A different kind of winter

After seeing the pictures on the news of people snowboarding at Papamoa, I thought I 'd tell you about our winter. It's dropped to 30 degrees rather than 35, even getting as low as 25 first thing in the morning. It's lovely. We went to Tisa's last Sunday, and the host warned us about the nip in the air, straight off the Antarctic. Whatever. You do see people wandering around in jeans and jackets but I'm still in shorts and singlets. It rained all day Sunday, and while we were mooching inside watching movies and playing games, feeling like it was cold, it was a shock to go outside and discover it was still tropical.

And it's winter, because I've got a cold. I'm sure it's not swine flu (feels just like a normal cold, responds to drugs) but because I have to get on planes in a week, and Samoa are being particularly picky about who they let through, for a change, I'm off to the doctor today. One of Matt's workers is going to arrange it for me - he's the guy who knows everyone. If I can't get back into the country, I'll call Pati and he'll get me in. Our immigration hearing has been postponed twice because they can't get a quorum, and there's only three people on the board. Maybe this week.

The big talk on island has been the closing of one of the two tuna canneries. It employed 2000 people, and will close in September. The other big businesses are murmuring too, and so it looks like the recession has finally hit here. 6 of the 8 ladies playing mah jong here yesterday will be gone by the end of the year, so it's a real time of change. Matt's job is safe so we'll still be here.

Taine's cowboy performance went well. It was the usual disorganised school concert with the requisite sound problems and unenthusiastic teenagers, but the Starfish class were by far the best-drilled. My photos didn't really turn out as the children kept moving so I had to get Taine in costume afterwards.

I've been put in touch with the Simply Stampin' consultant on island, so I'm about to order even more scrapbooking stuff. There really is nothing to spend money on here incidentally, so I feel quite justified in spending more on big stuff.

Matt's played tennis with our neighbour a couple of times, and he almost played golf on Saturday. He's missing the gym, but with his hours, there's not a lot of time to exercise. I went to the walking track last week, started about 30 m behind a 9 month pregnant lady, and it took me 3 laps to catch up to her! And she had a pram! Her excuse was she was doing anything she could to get this baby out, so I don't feel too bad.

And for a last thought, one of the two supermarkets was closed for Mothers Day!