ANZAC day post

It's been a long time since my last post here, partly because I've been busy looking for work and other things to do, but partly because I've begun to feel settled here and the time has been flying past! Today is ANZAC day - a dawn ceremony in all major towns and cities has been conducted to commemorate the war-dead. Ellen attended one in Auckland that broke all records for attendance, and I listened on the radio from the relative safety of bed.

I'm now working two separate jobs; one in a steel factory which is very new to me, and one processing applications in a Government department which is really familiar. I am working in the mornings for New Zealand Steel & Tube, in the reinforcing section here in Dunedin. My main responsibility is ordering and processing new jobs on the computer, but I've also spent some time in the workshop using a steel shear to cut reid bar. Not bad work! I'm not used to the strong impetus of having customers demanding a product, or to working in a heavy industry environment, but it's quite good.

Our football team is not doing quite so well, with two resounding defeats in the first two games. Partly because I'm yet to play a full game ofcourse! However we are improving on our game and remain optimistic. Off the field, it has been great getting to know new friends and seeing more of Dunedin. Ellen has even been training with the womens' team, and so it's become an almost daily part of our lives.

Our little house gets quite cold when the wind blows and we are investing in our heavy curtain to seal our lounge from the draftier kitchen area. The worm farm is getting up to capacity and the little wormies are munching through ca. 250g a day. Our pea plants are slowly working their way across an improvised trellis. The soil is quite poor and I will have to thin them out soon to keep them alive.