THE WEIGHT.......

.....LIFTED.

THE BAND

I've had one week already of not working - and, more importantly, of not wanting to work. No-one has been telephoning, texting or e-mailing me and wanting things done. I haven't felt guilty for 'slacking - off' and haven't felt the need to keep the lap-top turned on just in case a message comes through.

It's been like a weight has been lifted from me. I don't know how long this will last but boy it feels good. 

Today Richard is having his first day (although it is school holidays) of not working. I hope that he too feels liberated.

I drove The Old Girl down to Auckland on Saturday and stayed the weekend. She started work again today and I drove back. We had a great weekend - out for a glass of champagne at The Langham and then dinner at a local Italian restaurant on Saturday night. A laze around and a good film at the Academy picture theatre down the road on Sunday afternoon. A quiet night in Sunday night. Excellent. A big plus for me was that at the apartment we have a TV (rarely used) but can get Prime TV free so I was able to watch the All Blacks-Lions game (telecast only delayed by an hour). That was a great game and I'm really happy with the result. A draw and a drawn series makes it worthwhile for both sides certainly the thousands of British supporters who came all the way for the tour. This event is hugely beneficial to New Zealand businesses so long may it stay in place. I've heard some stupid rumours about it being the last one - I certainly hope that's not true.

We've had an apartment in Auckland for about 6 years now and it's good spending a few days there from time to time. The new apartment is certainly better than the other one we had (bigger and higher up at the top of the building). For some reason though, this time it really felt like being on holiday in another city or country. The city sounds were exciting. Once again I put it down to the 'weight' lifted. I didn't realise how work was affecting me but even though I was only working part time for the last three years I was always thinking about work and its problems.