Konnichiwa, Enomoto san!

My Japanese penpal, Sayaka Enomoto, was in Christchurch for 5 days last week which was really great. After picking her up from the airport on Friday night we went to the Fowlers house in Heathcote where I was house sitting and had a dinner of tacos. Claire came around to join us and we had a cheeky wine to welcome Sayaka to the South Island.
For those who don't know, Sayaka and I began writing to each other when I was 12 years old and in second form at college. A class in Japan sent letters to a class in NZ and we all randomly picked a letter to reply to. That was the start of a 24 year friendship which is still going strong.

We have met before - twice. Sayaka first came to NZ in 1988 and stayed in Matamata. She came to Warkworth for a few days and was very shy and quiet - probably a little overwhelmed by such a big family! Then she came back for a year of schooling in Gisborne a few years later.
She had brought with her photos of her first visit to Warkworth which were particularly cringe-worthy. Especially the ones of the walls of my bedroom adorned with magazine cut outs of my favourtie celebrities in the 80's. Shame!

I took 3 days off work so I could show Sayaka the sights of Christchurch. We covered most things including punting on the Avon River which I had never done before, and I hope Sayaka got to see and do everything she wanted while here. At the Fowlers where we were house sitting is Floyd the black labrador-x and 4 cats. Floyd and I USED to be besties but I have now been bumped down to second best friend position in favour of Sayaka.


On Saturday night I had belated birthday drinks at Roxy Inn which turned out to be a really great night. There was a good group of people there and LOTS of laughter. Sayaka happily chatted away to everyone and now my friend Richard Hampton from work refers to her as his Japanese wife. He fell in love with her. (Understandably - she is absolutely lovely). His actual wife Julie seems not to be too worried! It really was a great night. Cameron McInnes, Sayaka and I went into town just after midnight to show Sayaka the night life. Starting, of course, at Sullivans! No town trip would be complete without a visit to Sullivans. After stopping for a pie (uh-o!!) Cameron dropped us home around 2.30am. It was very enjoyable.

Sayaka gave me a lesson on a few Japanese customs for when I am in Japan at the end of next month. I'm so worried I might unknowingly offend someone but she said I'll be fine. She said if all else fails just bow a lot.


Weight Watchers has been VERY stagnant since Christmas. I hadn't been for two weeks and yesterday I was the same weight ..... again - which was a nice surprise actually. It's fair to say I was a little bit pooping myself at the thought of having to get on those scales. I had a wee chat to the leader, Lorraine, and she issued me with a tracking challenge. I have set a goal of a 400gm weight loss by next Friday and if I accomplish it she said she will give me a free cookbook! I am determind to try hard this week and started with an hour walk this morning.

On my walk I passed a paddock with lots of cows, most of them lying down. (I thought of you Apes, and your love of cows) I remembered a saying that if more cows in one paddock were sitting down than standing it meant that it was going to rain. Sure enough it starting spitting as soon as I got home. But the weird thing was that these cows all seemed to be evenly spaced out all facing the same way - as if they were waiting for a moooo-vie to start!

I'm off house sitting for a week again this afternoon. This time in Halswell for my workmate Barry Panther (yes, that is his real name - not his 70's porn star alias!) He and his wife are off to Fiji for a week as a surprise for his wife's 60th.

On a more sombre note Alex's cat, Barbie, was killed by what Paula thinks was a dog during the week. Barbie was 17 years old and had failing health. Very sad for them all and my heart goes out to them. xx

I'm going to have a nosy at an appartment for sale in Richmond soon... What? I'm just looking.....