Tried again what we did in Blenheim last visit which was to melt golden syrup in the milk then soak the dates. Not bad! Definitely more datey tasting and no scone horrors. Also decided to get out the ancient perc pot for coffee as the Mister hadn’t seen it before. It’s almost as old as me and the smell of coffee in the house brought back smell memories of being a kid when Mum and Dad had their Jaycee friends over for dinner. Only used it once though because the coffee I can get out of our old espresso machine that now lives up here tastes better.

 

…

• There are several tui in the front garden
• Your mother sends you to the shops with her eft-pos card
• You have to go to 4 different shops for stuff for dinner and get a park right outside each one
• People look at you strangely if you say “No” when asked if you have a Flybys card
• The lady bleeping the groceries asks if Grana Padano should be used like parmesan … I think I did OK saying “Errr, it *is* parmesan” without sounding too snooty
• There are more roundabouts than traffic lights.