Entries from August 2005 ↓

Orange sticks in people’s minds. Our new CE has been on board about 3 weeks and is slowly getting to know staff – except for me (he’s come to know who I am very quickly) as I’ve subjected him to orange very early on by sending my boss up for her introductory meeting with some material for him printed on orange paper. Just a few moments ago he made a special visit to the 5th floor, and a special visit to my desk to say that he’d seen a piece in the Wellingtonian last night about fashion and that orange was ‘in’. So – can’t say I have the attention of the CE because of nepotism any more!!!

Last week I became one of those people who write to product companies complaining about their products.

Issue: a re-branded moisturiser I use was behaving differently from how it did in the past so I wrote an actual letter asking if they’d changed their ingredients and told them that it was not as good as the old stuff.

Outcome: they emailed me to say that the ingredients had changed, but shouldn’t have affected the product as I was describing but they would look into it and sent me some of the old stuff to be going on with!

Issue: I purchased a pair of jeans the same as ones I have had in the past but these were a ’summer’ weight and in a different colour. Otherwise exactly the same. However, the stitching they have used around the waist band is kind of scratchy and quite uncomfortable to wear.

Outcome: I returned to the store and told the woman (who had served me the day before) and demonstrated on a pair of jeans they had in store and she was horrified. She said she would ring up and see what could be done or if there was any way to fix it and she said she’d ring me as soon as she knew anything. The great thing was, she remembered me from ealier and didn’t want my name or phone number or anything because she said it was all on the computer! God I’m memorable … actually I’d say it was my big orange coat … no missing me in that!

The ‘Election’ section of Stuff is orange.

Enrol to Vote! I’ve been trying to nab one of these balloons for ages and got back to my desk now to find a colleague leaving one for me – apparently he had to run in front of a bus to catch it! Aren’t I lucky?! (… and weird … yes, I know!)

Stanley Road cafe – YUCKY coffee! It’s Supreme – such a shame they cannot do it justice. Way over extracted so it tasted burnt and bitter all at the same time. Such a pity because last week I called in to get some afternoon tea to take home to home-made coffees – got a bit of ginger, date and walnut loaf and it was fabulous. Am meeting a friend there for lunch next week (when I don’t drink coffee) so will see what that’s like.

Had a fantastic weekend in Napier with parents.

Friday

• 7.30am: BP – $80 to fill the car up
  
• 11.30am: Day-long business meeting in Elsthorpe – well it was a day off for me patting the lovely cats
  
• 6.00pm: Walked along the newly developed promenade running almost the entire length of Marine Parade on the domain that runs along the beach
  
• 7.30pm: fantastic dinner at Trattoria Alla Toscana in Napier (I had potato gnocchi with pesto and a taste of tiramisu – not as good as mine, but almost, too much chocolate)

Saturday

• 9.30am: bagel and Allpress coffee at Cafe Aroma – the Vespas out front and general Vespa theme was interesting. Coffee a bit milky (but that’s what I expect from Allpress)
  
• 10.30am onwards: shops shops shops! Poked around in a couple of antique stores which was interesting. Wandered back to the motel via the promenade and sunken garden which was lovely.
  
• 7.00pm: great evening and dinner at Craggy Range winery (I had double roasted garlic souffle and a taste of creme brulee – absolutely heavenly – will have to learn how to make it)

Sunday

• 10.00am: 5 grain toast at coffee at Ujazi – sat outside the adjacent shop which was some kind of gallery with a display of all sorts of weird and wonderful teapots. Butter was hard, too hard even for the solid 5-grain toast, so the cafe was immediately black-listed despite the coffee actually being very good (L’Affare)
  
• 11.30am: wandered around Havelock North shops – however only 1 or 2 open. Got some bread from Jackson’s bakery (got fabulous bread there last time) to bring home for breakfast this morning.
  
• 12.30pm: Lunch at a new winery Black Barn – which we’ll never visit again for lunch! None of us wanted a great big $30 steak/rabbit/eel meal so ordered a selection of bread and cheese boards and wine by the glass – the totally snotty waiter was quite cold towards us when he realised we were hogging a table and spending only a measly $70! However, we did find out that they have ‘retreat’ properties and one in particular (Rush Cottage) looked quite appealing and very reasonable for a party of 4 for a long weekend.
  
• 2.30pm: visit to Crab Farm winery on the Napier-Gisborne road for some of their delicious reserve chardonnay. They are in the middle of reservations and are opening a cafe which will be a home-baking kind of a cafe and will offer things like platters, scones, coffee, cookies etc. We were talking to the wine maker who said he was quite nervous to be the first winery in the area to not go the elaborate white linen tablecloth way however following our experience just 2 hours before we all jumped for glee and said we were certain it would be a success because that’s what we’d been searching for all weekend!
  
• 3.30pm: 4.5 hour drive back to Wellington.

Maximus

Brutus

Pretty chilly on my walk to work this morning! I think this is the coldest morning we’ve had – quite exciting (and rare) to look down on the roof of the building across the road from the apartment this morning to see water in their gutter partially frozen, and a layer of frost across the roof!

Just arrived in the Hawke’s Bay and have had a coffee and a big patting session with one of the cats at the place we’re at for the day – man – there’s nothing like patting a cat

Saw the usual mixed bag of drivers on the road on the way up – most annoying was the lady in the Ford Focus (strange looking car with no lights on the back bumper, they’re up on the top of the hatch) who went 95, except on the passing lane when she pulled out in front of me stormin’ up the right-hand lane, and tootled on up at 100 with me bearing down on her … just my luck the passing lane ran out so I had to follow her driving at varying speeds between 95 and 120 for the next half an hour until she knew a way better short cut at Waipukurau and we got separated. Sigh. Still, we’re here now, it’s sunny, there’s cake, 2 cats and my trashy novel (latest Marion Keyes) in my suitcase.

The web has brought about amazing things that would probably never see the light of the day. Take this really popular site which is currently preventing me from doing any work because I am mesmerised by the pictures and stories of cats who are Mean Kitties!