In holiday mode with added Ashley

We've been away at the bach (local word for a little holiday house) by the lagoon in Waikouaiti so I haven't thought about posting. Ashley is 16 years old and on daily meds, so rather than take her to the cattery and ask them to dose her, we took her with us. Most cats hate any change, but she loved it there! The garden was full of interesting new smells and skinks (no, she didn't catch any) and I think she really liked the bach being so small as everything she wanted or needed was in easy reach with no stairs. We saw a lot more of her too as she was always close by instead of sleeping upstairs or under Greg's desk like she does here at home. I was nervous about taking her, but it was such a success, we'll go away again soon.

A few questions

I've gone through the list for anything I can talk about rather than just answer yes or no.

24. It’s the International Day of Education – what was your favourite class in school?
Physics, chemistry, maths, and foreign languages. To the teachers' annoyance, they had to rearrange my classes to cover both languages and sciences; everyone else chose one or the other. Classes I disliked were, before year 11, history (unless ancient), geography, and social studies, and from year 11 on, biology and English. I really hated having to read set books, some of which were truly bleak, and write about them.

25. Are you making a conscious effort to keep fit this year? What activities are you doing?
I wouldn't say yes because I'm lazy and my legs aren't connected well to my brain (see below), but Pilates once a week, some walking, and I want to get back to Qi Gong at least once daily.

28. Most countries have at least one example of a long-running soap on TV. Do you watch soaps (have you in the past)?
I don't watch soaps at all, never did. The long-running one here is Shortland Street which is about a fictional hospital. It's been going for 32 years (!) and is the most-watched series here, but neither of us have seen an episode. I mention it only because a quote from the first episode became viral in this country: "You're not in Guatemala now, Dr Ropata!"

1. Would you rather watch a sport or play a sport?
Watch. I have Developmental Coordination Disorder so I've always been crap at anything other than table tennis.

8. Have you ever been sailing?
Many times! A friend had a yacht and I used to go out for weekends with her when I lived in Auckland. We also had a small yacht when I was a kid which we sailed on the lake in Hamilton.

9. What’s the last film you saw (on TV / streaming / at the cinema)?
Flow, at the cinema. I feared for the little cat all the way through, so though it was beautiful to watch (and very weird at one point), I wouldn't say it was enjoyable because I was so tense. The whole world depicted also saddened and worried me - what happened to the humans, especially the cat's? Respect for the capybara, who wasn't bothered by anything that happened.