It has been a very changeable couple of days here as far as the weather is concerned. Mostly wet and windy but a day of glorious hot sunshine and glimpses of sunshine most days for at least half an hour. Ian is enjoying his career break. It's great having him around to hang out with us and do things like playgroup with us. He has also been taking the kids off my hands a bit to give me some free time. He is however still pretty busy with a couple of start-up ventures that he has been helping out with. Job hunting is time consuming too but he hasn't thrown himself into that completely yet. He has an interview tomorrow but not many other leads for now. Meanwhile he is keen to throw himself into shed building when the weather lets him.

I have been enjoying watching bits of the Olympics. Ellen lent us her TV for the duration. It is the same TV that she bought with money given to her by Bristol Vineyard friends (including us) when she left there. International sporting events are possibly the only things that can make me feel homesick. It seems strange to be oblivious to what is happening with the GB and Ireland teams as the coverage is totally Kiwi focused of course -and as far as I know no medals as yet so not too exciting yet.

Today I spent a merry quarter hour in the library reading the paper. I was allowed out solo as I had to go to the dentist so I grabbed a few minutes of me time afterwards. I have been enjoying using the libraries here. I didn't use them much in England but I guess kids do cause you to visit them more often. I still have an impression of them being quite austere institutions. It's quite a different story here. I was reading in the paper today about how libraries have been changing over the past decade or so - not just in their embracing of teachnology but also in the services they offer. The article said that the libraries in Auckland strive to be the "living rooms" of the city: places of social interaction and activities as well as learning. I love that idea and I saw it in action today as I sat on the sofa and read the paper; two road workers came in and pulled up a couple of armchairs into the sun by the windows and sat and had a chat; the computer terminals were full of people from just about every generation and as always there were several kids playing in the kids section. Great place to hang out.