Has it really been 12 years since I last applied fingers to keyboard? It seems as though Pauline and I have travelled at warp speed across the space/time continuum since then. Let's do a little recap.
In my last post the Proon had concluded on our return to Auckland from Europe via Hong Kong and Macau. Proon? You'll have to do a little back-reading to understand that one...
What have we done since then?
- We got married, and to my delight Pauline is still putting up with me more than a decade later
- We both collected our Gold cards. More delight in that the Government is actually paying us money for a change
- Pauline started, executed and completed a successful, if short-lived, career in kitchen design
- I concluded 30 years of IT project management, and now consider myself a general consulting geek/nerd, not quite fully retired
- We exited Auckland's rat race and built a new eHaus on an acre of land in rural Waihou near Te Aroha, the guest wing of which is rented out through Airbnb
- Continuing the sustainability theme, we invested in solar, an EV, home automation, robotics, and two manic chooks. Well - down to two - the rest progressively died despite our best intentions as chooks are wont to do.
But the desire for travel never really leaves. We'd both been to England before, but in separate lives. Wouldn't it be great to do it together, but exploring out of the way places rather than the tourist hot spots? And neither of us have been to Ireland - a mist‑soft, story‑rich island where ancient stones, wild Atlantic coastlines, and warm, musical towns weave together into a landscape that feels both timeless and vividly alive. Thank you AI, that's enough for now.
Planning progressed in earnest over July and August. Passports current - check. Remote access - check. eSIMs - check. Wise card - check. eTAs - check. Termination of two feathered stock units nearing end of life, one of which had stopped laying - check. Oops - hold that last one.
My solution to dispatch the chooks did not go down well with Pauline. "You're not a farmer dealing in stock units, Steve. You can't just kill our chooks for your convenience because they're elderly. They're our beloved pets!" Pause for thought. My mind went back to my childhood on a dairy farm in the Waikato. Mum would grab a chook out of the hen house, chop off its head with a hatchet, plunge it into hot water, pluck it, gut it, and have it as the Sunday roast that evening, with giblet gravy. Pauline is not my Mum.
Ok - but who's going to look after them while we're away? The anguished call went out, and to Pauline's great relief her brother and sister-in-law agreed to drop by periodically to make sure they were fed, watered, and de-mucked. They generously agreed to look after our indoor plants too. Thank you John and Nat!
Final packing underway and the call comes down from Auckland. "Sam can't find his toy monkey. Did he leave it at your place?"
"Do you have anything to declare, sir?"
"Yes - a monkey..."
Fortunately we made it through Vancouver customs and find ourselves in a lovely Airbnb in North Vancouver. Three full days to explore this beautiful city at our leisure. Pauline's never been here before, but I was here 20 years ago. I wonder if they've learnt to do a proper flat white?
