On the loose

I woke at five, with the usual mix of anticipation and dread that is the prelude of any Wales v All Blacks game. Much has been made of the players missing from the Welsh side and I hate the fact that the English clubs get to thumb their noses at Welsh rugby by not releasing key Welsh Players. But I guess that's what happens if you have a Rugby Union which is bordering on bankrupt and players have to play elsewhere to make a living? Maybe it is time to get sponsored by an oil company? 😏 This was not a bad side on paper with some exciting new Welsh talent on display. Wales certainly missed Dan Biggar at ten but I don't know that Liam Williams would have done any more than Johnny McNichol at fifteen? He had an outstanding game. Ken Owens up front, especially throwing into the line out, would have maybe helped but he was a late injury withdrawal, so we don't even get to blame the English for his absence.  The Welsh back row, particularly before Moriarty left, played very well,

Group blue four had been granted the first exercise slot of the morning at 6am! As I was wide awake I decided to avail myself of the facilities: about six of us were brave enough to walk around the exercise yard in the gloomy morning light. Fifteen minutes on the bike were rapidly followed by coffee! Aaaah! By seven I was starving and I had to settle for a leftover banana until the yoghurt and toast arrived at eight. My second Saturday morning with Kim Hill included a protracted interview with Joanna Lumley waxing lyrical about the Queen. I loved how Kim managed the odd polite pause, following some of the more enthusiastic commentaries on the monarchy from Ms Lumley. I suspect Kim, like quite a few of us over here, is a republican? Have any of you listened to the interview with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield yet? In it he mentions a book by Stephen King, "On Writing" and says that every aspiring writer should read it. I'm not Mr King's greatest fan but I downloaded

I was feeling a bit lethargic this morning - there was no real reason why I should be feeling thus, other than a six hour session of book editing and a late night Zoom meeting in the previous 24 hours. But I excused myself from early morning exercise and lazed around listening to the radio and reading. To celebrate my return to New Zealand I'm reading some Katherine Mansfield short stories on the kindle. She doesn't get mentioned much these days but she was very good, well ahead of her time I think? The entire day trudged on in rather slow vein; perhaps it is the 'so near and yet so far' syndrome; 3.5 days to go? Two new contact COVID cases have popped up in Christchurch, which is a little concerning. They have now also detected the virus in the drainwater - does that mean there are more cases out there? All my fingers are crossed that it does not escalate! I think my somewhat lethargic mood was being experienced a by everyone at the mid-morning exercise session, which

Well so far so good! The powers that be have decide to hold off with closing down Christchurch, at least for the time being; partly because we are sitting at close to 90% vaccination level in this area. But then, the UK is estimated to have 92% of the population, either vaccinated or immune and look at the mess that remains over there! Extensive testing is been undertaken in Chch and hopefully will prove that no serious spread has occurred - yet. This also includes samples from the sewers which can be used to estimate the level of infection in an area. It's interesting to notice how a little fear can change peoples thinking: I look out over the short term car park at the airport. There are not too many flights at the moment but there are usually people arriving or leaving and it has been very noticeable that nearly everyone was wearing a mask yesterday, a few days ago hardly anyone was wearing a mask! Why don'y they just stop non-vaccinated people coming to the South Island? Th

Breaking news:   I normally write this blog the morning after so that some of it is twenty four hours old when posted. But I switched on the radio this morning and learned of two COVID cases in Christchurch. Apparently an unvaccinated idiot flew down from Auckland a week ago (having tested negative) and now two of them are unwell and have tested positive overnight. So there is a chance that Chch will be heading into lockdown..... out of the isolation frying pan and into the lockdown fire?? Meanwhile yesterday drifted along, pretty much as usual. We filed downstairs for our exercise slot, observing the two metre rule, past the little whiteboard with its witty comment of the day, and out into the exercise compound which,              this afternoon was bathed in glorious sunshine. Spring is definitely in the air, green leaves are bursting out all over the compound. I have the gardener's itch, it happens to all gardeners in the spring and I just want to get out there and plant some s

Today was quite a busy, and long, day as I had an important Zoom meeting at 10pm, linking with colleagues in the UK and Denmark and there were slides to sort and a pre meeting, meeting with the UK. I know some of you will find it quite hard to believe, but I do still do some work! My main vetty work at the moment is chairing a company called 'VetSalus'. Its a new start up which has been negatively impacted by Covid but we are making some progress. Check it out if you are interested, especially if you are a vet: www.VetSalus.com The main story of the day in New Zealand is........the Bird of the year controversy! Voting for the NZ bird of the year is a great annual event that gets seriously competitive. Groups get set up to lobby for certain birds and there have even been suggestions of foul (fowl?) play at times. The controversy at the moment is that, somehow, the native bat has been entered! I mean, come on! How can you have a bat entered into the BIRD of the year competition?

I've calmed down quite a bit after yesterday's Red Tractor rant. It's good to see that NZ Beef and Lamb have issued a corrected version:   https://twitter.com/nzbeeflamb/status/1451492735173623816?s=27 and it is also interesting to see that many UK farmers are not happy about the post: I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking it was a low blow! People in glass houses (greenhouse gas houses?) shouldn't throw stones! Today was Labour Day, but I had quite a lot of work on after my idle weekend and after a few hours of sitting at the computer, I was looking for a standing desk option. It didn't take long to invent one! Not quite as flash as yours Mel Rawsthorne but considerably cheaper I suspect? (Mel has just invested in an all singing /all dancing standing desk, which is powered by a small nuclear reactor and has more levers and springs than a thing with lots of levers and springs!)  I worked steadily away at it through the day and even managed a few hours editi

They say you shouldn't look at phone screens in the last hour before you sleep and that is advice which I usually follow. I was dozing off when my phone pinged and, possibly because of this very this very anti-social environment I currently find myself in, I picked it up. It was Eddie (NZ based son) asking me what Red Tractor was, as he had been annoyed by some of their posts on Facebook. So, an like an idiot, I looked at the post which was being liked and shared widely in the UK. It was aimed at knocking NZ farming practices compared to British and using that as a reason to question the new trade deal, which if I remember correctly the UK government came looking for? I was really annoyed by it and after a night of twisting and turning I was up at five researching and writing my reply! I won't bore you with the details but it was a great example of all that is bad about Facebook, people taking a few facts out of context and sharing them with dumb people who inadvertently share

 My first New Zealand Saturday morning for fifteen months started the way I like it - Kim Hill on the radio. Kim is a bit like the bucket fountain, in that she divides the nation but I am a long time fan and believe her to be quite possibly the best radio interviewer in the world. I usually listen to Kim while consuming a generous portion of bacon and eggs but I had to settle for cereal, yoghurt and toast today. And a new blend of coffee, I have finished the first 250grm bag I brought with me and am now into Waitrose Java blend, which is very good. It looks like I will have to order another bag before I leave? I found another English speaker during mid morning exercise, a guy from Holland who works in the bulb industry and is in isolation before heading to Invercargill, where his company grow many acres of tulip bulbs, which are exported to Holland for the early spring flower trade. Who would ever have guessed there was such a global bulb industry? He started asking me about Brexit, wo

Friday morning and I click into my standard routine like a little clockwork toy. Small things are starting to matter: will breakfast be early or late? (early), what will the cereal be? (corn flakes) and will there be marmalade for my toast? (Yes, but it's usually strawberry jam.) I listen to the morning news on Radio NZ (having already had the UK news on Radio 4 at 6.00am) The major story on UK radio was the new trade deal with New Zealand, most especially, its possible negative impact for UK farmers. The main story on NZ radio was.........  the bucket fountain! The bucket fountain in Cuba Street, Wellington is an iconic landmark that divides the nation. Most Wellingtonians love it, the rest of the country think it is ugly and weird, splashing water, as it does, all over the pavement and passers-by . Having lived several years in Wellington, I love it. But overnight, someone had nicked a bucket and as result it wasn't working! And worse still, it might cost $2000 to fix it.  ht

I'm settling into something of a routine I suspect. I wake about six, and am up by six thirty for a few stretches before brewing up some coffee and waiting anxiously for the arrival of breakfast. But there was the added joy of a Zoom call with brother in law Robert and Co, over breakfast; this has become a COVID dictated weekly event. Today was truly international, as in addition to my antipodean connection, brother William Zoomed in from his yacht off a Greek island and cousins John and Kim were on a ferry in the Bay of Biscay! Not long after I had munched my way through the Weetbix, there was a loud knock on the door. "Ah!" I thought, "My exercise bike is being delivered." Instead, I find a very friendly lady, dressed as  'cybergirl', waving a thermometer in my face. It was time for my day 3 swab! I have by now got the door manoeuvre off to a fine art; my little sweeping brush wedges nicely underneath it. No room cleaning services are provided but we h

Breakfast was five minutes late this morning! I was pacing by the door, stopping only to peep through my little security porthole, to see if it had arrived. They don't knock on the door for breakfast delivery in case they wake us! Does this mean I am becoming institutionalised already? I can't deny that I start to look forward to the next meal about an hour before it arrives. The food (so far) has been excellent. For breakfast this morning I received: Four Weetbix (Gluten free) and milk A yoghurt A banana Two pieces of toast with jam and olive spread A spirulina fruit smoothie All this to a guy who doesn't normally eat breakfast! I polished off the lot! (But I did struggle with the fourth Weetbix!) Coffee, of course, was a major concern for me, so I arrived with two bags of ground coffee and my portable 'aeropress' espresso machine. A little experimentation and I have produced an excellent brew with only about 100 grms of used coffee grounds spilled onto the floor.

I slept soundly and woke to see a faint glow from the eastern horizon hovering around the edge of the blinds. "Great it must be about 6.30am " I thought. Subsequent investigation discovered that the glow emanated from a nearby streetlight and that it was 2.15am.  I have always been a jet lag denier; "it's just a combination of dehydration and tiredness" you may had heard me spout ad nauseam. This is of course totally untrue. Our body metabolism is based upon deeply engrained circadian rhythms, which naturally take days to adjust to a twelve hour time lurch. Denial has been a defensive mechanism I have evolved, which allows me to dash off to meetings or party 'til dawn, when arriving at the other side of the world. But this is different; I have decided to embrace jet lag; I have 14 days to synchronise. So I calmly munched on a few oat cakes, washed them down with a little milk and read for half an hour before sleeping again until 6.30 am. My body was soon re

AVIATION - SLEEP DEPRIVATION - ISOLATION! OK! I know the title sounds a bit like a song by the Moody Blues. (Remember them?  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moody_Blues#Founding_and_early_history ) but you have to start somewhere when posting a title for a blog; and after 30 odd hours of international travel, my creative resources are probably a little jaded.  Over the last few weeks I have been asked by several folk, who seemed to enjoy the Glyndwr Blog, whether I intended blogging the fourteen days I am spending in a  New Zealand  isolation facility. So, once more unable to resist a challenge, here goes! I am not sure exactly what I will find to write about, but if I am reduced to "Got up; stared at the ceiling for a while; then stared out of the window; then went to bed" type posts, I promise to stop! Background:   Most of you will be aware by now that New Zealand has adopted a rather different approach to Covid than most other countries, "going hard-going early&quo