Got here safely!

I got here - but have been stuck in the sticks near Hamilton without internet access.

First impressions - ITS REALLY COLD!

I was right to fear the lack of heating because the cold sinks in past your skin and permeates everything: you're cold awake and asleep - without rest or loss. Right now is the first time that I've felt properly warm since arriving and it's temporary as I'm in Hamilton city library!

I've got two more detailed Blogs typed up but Hamilton is not living up to my expectations on the 'cutting edge of technology' front! No wireless access available - except to those who already have a NZ telecom account (NOT useful or clever!) and only 30 minute slots available in the library - but at least it is cheap-ish.

So far seen a fair few sheep, sung a Christian song in Maori - with others, not solo! - and been granted permanent residence status! So not all bad then!

Hopefully post more fully soon.

Keep checking back.

Getting Ready to Go!

This week, like the rest of Britain, Leicester has been roasting; even provoking one rather mature man to sunbathe in a thong in one of the small public parks in the city centre at lunctime - some people!

As I get ready to leave the dizzying heights of summer (even though today its cooler and raining) and head to the depths of winter I'm dreading the move to the cold! Its not just the weather home.nzcity.co.nz/weather/Default.asp?c=w, but the fact the very few of our antipodean cousins have central heating that is getting to me. "it's just cold upon cold" is the warning that a Kiwi resident in Britain gave me recently.

I guess there are lots of things to encounter in the next three weeks - some of them will involve being cold: its not the end of the world - but it will be a bit disorientating!

The Visas Have Arrived

By Sarang (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons


The visas arrived today.

I was beginning to get a bit worried about my passport being back before next Tuesday when I leave for my first trip to New Zealand. I wonder if I'm just a worrier. Maybe I even worry about it.

As I opened the envelope I giggled - like a child. The mixture of relief, excitement and fear came out in a giggle. Would you believe it? A 35 year old man, laughing along with his kids in nervous excitement, watched by my smiling wife (not quite patronizing smile).

With every step the move becomes more and more real: the reality brings with it encouragements and fears.

"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ?I will never leave you nor forsake you... For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come." Hebrews 13:5, 14 (ESV)

The time has almost come to leave yet another temporary home and move to another one, the fears and worries that surround the move are outweighed by the encouragements of the irreducible hope of the 'city that is to come' - and I don't mean Auckland!!!

The picture is of The Koru - a Maori symbol for life and rebirth: a stylized form of an unfolding fern