And... back to normal

Yeah, it was hard to get back into the swing of things last week, but there is something to say for starting on a Wednesday after the holidays - there's only half a week left then. We didn't do much in the weekend, actually I was fairly active with playing golf on both days, but Age hadn't even showered when I came back from golf on Sunday at 4.30pm!

We had a huge downpour on Saturday afternoon; I saw that it would be 31 degrees that day, so opted to play golf early in the morning, but even at 7.30am it was already 29 degrees and a bit drizzly! The downpour didn't come unexpected, and it cooled down nicely after it had passed. There was enough rain to wash the driveway away from one of our neighbours. They spent some time shoveling up the dirt from the road and put it back to where it came from.

Then some news on the property front: we found a new rental place! It's a lot bigger, brand new, and has been a display home for a builder - never been lived in. Our container has just arrived and is now with customs and quarantine and will probably be released within the next 10 days. We expect to move house later this month - I am quite looking forward to seeing our own things again. It's all very well to be surrounded by someone else's furniture, but our own stuff - of course - is the best! I miss my pots and pans, cookbooks, comfy chairs, my own golf gear, bicycle, clothes, computer, desk, bed (the bed we're on now is much smaller!) and so forth.

Other news: From February onwards I'll be working 36 hours in a 4x9 format, with Tuesdays off. That way I'll be able to compete in the main golf competitions, which take place on a Tuesday, tend to my business, and do other things I might like to do. For Dutch people not really newsworthy, most people I know have some sort of personalised flexible workweek. Down Under (or maybe: in every other country than NL) it's not very common to work less than 40 hours, let alone to arrange these hours in a way that maximises a certain work/life balance. But... working at a university has its advantages, and flexibility is one of the key pillars of employment policy here, so no fuss at all to arrange it. I have to add that I've actually been very lucky with the managers I've had in NZ, who stood up for me and allowed the flexibility I was looking for.

It has been fairly chilly the last couple of days, and we'll have a lousy 22 degrees today. We were saying to each other today that in NL you'd probably wear shorts then, but here it's back to long sleeves and long trousers! Summer will be back soon though, 25 tomorrow and then every day a bit warmer up till Tuesday, where I saw a 34 in the forecast.