Notes from the side of a volcano: Five on a Friday

1. One good reason behind the move to Wellington was that The Husband was down here at least one day most weeks. Of course, now we are all down here he often has to fly to Auckland instead. But not as much. However last week he was up there for days, including over the weekend when he was at Foo camp. (People always look at you questioningly when you say that, and I just reply that it is a get-together of bloggers and techies and geeks spending a weekend telling each other how cool they are ... which they are of course, really). He loves it, but we missed him over the weekend.

2. It coincided with the "post-move slump" which usually hits a month or so after a big relocation. Not helped by the fact we don't have our own place yet so don't feel totally settled.In the slumping spirit, here's a few things that I would change about Wellington:

- I really miss the Auckland library service, being able to use any library in the whole city and the ability to do everything online - including reserving books online for free then picking them up when you get the email to say they have been delivered to your local library. Here they even fine you for returning books to a different branch. On the positive front, the city library is fantastic.

- I struggle to get my head around the rubbish system. In Auckland we had one big wheelie bin for rubbish and another for all recyclables. Here we have to buy coloured rubbish bags from the supermarket and use the yellow ones for waste, the green ones for recyclables - but not glass because that goes in the plastic glass bin. The recycling bags and bins get collected on alternate weeks, meaning we have bags of plastic and paper sitting around for days. I feel I need a "rubbish spreadsheet".

- It's not great going back to a half-hourly bus service (though we do at least have a bus stop at the door).

3. Daughter-Two had her first fencing lesson (and won both her bouts).

4. We live a reasonable distance from Daughter-Two's school. Not so long as to be impossible to walk, but long enough that my legs are complaining after a week of it. We are looking at buying a house next to the school, which would be a great improvement in many ways (not least because it is on two bus routes - see above). But I think I will miss my daily commute, which goes like this:

Go out the house and cross the main road

Past the Dutch Ambassador's house

At the top of the street you get the first glimpse of the harbour, but then you run out of street. It turns into a pathway instead.

(The plans for the suburb were laid out in London and it wasn't until they got here to build it that they realised much of the land was practically vertical so the planned streets turned into steps and walkways)

Up the footpath

Which gets steeper and more overgrown as you climb

Until you come out onto another road and are rewarded by this sight. Never fails to lift the spirits. (sadly was very hazy this afternoon)

I love the "No Exit" sign at the end of the street. Do they think that otherwise people would just keep driving?

Then there is a walk along a - thankfully flat - street of nice houses with occasional glimpses of the sea. Until the road once again turns into a pathway, downhill this time.

It's very steep and winding, and at the end you get your first glimpse of the rugged hills across the valley.

Back onto a flat residential street again, with lots of houses on the hills to look at (most of these have no road access, only flights of steps leading to them)