	Sa - Letter, card, Max (Goofy's son) toy, pens for the kids and a tree decoration for Gail from Inez. Card from Gutzke. Card and letter from Hartmann. Doug and David were at Rainbow's End for 9 hours and gave the girls a ride home.	T and J
1997	T - Brought Ne to work and returned van radio to Warehouse. As I was going out I said "Nice Bola" to a Fijian and we spoke awhile. Picked up Fab and met Cecilia at MCC. Takanini Gift shop where Ceci bought $257 of NZ gifts. Her host family's house had been burgaled and she had lost all the gifts she had accumulated over the year. Her credit card wouldn't work, so I paid. Back to MCC where we ran into David and then Mohammad (night class student) and his family. He is now a plastic surgeon in Hamilton and his wife also works there. They drive up to Papakura on weekends to be with his mother and kids who go to Rosehill. Dropped Ceci off at her place in Manurewa and Fab came home with me. She played cards with Gail until Laure got back from Auckland. We had chili for supper. Canasta with Fab and Laure until Sanders came for a two hour visit (Lia is living with Tim Townshend). Made everyone try a pirassununga. Willie brought Ne home from work and they joined the party. Once we finished a bottle of wine we had Laure's lemon cake and coffee. When Ne and Willie got back from looking at "our house" in Waiuku and he left the girls had a gab fest. Laure claimed it was love at first sight and she wants Willie. Card from Chris.	Cecilia Fab-Laure
1998	W - Letter, photo and card from Roxane. Did a long length lap for the first time. email from Ong in Picton.
1999	Th - Goofy card from Chris. Card from Eliason. Went surfing with Senad and Titania - not much power but I got my ten rides. They stayed for supper and we taught them cribbage. Skunked Gail. Doug over for R'nR TP.
2001	Called Lavonne to wish her a "Happy". Spoke to dad for an hour catching up on this and that and trying to understand exchange rates. Cleaned salt cell (take it apart, waterblast the precipitate from the mesh, soak it in acid, blast, repeat until done). Was going to replace security light bulb when whole thing dislodged, so spent some time building and putting up a more secure base. Read Faulkner's "Barn Burning".
2002	Big time mail delivery: calendar and placemats from Yukiko. Card and letters from Shranko, Elbers and Libby. Janet W. sent a letter with photos from Krohn reunion. Waiuku Travel to wait 30 minutes for vouchers to be readied, so I had a chance to do some novel reading. Takanini to have pool water tested and get chemicals. Farmer's to get a pair of faded blue Chisel shorts. Emery's for a cup of tea and loaded van with their bed and dressor for delivery to Mangakino. Ian and kids over for a swim and I joined them. Got the rules for British Billiards and taught David the game.
2003	Box from Chris - Goofy Viking Bobblehead. Ne returned from Needhams. Card from Eliason and a card with letter from Gutzke. Gail picked up Bob and Elaine from the airport in the evening. email from a socked-out Chrissy. Let Ne open the gifts from mini-Whites - a solar lamp and a plastic parakeet.
2004	email from Phil (who has fallen in love). Ne back to Jordan's for 10 days this time. But TV blew and she can't get onto the net, so I went out there to help but couldn't. Watched Sol Goode. Read Virgin by Mary Elizabeth Murphy.
2005	Gail and I rushed up to Awhitu to arrive in time for the wedding (invitation, only to wait an hour for the ceremony on the beach. Karen, a teacher from St Cuthbert's, was the celebrant for the fairies soap-bubbled wedding of Sophie and Luke. weak rendition of "All You Need is Love" by the assemblage. Grant played trombone while signing took place. While the photo sessions were going on we were approached by this stunning woman who chats me up, eh? Turned out to be Julie, Adam, and their BMX-ing Cody. Penny looked like wicked witch of the west, smokinga fag. Didn't recognize her at all. Mad dash to Castaways where I quizzed Grant, the trombone player, about his craft. We sat with Brian McD (he regaled us with stories of his stays in Montana and he will be working at uni there in 2007) and his Mary, Eion (EZ) Young (race car journalist from CHCH) and Clare Kaverman (Judith's sister) who was a flatmate with Mike. Leighton looking quite a bit like Leroy F. Left when the music began. Chatted with Senad who is teaching English in Korea. Birthday card and letter from Inez.	Mrs/Mr
2006	Cards from Chris and Donna Mae. email and photo from Steve Newstrom (in Montana doing opals website) - 20 years since I last heard from him. Skunked Gail. Made a card for Sophie and Luke. Had a look at Steph's computer.	Steve-Trev
2007	Mike Hickford fell, fractured skull and is in Middlemore, again. Gail skunked me. Trish and David (now working in a kennel) came. Drinks outside while catching up. After a light meal we had baba cake then gifts. I was given a Goofy bag, comics and a couple cards. Outside for photos, traditional and non-traditional. Watched Shrek 2.
2008	Roché, Julian and Justine came for a visit with a lovely floral display. Got them out to the paddock and played Jarts. Gail completed embroidering Goofy onto my Christmas sock.
2009	W - Card from Bells. Newsy called. Watched National Treasure.
2010	Th - Card, letter and photos from Noriyo. Gail went to see Paul in Midddlemore and ran into Kathy Millar because David was gored by a bull (it made national news). Ian over for three games of Dominion which I won!	Ubukatas
2011	F - Card and newsletter from Fred. Card, note and newsletter from Eliason. Watched 8 Simple Rules.
2012	Su - Finished removing wallpaper from master bedroom at 3B. emails from Kathy S and Teri. Split cribbage games. Finished reading The Sound of the City.
2013	M - Almost skunked Gail three times. ecard from Joan F-R. ecard from Wandersee. Photo from Gutzke.
2014	T - Gail and Ann walked around the Mount. Card and letter from Les. Card and letter from Lori. Card and letter from Eliason. Had a very good Jacob's Creek 2012 Cab Sav with hamburgers. Couple games of 8 Min Empire.
2015	W - Finished reading A Man in Full. Yardwork. Card from Chris. Card from Les. Card from Hartmann. Watched The Imitation Game.
2016	F - Card from Signe. Card and letter from Angi. Card and letter from Eliason. Card and photo from Inez. Yardwork. Skunked Gail. Watched The 5th Element. email and photo from Wilkins.
2017	Sa - After supper 3B to do the usual yardwork then wash back patio gutters and overhang. Built a wall that I put against back fence under the clothesline, thereby getting rid of the misc bricks, pavers and concrete piece creating a barrier. Then I filled the newly created area with remains of the weeds in the giant bag that had turned into dirt. Muppet had a good time chowing a dead bird. Fed Tessa and got home at 9:30PM. Had a $21 Lotto win.
2018	Su - 70 minute walk (beach and 4 flights). Terraforming Mars. Watched Winter's Tale.
2020	W - 80 minute walk to Concord. First swim in a long time. 10 lifting barbells, 15 min on the bike and then 3 lengths in the pool, which pleased me as I thought I'd be lucky to do one. Exchanged emails with ICW with photos of Lusi's wedding, including one of me!
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