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Dec 31st 1st 2nd
1959 Boulevard Twins Restaurant on Lyndale after dinner for malts.
1960 New Year's eve party found us up until 2AM playing Winner Spinner, Sleeping Beauty, (I won - does that make me Prince Charming?) and "Annie Oakley". I went to Bill's (later known as PikQuik) for groceries on the corner of 66th and 15th about a three block distance. Built an igloo. Kincy, Signe, Lynn and I went sliding at Art's [ed - big hole in a vacant lot behind Fair's - see map]. Worked on my spelling [ed - always finished all spelling book exercises during Christmas holidays].
Bill's

Sleeping
1961 Dad came home 5 after midnight. Chris lasted until 1:45AM and I stayed up listening to records until 5AM. Perkins Pancake House for lunch and then Bridgeman's for dessert.
1962 M - Listened to "KDWB Channel 63. 63, that's easy to remember" (was a rock station).
1963 Stayed the night at Steve's - breakfast served in bed by Karen. Set up my basement room at new Bloomington place. Found out it is on a party-line!!
1969 Teri and I went tobaganning at Wirth Park with Chris, Darrell Johnson, Janey, Bob S, Jim M, Les, Don & Shelby and Chuck & Patty.
1970 Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. Supper at Rachel Sato's. Ito's for cards. Details in Peace Corps Journal.
1971 Epeli and Murph came to get me, as I got into the car I poured water down Epeli's back and threw the rest into the back seat over Murph. Buffet lunch at Murphy's. Marika cut his head diving into the river - Epeli and Eric brought him to Lodoni to get stitches. When Ian came to wish Murphy "Happy New Year" Trish poured a bucket of water over him in retaliation for last night. Had a nap until girls woke me needing water for their fight with Lenatis.
Marika
1972 I repaired mom's car - lights, accelerator peddle and arm rest - washed the windows in warm 32°F. Gail and I went to Newstroms'. Gene has a gotié, Missy looking old. I didn't recognize Julie (tall), or Bill Breth (6' and 300lbs) or Janice Breth. Looked at my slides and some of Steve's.
1973 Whites for supper. Played Last Card with Osea, Mela's husband.
1975 Outside to get photos of Ian and Ranadi and she got me with a bucket of water - doused. Went to Central School and then Rosehill where the caretaker, Bob McLaughlin, rambled on and on. Went via bus and using a map to find Kleinsmith's mansion in Epsom. Had a beer on the verandah. Left Ranadi there and Ian came back with us. Gurmit and his wife, Iana, dropped in from Hamilton with a friend from Fiji, Suresh and her brother, Tui. Played snooker and billiards with Ian until 1AM.

1976 Walked to the Tuck Shop to get toilet paper and hot peas. Ran into Marika Waqa. Spent the afternoon playing bridge. Ian spends his free time working on a relief map of Viti Levu, using styrofoam. Watched "Vision America" films in the evening.
1978 Su - Glenbrook Steam Train - rode on it (ticket). Noisy and filthy with the black smoke coming inside carriage. Continued out to Waiuku and went through the museum there. Aldies over to play with David's race cars, "Tracks", and then played a game of Po-Ke-No.
1979 Ran into Doug, mother and Helen in Papakura on our way to Sal and Chendrah's in Manurewa. Gail had trouble finding first in the car and we had trouble finding their house. Lovely back yard. Chicken curry meal, cooked by Chen, and played cards.
1981 Th - Caretaker finally fixed the hot water heater which kept going off since we moved in. David and I walked in cold wind to pay rent and took the "circuit" home finding 7 cans. Sent in 25 Snickers wrappers for a $2 refund. Watched a simul-cast on TV with KQRS-FM giving stereo sound.
1983 Sa - Put letters from Santa into mailbox (David's). Met Dad and Lavonne at Roseville where we treated them to E.T. and pizza at Shakey's where the kids played Ms PAC-MAN and watched cartoons. David and I put together the blacksmith shop for his western town.
1985 T - Saw "Supergirl", which we all liked (trailer). Not up to the Superman movies but we only paid $1 each to see it. Stayed up to tape "The Honeymooners", on WFTC 29.
1986 W - Totara Park with Clarks. Went for a walk on a trail. Then lunch - a picnic with no utensils, including no corkscrew for the wine. A quiche that I could hardly get down and organic potatoe chips that were terrible. David was pashing Sophie while women went for a swim. Let the kids hit cricket ball for a while but we had to rush home at 4:30PM to be there for the Breezes. Played putt putt, had a sweet Montana Bernadino Spumante with meal and then Trivial Pursuit with liqueurs in little chocolate cups. They told us about all the hassles they are having trying to get into P-New Guinea.
1987 Paid Ne $1 to clear out everything from under the house. Plenty of long, large pieces of lumber, inorganic junk, firewood and garden stakes. Tried Poleconomy and everyone seemed to like it.
1988 Went to beach a between Duder's and Maraetai at 4:30PM to catch high tide at 6:30PM. Big wind so Ne and Gail didn't stay out too long in the canoe. David and I went way out and caught rides on big waves for about half an hour. Kids went out on the pontoon and Gail had a swim. Tossed frisbee.
1989 Swam to shore, using innertube, through human waste. David and Ne went via the rubber boat. Our bay was sheltered compared to the ravaged waters on the other side. Found transparent blue Portuguese Man-o-War jellyfish on shore. Simon spoke to some people and we took off for the boat as fast as we could. Ne swam back - almost lost David when wind caught the rubber boat. We were the last boat to leave the bay and got out just as the wind changed and things got rough. Went around Ponui Island to west side and pulled into a bay that had around 60 boats. Played Uno. Beat Ne in backgammon. see photos
1993 F - Tracy, Jackie and Matt dropped off as Ian leaves for Fiji tomorrow to join Susi. His radiator has a hole, so we topped it up and sent him off with a container of water. First time to TP for us - at Paul's, and met Pam, Bev and Bert.
1995 Ne and I picked up Steve and family from airport Travel Lodge. Spent day visiting and looking at photos. Played legos and dominoes with Rachel before getting her onto "Goblins" on computer.
1996 M - Surfing in late afternoon (David and Matt just bobbed). Gentle waves with long rides. Had supper at Whites. Susi went off grogging and the rest of us played Cluedo.
1997 Went surfing. Very crowded and many yahoos. Water cold and waves not that great. Waited at New World to give Matthew a ride home only to find out that he was already there. Gail and I played cribbage there and waited until 7:30PM when Ian got home. Susi was out. Played HeadBandz.
1998 Th - Fab came to get her things and a final "goodbye". Doug over for RnR TP.
1999 Brought Ian to Paul's for TP group barbecue (very good '97 Coopers Creek Pinot Noir and Gallo red).
2000 Whites over for a swim.
2002 Gail and I went to Ann and Russell's to meet his daughter Katherine, husband Alistair, 2 yr old son James and baby Grace. Had a barbecue meal outside and then off to Auckland train depot to load up van with rocks.
2003 Whites and Domos over for swim (video - me on slide). Gail and I went to Needhams for a sweetish Villa Maria '01 Riesling on the porch, a sweet McGuigan '01 Sauvignon Blanc with a turkey dinner and an even sweeter Pieroth German '97 Müller-Thurgau for dessert. Bob repaired my bed railing and I fixed a Publisher data sheet layout for him in exchange.

2004 Gail and I went to Clarks for a visit. Charlotte has 3 day old chicks to show off and Alex has a duckling that they found on the motorway. Had an Ata Rangi (Wairarapa) rosé to start then the '99 Chilean cab-sav (Mont Gras) that was very full bodied to match the rack of lamb meal. And finally a fruity Delegates '02 cab-merlot. They gave us a Georgia O'Keefe calendar.
2007 Gail and I went to Needhams' for a meal with a fantastic Villa Maria 2006 Pinot Gris. Bob is getting around very slowly with a walker.
2008 Elaine's for a turkey meal. Earlier Elaine had told Roger that one of their cats was missing. So they rushed home and then basically accused Elaine of locking the cat out when she made changes to the cat-flap. So we had to get out of the house when Roger arrived and we went for a walk along the beach at Orua Bay.
2009 Gail and I went to Elaine's for a New Year's meal. email from Teri and Rene with a photo of the two Bailey swillers. Laps at 11PM under a sky filled with stars.
2011 Sa - Whites came for lineup photo some cricket and then the pool. Jackie and Brad gave out awards for 2010. Gail got one for her easy recovery from the surgery (video).
2015 Th - We went to Nick's place in Katikati for lunch with an excellent Mud House 2013 Pinot Noir. Had a tour of the extremely large house and the two acres. Also finished off a Villa Maria 2013 Merlot/Malbec that was so-so. Ended up chatting for 6 hours and left at 7PM. Noise on car, stopped to check and front tire worn through to fibre. So it was a careful drive home.
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