Just when I thought I was getting bored with walking around the neighbourhood, I went down a side street tonight that I hadn't been down before, and found this view of a house with a flagpole flying the Jolly Roger.  It's good see Kiwi individuality asserting itself in interesting ways.  This flag should be visible from the motorway, but I've never noticed it, maybe it's new.  Oh, the roof isn't really striped, it's just what happened to the tiles when I shrunk the picture - click to get the larger, slightly better-looking picture.

The amazing shrinking me

I finally patched my favourite pair of jeans, only to find that they're *really* loose.  I think I'm going to take the plunge and buy a smaller pair.

A week in review

Somehow a whole week has gone by and I haven't blogged it.  Sorry.  I have done some walking though. Tuesday: Being the last Tuesday of the month it was time for a Uniforum regional meeting.  I walked down to the railway station and caught the train into town, knowing I would get a ride home with Steve.  On the way to the meeting I detoured to take pictures of the Cave Troll in Civic Square - the delightful beastie that graced the entrance of the Embassy Theatre when Fellowship of the Ring was first released, it was brought out again for the Return of the King premier.  It's much easier to photograph in Civic Square without the trolley wires and things that get in the way at the Embassy.  I wore sandals that day because it was so hot I couldn't stand the thought of putting socks and shoes on - bad choice, I gave myself a big fat nasty blister on the ball of my foot.  And just to make life more fun, Steve had left his carpark access card in a very safe place - inside his car, inside the carpark building which was safely locked up by the time the meeting was over.  Doh!  Digby gave us a ride to the railway station, but of course we had to walk home at the other end.  Up the hill.  Still wearing the same sandals that gave me the blister. Wednesday: I gave my blister the day off. Thursday: My car was booked in for some work and a WOF, so I drove into town and spend the day there.  Mostly I was in the library doing some family history research, being nice to my nearly recovered blister, but I did a little bit of wandering around.  No hills. Friday: <thinks> Oh, yes.  That was the day Steve came home earlier than I expected, and when I got home a short while later I didn't realise he was there, and I thought I was going nuts because I knew I had turned the alarm on when I went out.  I don't think I did any walking that day, other than around the shopping centre - it was too hot. Saturday: I woke up way too early and couldn't get back to sleep.  So I did something really weird: I did my walk in the morning.  I enjoyed it a lot, because I was listening to Kim Hill on the radio, and I usually find the first two hours of her show to be be the best.  Most Saturdays I sleep through it and listen to it later on the video recorder (we have Sky Digital which relays a few radio stations).  This week Kim talked to a correspondent from Houston about politics, Bush's "election candy" Mars mission, and the death penalty.  Up until the death penalty part I had quite liked the correspondent but then I got the horrible feeling he was one of the many Texan citizens who think the state has a right to play God.  Then on a lighter note Kim interviewed an astronomer, about Mars of course but also about the "spokes" in Saturn's rings and the rotational period of Uranus.  Great stuff, may she never run out of astronomers to interview.  While all this was going on, I a walked a long uphill route along the streets on the hillside here, right up to the top of Victory Crescent and on to the far end of Chastudon Place where some pricey houses look out over the rest of Tawa.  This was the furthest I had been on that uphill route and it still only took me an hour - I must be getting something right. Sunday: Dance practice was suffiently energetic, thanks, and besides, it was absolutely bucketing down with rain.  Not very summery but it will make the farmers happy I suppose. Monday: Oh, that's today already.  I was grumpy and didn't feel like doing much of anything but I might as well be grumpy out walking as moping around at home.  I went down to the Linden shops and just kept going along Collins Ave which was a gentle uphill gradient - not punishing like Fyvie Ave or the Scots Bransle.  Then I turned around and came home to cook tea, still a little grumpy. Now, here's that cave troll. Grrrr! Take that, you... you... kids!