Giedre tyttö Ozista

Aging in the sun

Things are quite perfect, but not entirely, since I wrote last blog entry 1) our car started leaking oil again, 2) our car gave us hard time starting up last Saturday, 3) our 2 boards have small dents on the sides, because we had them on the roof while driving in very windy weather, 4)... So yes, I'll knock on wood once again and stop boasting how good things are... :) Because, if things are perfect, there's only one way down... :)

On Sunday we went to Helen's for lunch and had a walk in her lovely gardens again. The weather is slowly warming up and even though it may feel chilly in the shadow, the sun is really scorching. If you're not careful, you may get burned very easily, even if you're not directly in the sun. New Zealand is so close to Antarctica and the ozone layer is so thin that the sun is really vicious. Many of my colleagues had numbers of cancerous skin growths removed at some point and no one seems to be particularly scared or worried about that, its part of life: once in few years you get moles "plucked out" and get "stiches". You are also not supposed to go to the beach in your bikinis, you should cover yourself as much as possible. Also advertisements of undressed children running freely on the beach should be banned, because you shouldn't give an idea that children can run around naked in the sun - it is dangerous!

Many kiwi females also seem to have prematurely aged skin. It must be the sun, I gather. So I'll try to do my best and use as much of sun screen as possible... Wear hats, big sunglasses and long sleaves... Which is a bit difficult, if you're on a surfboard. At least you have a wetsuit on, so only your nose risks to get wrinkly...

This is Fairy Falls in Waitakere ranges that we walked to couple of weeks ago. I'm sure you had enough of lush green bush, waterfalls and raging ocean pictures, but there's really not much else to take pictures of!!... :)

We're planning some small trips during our Xmas holiday, but mostly we will be at home. Its nearly impossible to get any accommodation anywhere during holiday anymore. But we'll see. Apparently Xmas holiday is the major house break-in and burglary period, as everyone leaves their homes. We have an alarm at home, but knowing Auckland, I'd be surprised, if it would keeep determined thieves away. This morning we talked with Kaj about him cycling to work. As I came home after work, there was no car in the parking lot. My heart sank. "Oh, c**p. The b**tards took our car!!", I thought. Only then it occured to me that Kaj may have taken the car to work, as he was working late. Good grief! This is how paranoid you get... :( To protect our home and our car and ourselves, we were told by Atma to visualise a burning blue triangle around our stuff. Thats about how much you can do... And take the insurance, of course. Everything else is plain luck... :) I am diligently visualising the tirangle every time we leave our car in dodgy areas at night and so far our stuff is more or less with us. Aaand.. here's one more blue triangle around us for tonight. Good night...