Another Asimov robot story, followed wrestling with a scanner to try to get a quart into a pint pot. The paper used for Brent's pictures of David and Matthew is drawn on alarmingly large paper and even trying to scan them in six sections each seems to miss some parts of the image, so this project will have to wait...possibly indefinitely.

They are safely sleeping now as I type up the details of the end of the day and think about the bits and pieces that need to be done at the end of the day: wash the dishes, feed the cats, check the locks and bake a loaf for tomorrow's Hot Bread Service. So ends another month. Where has 2000 gone? Three quarters of it will have disappeared in just a few hours time.

Nothing much else happening here. Goodnight and thank you, whoever.

There is just one more thing about today that isn't quite so good. When I got on the train at Taita, I was pretty sure I had a phone with me, but when I got off in Wellington I didn't. Somebody must have found it, however, because when I called Telecom NZ to report it, it had been switched off. So it might have been out of coverage area, but unlikely. Wait patiently, see what happens...in the meantime, who's going to complain if I use Viv's phone?

Dull and cold, but mostly dry. That's the way it was today, but after yesterday i wasn't going to stay in all day long, so instead we set off to the big city just before lunchtime.

By the time we arrived, it was indeed luchtime, but we called in at my post office box to see what was there. Nothing of note, none of the bank general disclosure statements I had ben expecting, just Christopher's Mileage Plus documentation.

We crossed the road and had lunch at Burger King. David had his usual two hamburgers while Matthew and I had the chicken tenders meal. The boys were given the opportunity to be told what "OJ" was short for.

Further along Lambton Quay, up Plimmer Steps a little and we find ourselves at the temporary shopfront occupied by one Brent Harpur, Wellington's cartoonist. He drew a crtoon of me a couple of weeks, indeed there is currently a picture of him doing it on his website (it will be on mine soon) and I wanted him to draw pictures of the boys too. I'll scan them and post them later on.

We drifted on into town, setting off to the cinema to see Titan A.E. but I wasn't too hopeful of it being a worthwhile and profitable experience for us all. This view had been confirmed earlier in the day with a review of the movie I saw at Screen It! but the boys seemed determined.

While waiting for the film, we took some time out at Time Out. I'm pleased to say that I can still beat the boys at Air Hockey. Matthew was beaten 7-2 and David lost 7-3. Another intriguing machine there counts from up from zero and you have to push the button as close to 1000 as possible. Somewhere in the 980s won me three tickets with my first try, but I was very pleased with a 999, scoring40 tickets. Together with the tickets the boys won, we had enough for a chocolate bar.

By then it was time for the truly awful film to begin. Matthew and David were reasonably polite about the film even so. I did explain that it is acceptable to say if you dislike a film. I felt that the storyline was weak and unoriginal and the effects unconvincing.

After that, we went back to the station and travelled back to Taita with a family who spoke no English who we were asked to let know when we reached Woburn and a father and son who were travelling from Petone to Upper Hutt.

The children found common ground even without language by looking at the Pokémon cards that one of the boys was looking at. Adults present found similar but not identical common ground.

On our way from the station to the fish and chip shop, the weather was not good. We hadn't had fish and chips on Wednesday, so we had it tonight instead. In the shop the television was on, and Matthew noticed the announcement that Daylight Saving starts tonight. So instead of it being a late night for the boys, it becomes a very late night. After bath, it will be a short story and then straight to bed!

Well, I don't think it looks too bad, all things considered. The only thing you have to watch with a scanner is that you don't get carried away. Some people say I should be. This is the picture that was on the postcard Viv sent, except that it was bigger and it changed when you held it at a different angle.

Yes, it was under construction when I was last there but of course I'm not even the slightest bit jealous. It still worries me that with all the wonderful things that there are in this world, there are still people, many people, whose dream is to go to Los Angeles and see Disneyland and the other theme parks. What about the Taj Mahal, the Victoria Falls, London, Paris...

The opportunity to read stories which Christopher might not appreciate was exploited on this cold night, as I tackled Isacc Asimov's Robot AL-76 goes astray. It seemed to be a winner. Bedtime followed shortly after, with coffee and milk consumed in the traditional manner. I braved the wet weather earlier to see if anybody had written to us. Mail included a postcard from Viv and Christopher from Universal Studios, a receipt for a mobile phone and an invitation for life insurance from the AA.

Some of these are more useful than others. I asked the boys if I should bake a loaf for breakfast tomorrow and the view seemed to be that I should. After throwing the ingredients into the breadmaker, I updated the District Grammarian for October. I don't know if anyone reads this stuff. I don't really know if anyone much reads the site at all, but I suppose it gives me something to do.

I'll have a go at scanning Viv's 3-d postcard and see if it's worth displaying.

The weather is still foul and getting colder. It's been a board and computer game day, with not much else happening. Nevertheless, it's still been a fairly easy going family day, with not too much discord. Matthew doesn't think he's had a fair turn on the computer today though It's time to be thinking about what story would be good for tonight, after sausage rolls and little pies for tea. The first week is at an end, and everybody is still alive and in good spirits.

David has been reading the log and kindly pointed out a couple of typographical errors. Thank you, I'm much indebted to a son who as pedantic as his father. Any more typos here? Let me know! I like to keep the standard of my work at least as high as the Guardian.

The day dawned wet and dreary, so obviously yesterday was the right day to go for a walk in the thick bush. According to one of my colleagues from work who phoned with a question, I'm not the only one from the Risk Management department to have been lost in the bush this week. As the morning continued, the boys and I played another board game, then we had potato wedges and or fish fingers and or mince for lunch. The dull weather looks like staying all day, so another board game, along with exciting stuff like washing dishes and washing clothes looks to be the plan for the afternoon.

Besides, with my legs aching as they are, I'm not keen to go for a long walk anywhere today - or even a short walk.

As we walked along Stokes Valley Road, looking at the spire of the Buddhist temple glinting in the sunlight, I wondered what we would do when we got to the end of the road. Along Stokes Valley Road there was an ominous sign reading "Walkway" and, along at the end of the road, another sign reading "Walkway" leading up a narrow bush path.

I'd never seen the sign before, so I don't know whether the walkway is new or just the sign. Either way, I persuaded two boys to walk up there with me. Matthew was more enthusiastic than David. After a short distance, the forest got thicker, but the path was still well-formed. A little further, then a little further and soon we were scrambling up steep banks with tree roots for handholds.

At some point, I think David and Matthew wondered whether going along the so-called "Walkway" was such a good idea after all. Indeed, I wondered the same myself. After a good fifty minutes walk, climbing almost all the time, we came out onto the summit, which has a spectacular view over the whole of Stokes Valley and into Taita, Avalon and Naenae. Stokes Valley Road, Delaney Park and Fraser Park were all clearly visible. A little further, Avalon Studios were plain to be seen and further down the coast, the whole of the bay and, indeed, Wellington City itself were clearly visible. Truly an awesome view, and well worth the trip for this alone. David and Matthew were thrilled by the view and the large area we could see.

The only problem was how to get home. When we reached the summit - yes I know I already said we had - we found a geodetic station belonging to the Lands Department. I must find out what it does. This meant we probably were at the real summit. Indeed, the land did fall away after this point, but to where? After a few minutes, we found an unmade road, which we followed for over an hour. Eventually, the views over the Hutt Valley disappeared and it became apparent that we were on a road to nowhere.

We turned round and retraced our steps, taking in electic pylons 21 and 22 and a radio transmitter station on our hunt for civilisation. From the transmitter station, we could see a possible route down over a hill, but it seemed like a very long way home indeed. Then we saw a bicycle tyre mark leading down a narrow passageway. We reckoned that if it was good enough for a cyclist, it was good enough for us. It proved to be a dried stream-bed, which at least meant that it was going down. We followed it as far as we could and found ourselves on a wider area of land, too steep to walk down but the only possible route. On all fours some of the way and walking some of the rest, we gingerly made our way down this extremely steep path and after a while found ourselves at the entrance to another, or possibly the same, dried stream-bed.

From there, we found our way down and could see a built-up area below us gradually becoming larger. A wire fence was our first suggestion that human life was near: canine life certainly was. We followed the path down and were surprised to find that we were walking down somebody's driveway, which possibly explained the barking.

Once on a road, we found a more major road and a dairy where I bought some cream soda and asked the way. We were in Naenae! We walked straight up the road to the station, drinking cream soda as we went. A few minutes at the station and a Taita train arrived. We were very pleased to see it, along with the bus to Holborn which took us home when we got off the train.

I cooked the corn on the cob for the boys. It was enjoyed by David and me, but not so much by Matthew who is still complained about a loose tooth making it hard to eat. Apparently it stopped him eating the kebab effectively yesterday. Yet some foods, mostly the ones he knows and loves, don't seem to cause any problem at all.

I think that tonight will see an early night for us all. Certainly it's been a lot quieter here tonight than it has been any of the other nights so far. I don't think they'll be keen to repeat this experience tomorrow, but if we can do this sort of walk, then Rangitoto next week will be a breeze.

We set off for the shops in the Valley for chicken and chips for lunch from the dairy, stopping to eat in Speldhurst Park and playing here for a little while. The boys played while I watched the linemen working on the power lines down Stokes Valley Road. My guess is that there has been some damage to them in the recent storms, but not in need of immediate repair.

We walked down (up?) Stokes Valley Road, noticing houses with ornamental cats on the window sills, hearing the babbling of brooks you don't notice if you drive past and generally rejoicing in the sounds and smells of spring.

Sweetcorn is cooked, so I'll continue describing the day later.

The boys woke at an early hour. It's interesting to note that as the southern spring gets under way, it gets lighter at an earlier and earlier hour.

Both boys wanted to know why they couldn't play on the computer this morning - I let them yesterday. I'm not sure that they should get to play on the computer every day so early. Instead, they had a game of Flutter and we'll probably all have a game later on.

Once the day is fully started, I think a walk around the Valley might be a popular suggestion. They know the locality so much better than I do...maybe they can show me round and point out the sites of interest.

Following a large lunch, I wasn't sure what the boys would want next, but Matthew was determined that we should have French toast, which he duly made for us. David doesn't like it so much, but he had enjoyed the kebabs earlier, so it was sort of fair.

Another slow start to the day, but it was bright and sunny at last. The storm is definitely over! By the time we got going, it was later than it should have been...

So it was that we took the train to Wellington and wandered up Willis Street to Cannibal. I could see lots of things to my taste, but nothing seemed to appeal to the finicky tastes of the boys. I might have tried to seek out food that they could eat, but I wasn't happy that the normal means of reserving a table (throwing a phone on it) seemed to be unfamiliar to some of the clients, who took it to the desk and sat down at the table thus vacated. We left. I don't know where these people come from.

We travelled on to Manners Street where, much to my doubt, we went to K Kebabs. After some negotiation, David and Matthew found that there was something they could eat there. I chose a lamb and chicken mix kebab with all the sauces, while David chose chicken with tomato sauce and Matthew chose chicken with no onion and with garlic sauce. David seemed to have a fine time, appreciating his kebab considerably. Matthew ate most of his, but I don't really think it was to his taste.

We set off after lunch to Capital E where the mazes exhibition was on. Mazes and labyrinths were present, but the most interesting exhibit, I think, was a collection of large coloured vinyl cuboids whcih had to be assembled to make a regular six sided die, with 1 and 6 opposite each other and so forth. After a few false starts we made it! Some of the other similar puzzles were beyond me in the limited time in such a place. It was fun to solve a Tower of Brahma puzzle again after so many years. I haven't lost my touch.

Back home via Clarrie's newsagent and tobacconist to buy the new Unlimited magazine (high tech business but no still web site - huh?) and I said each of the boys could choose one piece of confectionery. So why do they choose a Mars bar and a Caramello? We caught the express train back at 3:51, just missing the 3:38 stopper to Taita (thankfully).

David kindly offered to make coffee when we got back home. Thank you. I appreciate that.

It was warmer this morning, but still cold and rainy. As I looked out of the window at breakfast time, sheets of rain were falling the whole length of the Valley and I decided that it would definitely be a stay indoors day.

This wasn't so constructive as it might have been, but the bread for breakfast, supplemented by cereal, seemed to be popular. I finished reading Episode III of The Plant to myself while the boys played with Lego. We spent some of the morning tidying rooms and playing computer games, while after lunch (mince and rice, much to Matthew's disappointment) we had another game of Risk, which brightened Matthew.

The weather had improved too, by the time we had finished watching or ignoring the afternoon cartons. Accordingly, we set off to New World to buy an assortment of groceries. A new key card promotion has started, so I acquired one, but found that none of the things I had bought qualified. Tonight we had the chicken that David had been looking forward to, with ice cream to follow. Other things we are looking forward to as the week progresses include sweetcorn. Further, I have finally remembered to buy some shampoo and hope to remember to put some new soap in the bathroom so that I don't have to carry on using the pitiful little piece that will probably only last a couple more days.

I didn't feel quite so bad about feeling cold when I saw on the news that the worst storm to sweep across the North Island in years has been upon us, causing the Napier-Taupo, Napier-Taihape and Deset Roads to be closed, along with widespread damage on the East Coast. Napier and Hastings, we are told, were without power this morning. I'll call someone in Hastings tonight and find out what it was really like, but it doesn't sound good.

Decided to cook a loaf of bread for breakfast tomorrow. Often popular - let's see how it goes this time.

While tea was cooking, a nervous panic was enfolding me as I realised that having a set of judging forms for tonight's humorous contest might be altogether a Good Thing, but my printer did not agree. As I tried to print the forms required, the print head kept banging against the side of the printer and not playing the game at all. Different print quality, even disconnecting the scanner and printing straight to the printer made no difference. Eventually I was able to print what I needed, switching the printer off after each page. Not ideal. As it turned out, copies of the forms were already there, but i wasn't to know this.

Recovery complete, I also took the opportunity to be one of the first to download the next episode of Stephen King's The Plant for which I will shortly pay a dollar. I set this to print as we left. (It printed perfectly.)

David and Matthew were instructed to behave well at the Toastmasters meeting and I'm pleased to say that they did behave very well. Trish and Woolly both spoke to them at some length, Trish to talk about Rangitoto and Woolly to ask whether they had had much takeaway food since Viv had been away.

The contest itself saw four fine speeches, the winner being An alien at my table, a speech about a teenager. I was later called upon to use a speech containing the words blue, bus, revolving and ridiculous. I did this by talking about Wallasey buses. In commenting on the contest, Woolly described the room's acoustics as abysmal. As soon as the meeting was over, we set off for home and the boys were keen to go straight to bed, as it was already past bedtime. I made myself a cup of coffee and got the day's events saved for posterity. Tonight I'll try to get an early night again...try, that is - not get one!

We woke to morning which was cold and wet. The temperature had dropped considerably overnight and there was a steady drizzle, which got heavier and heavier as the day progressed.

A quick look at the Hoyts web site revealed that today was a possible day to go and see some things at the cinema, seeing as it was not a fit day to do anything else much.

Accordingly, we went down to Taita station and picked up the train into town. The weather was such that we decided to pick up a yellow city circular bus to the cinema. We just missed one, so sheltered inside the station until the next one came, picking up a Tranzrail brochure along the way.
As soon as the bus came, we got on. The plan was for the boys to see Pokémon 2000. However, the prospect of a full length anime was too much for me, to say nothing of the hordes of children who would be there. Instead, I saw a practically empty cinema showing Scary Movie which was probably marginally better than the other, but I think it was a close run thing. Certainly the fact that there were less than a dozen in the cinema may have given a clue as to the movie's quality.

Seeing the film in the first week of release meant that David and Matthew were rewarded with this trading card:Apparently it used to be very rare, changing hands for hundreds of dollars. I presume that those who paid this sum for it are now thrilled that there are millions of replicas of this "rare" card now easily available. The rail brochure was pressed into service as cover for this formerly rare item.

After lunch, we went to Te Papa Tongarewa, the Museum of New Zealand. It was a bitterly cold walk across town from Manners Mall to Te Papa, with a southerly (I presume it was a southerly) blowing and a cold rain falling. We were glad to get inside and feel the warmth of the place.

We spent most time at "Awesome Forces" before going to see the "Golden Days" show again, and before long we were again on our way home. We sheltered by the side of the museum until a yellow bus came and went to the station just in time to catch the 5:06 express. I don't often get to that one myself on a workday.

Tonight might have been chicken, as promised to David, but I discovered that the pack in the freezer which I thought was chicken was, in fact, something else. So we had mince, always a popular standby - at least for me.

Lamb chips for tea followed another game of Risk, surprisingly won by David who wiped out my South America and his brother's North America.

The next part of the evening rather pointlessly spent watching me play a game of Age of Empires. After that, a few chapters followed by bed for the boys and some pointless time spent at Napster for me. Did you know that Judge Dread died of a heart attack onstage in 1998? No, nor me. Do you really care? Still, more of his songs are on the Napster servers than used to be.

We just got back from the hockey prizegiving. It was a much better run event that the softball prizegiving earlier in the year, and I'm very glad to say that! There was talk about most of the players, Matthew being easily recognised by "all over the field at the same time, talking to people all the time" while Christopher was noted for "Are we winning?"

David and Matthew seemed pleased to see their friends from the game and to receive medals. It was a shorter event than I had expected, with a worthwhile amount of food for afternoon tea for once.


The above picture is Matthew and Christopher's team, with our two boys disappearing into the gloom on the immediate right of the coach.

Back home and it's time for another game of Risk. Let's see if we can have less tears this time.

Before we went to church I called Viv to find out how the journey had been. It seems, as ever, that the last part is the longest. The Heathrow Express, the bus to Euston and the Virgin train to Liverpool. Christopher was already asleep when I called.

This morning, our church service theme was "Me first!" and how this works today. As an illustration, teams were put together which would compete in three events - the pong-pong ball on a spoon, the standing long jump and the crawl. My team (Red) had a disappointing performance, scoring two lasts and one second - yet we were awarded the gold medal. The team with the highest total got the gold medal, and one boy was extremely unhappy about this. Not one of our boys, but somebody who should know better...

The sermon was rather lengthy, though not so long as the presentation for Summer Wine, an Anglican event over the new year break. The service and lunch were poorly attended, probably because it's the first weekend of the holidays. It's a much better day today than it was yesterday, with a hot sun for the first time in a while and very little wind.