Just saw this pic on stuff.co.nz of the world’s [currently] largest jet, the ’super jumbo’ Airbus A380 that Qantas has flown into Auckland for a practice. The Welly runway is undoubtedly WAY too short for it although they can land/take off an empty 747 on it.

Planted some marigold seeds in one of the empty pots on our apartment anniversary last month. According to the picture on the back of the seed packet there should’ve been more activity much earlier on but 30 days on we’ve got one healthyish looking marigold seedling.

I planted way more seeds than that and I’m sure I didn’t plant them too deep or water them too much or too little – I think our weather is just too cold – although according, again, to the packet picture I planted them at the right time. Mind you these days, who can tell when spring is these days anyway.

I suppose it could be my fault that I didn’t use seedling mix in raised beds but I’m sure as kids we just planted seeds in the ground and stuff grew. Don’t say this funny old world of everyone allergic to peanuts and loosing concentration skills is spreading to soil nutrients. Sigh.

Why is Ricky Ponting always about to get a century at bed time (that’s cricket for my international audience)? Sigh. Oh well, I have an electric blanket and it’s still no too summery to use it.

Word from the Fuel peeps is that the olde worlde bells along Willis Street today were part of the Civil Defence Awareness week that’s on at the moment. They’re working bells and many passers by were grabbing their robes and giving them a ding. They’re representing bells that originally used to hang along the foreshore – yes the tide line used to be up in Willis Street before the big earthquake and land reclamation – and the bells were used to warn of rising waters.

They were gone by the time I walked home tonight – apparently part of an art installation and the poor artist patrolling the street received many complaints of too much clanging from various store owners along Willis Street.

“Preparation is my coping mechanism.”

Ooooo, I’m hopefully getting a helper … hence the Boss referring to the potential ‘little orange helper’ as an Ooma Loompa. Except that I missed the reference the first time not being as exposed to kids’ movies as him, nor a Charlie fan particularly when I was a kid.

Anyway, the position is advertised, had to write a description and ad and will next have to think about doing interviews and what to ask. I’ve been on panels before but usually within government organisations where the process has to be proven transparent so not too much leeway for completely off-the-cuff discussions however around here we definitely look for personality so there will have to be an element of that. The Mister has got all sorts of weird and wonderful questions he asks in interviews – not those awful “tell us about a situation when you were faced with [insert some unusual situation of conflict that as the person being interviewed you feel you never have been] and how you dealt with that” but some slightly left-field alternatives to “where do you see yourself in 5 years?” so I’m thinking I’ll use milder versions of a couple of those.

Hard to know what kind of person would fit well working with me. I think I’d be terrible to work for – god my standards are so high even I can’t meet them half the time and when I think of all the information in all the corners of my mind (hmmm, how does that work when your head is round …?) I struggle to think how I could pass that on successfully and actually let go of some of it. It’s actually really nerve-wracking thinking that I’ll be in the position of having to say yes or no I think someone can be my assistant off the back of a CV and an interview, and if there’s a successful candidate, responsible for providing them with a satisfying job and decent experience. This is such a niche job that we’re looking for someone reasonably inexperienced in this field so there’s some pressure to mould them for a higher calling. Eeek.