Back to Months

5th	6th	7th
1965	Holiday Inn bellhop and after a year I got a 20¢ raise and I now make $1.05/hr.
1967	Snowed something terrible but double-dated with Angi and Mike H taking his sister Melanie downtown to watch "Murders' Row" at the State. Bridgeman's. Stayed at their place until 5AM talking. Got stuck in our alley, so I ended up shovelling half a block of snow and ice and spinning from rut to rut to get to the garage at 8:30AM.	typical
1970	Hawaii: Details in Peace Corps Journal.
1971	Jone (Rotuman roommate) and I went to principal's for dinner. Card tricks and played Black Jack.
1974	Up at 4:30AM thanks to Souccé's roosters.
1976	Ian and Susi brought us to the airport. Waited an hour or so before boarding the Air Pacific plane. A lousy Aussie claret on way to Tonga where I got off and bought placemats, wall hanging, Tia Maria and Vandermint for Gail. David was good the whole way. Had a terrible Orlando burgundy with lunch. First off the plane and first to get bags. Had to pay $118 duty on the tuner/amp. Welcomed by Sanders, Heather McGhie and Eilene. Lunch in Sanders back yard. Over to our house. Weeds and grass about 10" high. Fridge was left closed and was mouldy. Picked up the mail and back to Sanders where there was a box of mail. Slept on the livingroom floor.
1977	Trish took the kids for the day. Gail and I went into town and got Ne's passport photo from Photoscope Studios. Bus to Auckland (66¢). Bought a mirror (for bathroom), tools and paint at PSIS. Had a ham steak at Hungry Horse and were only charged for one meal. Looked through International Markets and Builder's building. Consulate to register Renee as a US citizen. Had to wait 2 hours in a stuffy room.
1978	Buried Village, which was fabulous with its giant cottonwoods, trout stream, sheep and waterfalls. From there to the Agrodome in Rotorua where we watched a show about sheep. Kids went up on the stage afterwards to pet (touch) the stars of the show. Took the wrong road to Tauranga - metal (gravel) road instead of the sealed highway. We had a good meal at "2 Chefs". Stopped at hospital and they told us to go to a medical center (because Gail lost her voice - probably from the sulphur fumes in Rotorua). While waiting for the appointment we went to Marineland at Mt Maunganui where Te fed the birds. Doctor gave Gail a throat spray. Got to Atmores' at Waihi Beach about 6PM. Had drinks and dinner. Gail went to bed early. After I got Ne to nod off (we slept on cots in the garage) I played snooker with Ken and Bruce. Short chat with the women (including Colleen's mother) I went to bed. Couldn't sleep on the cot, so it was the floor.
1979	Sa - David, Moira Green (works at KFC with Gail) and daughters over for a barbeque.
1980	Su - Mrs Dent gave us beans to bring to the Maternity home? Maraetai Beach which was crowded. Listened to to Top 50 of the 70's, the kids played in the sand and Gail had a swim. She picked strawberries on the way home. Brought large dressor to Sanders and stayed for a visit. Went for a two mile run. Gail skunked me twice and I skunked her. Ne: "Where it is?"
1981	T - Tim gave me the big greenie - cleanup all programs. Inch of snow on ground so the kids spent afternoon sledding.
1983	Th - Ice storm - I spun out on Jamaica and went across the median. Turned into a blizzard. My promotion photo up. Left work at 2PM and got Woody from airport. Been 7 years since we were last together. He came to the States to buy a computer for his Finance Dept in Fiji Govt. He gave me a bottle of whisky and banana cake that his mother had made. After Dave finished his PhD he was in Raratonga for UN for a stretch.
1985	Su - I got a snake to try to unblock the backflow from the main drain and a wood block that holds knives [ed - tossed it in 2011]. Picked up a microwave at Best Buy. Town's for Joyce's birthday. Gave her chocolate-mint schnapps and a jewelry case. She gave the kids small wooden jewelry boxes. Had an okay Rossi Chablis with meal. Ne put all the dishes into the dishwasher and thought it was neat.
1986	M - Graeme Joyce started today and he is going to be our Burroughs ET2000 man, so I coordinate between him and Jeff Wilkinson. Since Graeme is in a wheelchair I go up and down the stairs a lot.
1987	Afternoon training Ruth A who was thrown in to take over for Barb Taylor. She lost 3 pages of a document and I was there until 4:30PM trying to recover it. Thinned the thousands of pears on that one big tree. Round of golf with kids. Trish and James visited. Put a rope on Cabbie to keep him from chasing Ginger. Monte grabbed hold and took him for a walk.
1988	Gail brought kids with Dwayne and Tracy to Shakespeare Regional Park for a few days camping. Made a birthday card for Diane H.
1989	Postcard from Steve in Cayman Islands. Got "Sport Goofy on Vacation" for Matthew who is staying the night.
1990	Called Towns to wish Joyce a "Happy Birthday". First time we have spoken to them in 5 years. Kids had nothing to say and Gail was almost as bad. I tried to cheer things up.
1992	Kario with Ian and Matthew. Good rides on small waves. Three hours on the beach. Found a big hole below the waterfalls being blocked to create a pool, so we mucked around with that. Bridge on White's front lawn. Ian and I could do no wrong.
1994	Whites. Picked up Granny, Ian and Jackie there. Then Matthew and Scott McHenry on the way to Karioitahi. Soft, gentle waves. Only a couple long rides. Played dominoes while snacking. Grand Prix Awards ceremony - Granny working her way into it every chance she got. Celebrated with a Champernay. Couple games of Chinese Checkers.
1995	Brought a load to Aldies and took shots with Doug and Te. TP at Mike's.
1998	T - Surfing with David and Gail, then Whites. After supper we had the Luxemborg Grand Prix. Looked at Ian's slides of his trip to Scotland.
1999	W - Ran into Faruk at recycle center who remembered playing dominoes with me at Whites in 1991. Bob and Elaine Needham came for drinks and a meal (excellent Selaks '95 Sav Blanc). Interesting stories about his ice racing days in Minnesota.
2001	Whites over with an Ian fresh off the plane from his Spain-Scotland-Amsterdam-Hong Kong trip. He gave me a miniature sword from Spain and David sugar cane juice from Hong Kong, which we swapped. We all got into the pool (except for Sally). Then gave Kelsie and Christian gifts which were perfect for the sandbox. We played Boggle after supper.
2003	Gail and I hit the road to Mangakino at 2PM getting in at 5PM. After a tour of the place we unloaded the bed and dressor. Down to Maraetai Lake for some fishing (rudd) as the rowers - single, 4s and 8's - zoomed back and forth. Ann caught her very first fish, a rudd, ever and it was a beauty compare to the small ones that Christopher landed. Back home for a late supper and then a game of Police Alert that goody-two shoes Gail won. I sept in the van in the front yard.
2005	Ian and Susi over for bridge. Susi and I finished the evening with two 6-bid contracts made. Gail made a great fruit cake - secret is to soak the fruit in orange juice.
2009	Brought Gail to ACC in Papakura to see Lesley Turner to make up a recovery plan. At the Ramarama intersection we were almost in an accident when big truck pulled into the median strip. The car in front of us had been doing 70Km and slammed on the brakes not realizing that she had plenty of time to zip passed the truck. So I had to brake and swerve around the car and between it and the truck. On the way home we saw a blue car at the same intersection that was totally crumpled into front of a big truck with front damaged. email from Te with photos of Joyce's 80th. Gail couldn't recognize the relatives including her mother.	Holiday Inn
2011	Th - Card and photos from Chris. Laps. Ian over for 5 games of Dominion.
2014	M - Beryl and Edo over first time and we may have found THE couple.
2017	F - Scrabble at Anna's.
2019	Su - Gail discovered that the White Island trip was tomorrow - not Tuesday. So Emery drove out arriving at 10:30PM.
5th	Back to Top	7th