Already Winter

— Posted inUncategorized — 1 min read

Just a quick update on what I've been up to in the last couple of months.

I was away on a trip to visit my parents from late April till the beginning of June. the first half went very well. But then mum got a nasty chest infection; and the rest of the holiday was just a blur of visiting mum's doctors and doing household chores. Luckily she recovered by the time I left. But it will take a while before I feel like looking back the holiday photos and talk about other details of my annual pilgrimage.

Through the rugby mad friend, I have recently discovered the local library had a quite good range of ebooks. I was pleasantly surprised reading ebooks on my laptop was quite enjoyable. So I decided to buy a kobo reader during my trip to Japan (a lot cheaper there than in NZ). I am very pleased with the new free reading possibilities it offers, especially now when we are having a very cold start of Winter. :happy:

:coffee:

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  1. Cool- good to see you back.I'm pondering my ebook options also. My phone has kindle but it's not really geared for reading for long stretches. The screen is just too small.Laptop works fine, but it's not as portable.Will you be uploading photos to Opera?

  2. Good to see you. I was not exactly worried, but I wasn't at ease about you, either.

  3. Thanks, Brendan. :)I found kobo reader quite usable when all I want to do is read a novel. Actually I seem able to concentrate better when I read text on reader. It may be to do with my eyesight requiring larger fonts. Two more advantages with an ebook reader are that battery lasts a lot longer and the device does not get hot, unlike laptop. Particular advantage of Kobo is the compatibility with Wellington city Library's eLibrary service providers, which Kindle lacks. Do you know if your local library also offers elibrary service?Originally posted by chthoniid:

    Will you be uploading photos to Opera?

    Hopefully in due course. Right now I'm too busy reading library books. 😉

  4. Originally posted by derWandersmann:

    Good to see you. I was not exactly worried, but I wasn't at ease about you, either.

    Cheers, dW. Sorry about causing an unease. I was quite busy in the first half of this trip, being out and about. And the second half was just a blur. I have no idea where time went.

  6. Cheers, Michal. You must be enjoying early summer. ;)We are having another cold snap this week. Snow in the south. Cold gale up to 130km/h is forecast for Wellington later today. 😥

  7. I guess I will soon switch to ebooks as well :up: I got Nexus 7 from our employer, and it is pretty decent also for reading books.

  8. Hi Sami, I think ebook format, reading software & reader devices have a lot more room for improvement to give us the same level of reading experience as print books offer, such as handling of graphics and ease of moving between pages. But they are good enough for reading novels. And you'll never be charged fines for overdue library books. 😉

  9. Published a post after two months' inactivity and titled it, "Already Winter", and this is what happened next …:no:

    At its peak, winds gusting up to 200kmh damaged buildings and tore trees from the ground. Lashing rain caused surface flooding and, at times, up to 30,000 residents were without power. …

    Source:http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/8824068/Wellington-wakes-to-wind-whipped-cityhttp://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8823953/Storm-hits-Wellington-like-a-freight-trainFortunately our suburb is on northwest facing slope and sheltered from the worst of the southerly gale. But it was a scary sleepless night. I haven't gone out to the back section to inspect damages, but I see another fence panel and the mini solar panel for security light are broken. 😥 At least we still have the power. So I'm making pea and ham soup.

  13. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    it sank a passenger ferry and killed 53 people

    😥 :awww:

  14. I saw a doco on the Wahine disaster five years ago as the 40 year anniversary week special. It ended with a nice touch of reuniting a female survivor, a teenager at the time, with her rescuers 40 years ago. Fortunately there has been no human casualty in this storm, though there were some near misses. Many houses have been damaged and some houses are still with no power. We will remember this storm13 for a long time to come, for sure.

  15. Originally posted by serola:

    peeps have learned not to risk their lives

    That's very important. Modern urban living, sheltered and comfortable, tends to make us underestimate impact of natural forces. Wellington is one of the places where the mother nature constantly reminds people not to lose awe, fear and respect for the powers of nature.

  16. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Fortunately there has been no human casualty in this storm

    Pleased to hear 🙂 Maybe infrastructure has became better in 40 years and peeps have learned not to risk their lives in a weather like that :up:

  17. Here every midsummer several people drown or get killed just because of alcohol :left:

  20. Originally posted by serola:

    Here every midsummer several people drown or get killed just because of alcohol

    Well, same here except that it's blamed on Christmas rather than Midsummer. :left

  21. Originally posted by qlue:

    same here except that it's blamed on Christmas rather than Midsummer

    That probably means it is dangerous to have any kind of festivities when it is warm outside :DMM and Qlue, are there any major holidays during winter months in New Zealand and South Africa?

  22. Originally posted by qlue:

    The July school holidays have just begun here. This time of year, large numbers of people descend on the KZN coast to take advantage of the relatively warmer weather here!

    😎 But that is relatively not a winter if the weather is warm… 😀 Sounds like summer in Finland 😆

  23. Originally posted by serola:

    are there any major holidays during winter months in New Zealand and South Africa?

    The July school holidays have just begun here. This time of year, large numbers of people descend on the KZN coast to take advantage of the relatively warmer weather here! :p

  24. Originally posted by qlue:

    The July school holidays have just begun here.

    Ours is still three weeks away in Mid July. Originally posted by qlue:

    descend on the KZN coast to take advantage of the relatively warmer weather here!

    "relatively" is the key word here, isn't it? :DDo you get severe winds in KZN? Or do all the gales go to the Cape province? I'm guessing so because Cape Town based super rugby team is called the Stormers. Just like our team is named the Hurricanes. 😉

  25. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Ours is still three weeks away in Mid July.

    Nice to know that you also have a winter holiday :up:

  26. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Do you get severe winds in KZN? Or do all the gales go to the Cape province? I'm guessing so because Cape Town based super rugby team is called the Stormers. Just like our team is named the Hurricanes.

    We do get strong winds occasionally. But not quite as bad as 'windy' places do. :pJust the odd tropical storm or cyclone.

  27. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Cheers, Michal. You must be enjoying early summer. ;)We are having another cold snap this week. Snow in the south. Cold gale up to 130km/h is forecast for Wellington later today. 😥

    :yes: but this year the weather is very crazy :eyes: Spring was very cold, and now the beginning of summer was tropical and now again the weather is cold :irked:

    Yesterday it was 30 ºC, today only 13 ºC :knight:

  28. Originally posted by qlue:

    But not quite as bad as 'windy' places do. Just the odd tropical storm or cyclone.

    You know, we in those "windy" places have a lot of practice dealing with storms; and most of the trees that may be blown down would have already been blown down. So IMO living in the storm/hurricane capital is a blessing. 😉 We regularly have 100+ km/h northerly and 140+ up to 10 times a year, and the response from us the residents in the north facing suburb is usually, 'Oh, another one, :shrug:' But we become apprehensive when a forecast says there will be 100+ sourtherly, because we all know the south facing suburbs have not had that much "practice" against gales.

  29. Originally posted by serola:

    you also have a winter holiday

    Except weather's usually bad and both kids and parents get sick of it by end of the week one. :rolleyes: Once before, when I was still a secondary teacher, we had one week off in July and three weeks off in late August to mid September, which was a much better arrangement IMHO.

  30. Originally posted by brunozbruna:

    Yesterday it was 30 ºC, today only 13 ºC

    Enjoy the ride! :p

  31. Originally posted by brunozbruna:

    Yesterday it was 30 ºC, today only 13 ºC

    :eyes: Rather extreme change in weather :worried: Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Except weather's usually bad and both kids and parents get sick of it by end of the week one.

    Again sounds like Finnish summer :jester:Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    We regularly have 100+ km/h northerly and 140+ up to 10 times a year

    That is also rather extreme 🙁

  32. Originally posted by derWandersmann:

    They're in the "Roaring Forties", Sami

    :doh: Yes, now I recall hearing that sometime before. Maybe in the school few decades ago.

  33. They're in the "Roaring Forties", Sami … the wind has a fetch of the circumference of the globe at that point.

  34. It roared all right! A tree smashing, trampoline throwing, sheep burrying big old man southerly it was. 😀

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