A New Year
Well, we're nearly a month into 2014 and I haven't updated in nearly a year. My holiday last year was fantastic. Wonderful tour of Ireland - loved my group, and everything pretty much went to plan in the UK. A couple of minor hiccups but nothing that spoilt things. Loved York, Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon.
Went home in June to celebrate my 40th. Had a lovely afternoon catching up with family and friends. Best part was seeing my old school friends L & A who I hadn't seen for a very long time. July still remains a horrible month with a family friend taking his life a few days after the first anniversary of Dad's death. November was better, met up with my niece at Auckland for the Taylor Swift concert. Great show and my niece loved it. Mum joined us the next day and we did a little shopping and went over to the museum. Tried to give my niece a little bit of family history as we went through the war memorial section, but at 13 she's not really that interested. At least she did like the museum section on volcanoes. After we sent the niece back to Christchurch, Mum and I headed down to Hamilton. Got to catch up with L & A for lunch. I enjoyed spending time with them without the distraction of all that was going on on my birthday.
Had to work Christmas, so my brother and I had our Christmas on Boxing Day instead. Yay for new dinner set! Work was quiet over the Christmas break, we had lots of closed beds since there was no elective surgeries. Then it was back to full capacity with a vengence. We had 4 days straight of over 40C where I had the misfortune of not being rostered on. The joys of having no air-con. Remind me again why I live in Melbourne? Higher temps again this week. Could have waited until I'm in Christchurch next month. Looking forward to hanging out with my sister and the niece and nephews for 6 days.
Decided not to go to Canada this year but am going to Greece and Rome instead. I blame Atlantis for this. Spending some time on the mainland, Crete, Santorini, Mykonos and Rhodes. Looking forward to a week in Rome where I can take the sights at my own pace and not have to keep an eye on where the tour guide is. Apart from flights from Athens to Rhodes everything's booked. Just paying off a couple of tours and then will look at day-trips etc. My sister's partner is not happy about my trip. As an archeologist this is his dream trip. At least I'll be out amongst the ruins etc and not sunning myself on the beach or beside a pool. I'm going to attempt to learn some Greek before I go. One good thing with living here in Melbourne is the large Greek population, so plenty of opportunity to practice on my patients and their relatives.
Was hugely excited that Angels is finally out on DVD - at least the first series. I'd almost given up hope. Watched it all over a couple of days. It still lives up to my memories. Still not fond of Jo and still have a soft spot for Shirley. Interesting watching it now as a nurse instead of a wannabe-nurse.
Just finished watching the first series of Merlin and have been listening to the original recording of Jesus Christ Superstar. I can't believe it's never clicked until now that Anthony Head and Murray Head are brothers. Been reading so much Merlin fanfic that I really wish I could count it towards my Goodreads challenge. I've been putting the longer works on my Kindle - so much easier to read.
Went home in June to celebrate my 40th. Had a lovely afternoon catching up with family and friends. Best part was seeing my old school friends L & A who I hadn't seen for a very long time. July still remains a horrible month with a family friend taking his life a few days after the first anniversary of Dad's death. November was better, met up with my niece at Auckland for the Taylor Swift concert. Great show and my niece loved it. Mum joined us the next day and we did a little shopping and went over to the museum. Tried to give my niece a little bit of family history as we went through the war memorial section, but at 13 she's not really that interested. At least she did like the museum section on volcanoes. After we sent the niece back to Christchurch, Mum and I headed down to Hamilton. Got to catch up with L & A for lunch. I enjoyed spending time with them without the distraction of all that was going on on my birthday.
Had to work Christmas, so my brother and I had our Christmas on Boxing Day instead. Yay for new dinner set! Work was quiet over the Christmas break, we had lots of closed beds since there was no elective surgeries. Then it was back to full capacity with a vengence. We had 4 days straight of over 40C where I had the misfortune of not being rostered on. The joys of having no air-con. Remind me again why I live in Melbourne? Higher temps again this week. Could have waited until I'm in Christchurch next month. Looking forward to hanging out with my sister and the niece and nephews for 6 days.
Decided not to go to Canada this year but am going to Greece and Rome instead. I blame Atlantis for this. Spending some time on the mainland, Crete, Santorini, Mykonos and Rhodes. Looking forward to a week in Rome where I can take the sights at my own pace and not have to keep an eye on where the tour guide is. Apart from flights from Athens to Rhodes everything's booked. Just paying off a couple of tours and then will look at day-trips etc. My sister's partner is not happy about my trip. As an archeologist this is his dream trip. At least I'll be out amongst the ruins etc and not sunning myself on the beach or beside a pool. I'm going to attempt to learn some Greek before I go. One good thing with living here in Melbourne is the large Greek population, so plenty of opportunity to practice on my patients and their relatives.
Was hugely excited that Angels is finally out on DVD - at least the first series. I'd almost given up hope. Watched it all over a couple of days. It still lives up to my memories. Still not fond of Jo and still have a soft spot for Shirley. Interesting watching it now as a nurse instead of a wannabe-nurse.
Just finished watching the first series of Merlin and have been listening to the original recording of Jesus Christ Superstar. I can't believe it's never clicked until now that Anthony Head and Murray Head are brothers. Been reading so much Merlin fanfic that I really wish I could count it towards my Goodreads challenge. I've been putting the longer works on my Kindle - so much easier to read.