Volume 7, Issue 6

Greetings from Wellington.

Woo hoo. Where did that month go? The last Chronicle was 13 March – exactly one month before our departure date. Lots of people have been asking me if I have been in count down mode. My truthful answer has been no – until now.

Selling real estate in this country is an interesting experience. Despite having received and accepted an offer ages ago, no money changed hands and both vendor and purchaser can re-neg – it’s weird. This means that the place stays on the market until the deal goes “unconditional”. So we have lived in excessive tidiness for weeks and weeks and cleared out every Sunday afternoon for open homes to proceed. Thank goodness it went unconditional last week, so that is a major job ticked off on the to do list.

We have commissioned a friend to sell the cars and happily there are some nibbles on those - finally. With any luck they’ll sell over the weekend. One bed has gone to the son of a Chilton teacher. He is setting up house for the first time with his girlfriend so we sent them off with crockery and cutlery and glassware and linen and and and – it was a win-win! Two book cases are earmarked for a Board member. Although their call to come and get them is long delayed I have realized. That deal may be about to fall over! Stop press – it’s on, but only one bookcase.

A former member of my staff, recently returned from a stint in Singapore, generously offered to host a private party for us at their fabulous home. After umming and ahing we agreed and that was Friday night. It was actually nice to have the chance to mingle with a small group of people with whom I have worked most closely and of whom I am fond. The Official Bash is on Monday night. I have managed to persuade my Chair that one function is the way to go. One speech to write that way. Problem is that I used a modified version of the speech as my editorial for my last weekly bulletin and now feel I need to do something different. More writing.

I think that departing feeling has been accelerated by arriving home from work on Friday. Between two professional packers and Dr Crumble, a huge amount of stuff had been disappeared into boxes, rooms and walls cleared and generally great leaps taken towards exiting. Apparently one of the guys has a 3 year old son and he was sidetracked (the packer I mean) by our collection of picture books and children’s books. He was reading instead of packing. Same guy finished going away with a whole box of titles of which we had doubles plus a spare teddy bear, so he was pretty happy.

The rest of the packing happens tomorrow. So after I have done this Quake, I will be up to getting gear needed for the next few days into bags which wont go into the container. All good fun. Right.

Did I say that I had enrolled in the Experience Bank program run by Leadership Victoria? Well I have. That has entailed two flying trips to Melbourne for the day of 23 March and again for 6 April. The 6 April was particularly relaxing because my syndicate was the duty group and of all the tasks to be done for the day I landed the job of preparing the research paper and presenting it to set up the day. I think that takes a really special sort of talent! Duh!

The next Quake will be sent from Melbourne and I don’t know how long it will take for us to become communicado. We are staying with my mother in the first instance and 03 9889 3276 is the landline there.

That’s all for now

From

Dr Quake & Dr Crumble

Dr Quake’s Chronicle, Volume 7, Issue 5

Greetings from Wellington.

Earthquakes seem to have dominated life here since 22 February. Poor old Christchurch is devastated. Apart from the significant loss of life, the city is now on its knees in an economic sense. And with it the nation I’d say.

At Chilton we are hosting 7 or 8 girls, refugees from a range of Canterbury schools. We have had an extraordinary mufti day – red and black theme (the Canterbury colours) universally adopted. The school looked fantastic I’d have to say. And last Thursday we had a K to 13, House based sponsored walk to raise money. The sun shone and tit was a fabulous event. With any luck a lot of money will have been raised as well. Members of the public were stopping their cars and pressing notes onto the girls as they walked.

Of course the two quite big quakes we had in Wellington last week plus the big quake in China and the monster quake in Japan on Friday have fuelled a level of anxiety which is threatening to steamroll the Chilton OSH Committee. I have new insights into how runs on banks work. Sales of gas cooking units and big plastic containers for storing water are walking out of places like Bunnings.

After a whirlwind of open homes we accepted an offer on Poto Road a week or so ago. It is like playing poker I’ve decided. Turns out their financing was partly dependent on mortgaging a property in, you guessed it, Christchurch. We now don’t know what the state of play is at all. Suffice to say we live in an agony of tidiness and depart every Sunday afternoon to keep the way clear. Wearing thin I’d have to say.

We are about to lock in to a removal company. After no hassles entering NZ, we are appalled to learn that we will have to pay duty on all wine and spirits we seek to land in Oz unaccompanied. Bloody cheek I’d say. Not as though we have either in commercial quantities. We have put in place a cunning plan to ensure the Australian government makes no profit from our return. But we will have to maintain a cracking pace of consumption. Oh well – someone has to do it.

The quiet and bitter battle over the cats has been waged and ended. I opted for a Socratic approach. While we are both well aware the two cats will limit the range of accommodation options available for rent in Melbourne, adopting out a cranky old bastard like James Bond was never really an option. Moneypenny is relishing having become an outdoor cat and is a rotten stay out. We see little of her these days.

We are grappling with the logistics of the shift at present. The plan is to downsize and rent – issue is what to do with all our excess stuff – of which there I heaps. Sell it here or back in Melbourne. Et etc etc Now I the time for a magic wand really.

Crumble has applied for a job in Melbourne this weekend – immediate start. The odds are he’ll get it I reckon. That would be poetic justice, making me Office In Charge Of Re-settling! Yippee – that way I’d get to choose the cars. Yes, there is a god.

Ah. We have a definite shift date. We fly our of Wellington on 13 April, just one month from today.

That’s all for now from

Dr Quake & Dr Crumble

Dr Quake’s Chronicles Vol 7 Issue 4

Greetings from Wellington.

Big quake in Christchurch this afternoon is dominating the news here. I’ve been lining up special services for the morning with the Chaplain and talking to members of staff who have family connections in Christchurch. It doesn’t look too good down there. I reflect on our own personal state of readiness and it is not terrific. I keep on meaning to do something about that and keep on doing nothing. Hmm.

Otherwise, the whirl of the start of the new school year has continued pretty much as usual. Lots of nights out hosting evenings for parents to meet the members of staff caring for their daughters this year. Sunday night’s cathedral service marks the end of the beginning of the year, thank goodness.

It has been gratifying that over the course of all these functions so many parents have seized the opportunity to speak with me and express their regret that I am leaving. Sometimes, with nose firmly applied to the grindstone, one wonders if anyone really gives a damn. Apparently they do.

Dr Crumble has been busy busy busy. He has been working very solidly on Lule’s thesis. This has been a very long story of one step forward and seemingly two steps back throughout. She had the bricks put to her by her university – show cause why you should retain you job without a PhD – some chap recently finished his has put up his hand for Lule’s classes. This had the effect of galvanizing Lule into fevered action. Hours and hours of Skype later, Crumble wrote the sign off letter last week and the production moves to the next phase. Her university uses the North American model – internal examiners and then Viva Voce and/or Full Defence. I am not sure what the difference is between the Viva and the Defence but either way it sounds like an opportunity for academic with an axe to grind with the poor candidate’s supervisor can eviscerate the candidate in a public display of brutality with impunity and regardless of how well informed they are about the aspect of the thesis which they are gnawing at. Having knocked over Lule he moved onto Richard’s. This seems to have been faster in these closing stages and I believe he has signed off on that one also.

So a man of leisure I hear you all think. Oh no. Crumble has picked up some consultancy work with Retail and more importantly, is Officer In Charge of Shift. Poto Road has been on the market for a week and a half and we have had 20 or so lots of people through with about 8 or so repeat visitors. The Agent is now marshalling offers. We would rather accept a lower offer as long as it is not conditional on the sale of another property. The market here is pretty depressed and the recession shows no sign whatsoever of abating. Not the Lucky Country. Removalists are in the process of quoting for us. We definitely need to rationalize our stuff as it is going to cost an arm and a leg to move it and then store it until we have figured out where to live.

If any of you have any ideas about jobs, I’d be very pleased to hear them by the way. The only absolutely fixed item is that whatever it is I’ve gotta be able to ski in the northern hemisphere in late January/February. That rules out schools!

That’s all for now from

Dr Quake & Dr Crumble

Dr Quake's Chronicles Volume 7, Issue 3

Greetings from Wellington.

Dr Crumble and I enjoyed a fab dinner on Friday night at Logan Brown – one of the swisher restaurants in Windy Wellington. We were celebrating Neil’s last day at the Retail Institute. This means that on Monday morning I will have to remember that he is unemployed and stir myself out of bed to be on time for work. While he may well consult/do some contract writing for them in the coming weeks, for the moment at least he is a gentleman of leisure.

Actually it was a double celebration. I tendered my resignation from my role at Chilton at the start of December and with the company of my Board, have been sitting on the information for nearly two months. I announced my decision to staff at the first staff meeting, held on Wednesday and parents / caregivers were advised in writing in Thursday’s post. I had been hanging in my straps a bit. It is good to be out in the open.

I have a 6 month notice period but in discussions with the Board across December and January we have agreed that I will take some of my accrued annual leave during the notice period and that my last day will be Monday 11 April. An odd day perhaps, but it separates farewells from the Easter Services on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 April and conveniently coincides with the scheduling of the usual weekly Principal’s Assembly. Efficient and no fuss.

In anticipation of likely questions some of you might have…

Why – where has my decision come from? My sabbatical leave last year gave me the time and space to reflect on the things that really matter. My experiences here and across the Ditch in recent years have taught me powerfully that life is short and relationships matter very much. I have been reminded of who I am and what I value. My mother’s very dear sister Edith died in December 2009 and her remaining sister Lucy died in December 2010. My cousin Peter was murdered not long after our return from overseas. The long-term partner of a very dear friend of Neil and mine dropped dead totally unexpectedly during fourth term. In this context the facts that Mary de Araugo turns 95 on her next birthday and Neil, who was fifteen years older than me when we were married and unsurprisingly is still fifteen years older than me, is not far off approaching his 70^th birthday have confronted me over the course of the year in 2010. Thus, compelling personal reasons have led me inexorably to a turning point after having completed six years as Principal of Chilton Saint James School.

Crumble and I intend to return to Australia to be closer to family and in particular, to my mother. We will base ourselves in Melbourne in the first instance and see what happens after that. I anticipate that we will be back in Melbourne by the end of April and maybe sooner.

I have had to overcome my terror of an immediate future without a job. Now that I have moved beyond fear, I actually feel quite liberated - I am still grappling with the question of what I want to do when I grow up! I have enrolled in the Experience Bank Program with Leadership Victoria – a program targeted at people like me in the 45 + age bracket and with substantial leadership experience already. I hope to meet a lot of interesting people through this and with luck, my future employer. I am not ready not to work but do realize that picking up a job may take some time.

That’s all for now from

Dr Quake & Dr Crumble

Dr Quake’s Chronicles Volume 7, Issue 2

Sunday 23 January, 2011

Creakings from Wellington – oops I mean greetings from Wellington.

Crumble and I have been back in New Zuland for just over a week and are going for the Guinness Book of Records in terms of amassing trips to the chiropractor. We have groaned out of the blocks each morning and have probably worked more productively in our time.

Our chiro is a really great bird called Jane. Little by little she is getting all the bits back to where they are meant to be. It is not a comfortable process and really illuminates the aging process – which as we all know is better than the alternative but which is nevertheless disheartening in terms of limitations on performance and extended recovery times!

Looking back it was a fantastic trip to Canada. We certainly had a bit of everything in terms of weather – zero plus temperatures with rain (oh joy) at both Whistler and Fernie which turned snow to gelati and taxed legs sorely. Way way sub -20 temperatures at Fernie made it too cold to stay out long. But for the most part it was -10 to -15 which is very comfortable, heaps of snow, lots of powder days (yippee) and generally great skiing.

My downfall was in fact Fernie. Small enough for it to be absolutely sensible to ski in home at lunchtime, take off wet layers to dry and (herein I note was the trap for old players) scoff a handful of Vitamin I tablets (Ibuprofen for the uninitiated). This meant that, fortified by Vitamin I, Quake was able to ski on through the day and have heaps of fun. By contrast at Whistler, which is way too big to go home for lunch and given that Quake is way too disorganized to take drugs in her pockets in the morning for consumption later, as the day progressed and the bodily discomfort increased, I throttled back little by little. I suspect the Whistler approach saved the aging body whereas the Vitamin I break kept me harder at it on the snow and I am reaping the benefits with Jane the Chiro now!!

Jane the Chiro has suggested to me that after 400km of walking on the Camino in Spain mid 2010 and a month of skiing over Christmas, Crumble really has earned a holiday at the beach. I suspect that Jane is right!

We have had a run of sultry weather in the week or so we have been back, with a good bit of winter thrown in for good measure. The heater has been on more than once (and this in just a week!). The only good thing about the wintry weather is the clouds at sunset. Our view was very Turneresque last night. Pink to gold light on the undersides of heavy clouds and dull to gleaming water. It was yet another occasion that, having noticed the spectacle and been drawn from our seats at the dining table to the kitchen window to admire it, the sprint upstairs to grab a camera and try to capture it was just that little too late. Some nice pix but the optimal lighting had passed. Drat. That has happened to us so many times here – it is very often a beautiful spectacle out the kitchen window.

It is Wellington Anniversary Day tomorrow so a long weekend here. Yippee. Saw The King’s Speech this morning and may see something else tomorrow. Then it will be all systems go.

That’s all for now from

Dr Quake & Dr Crumble

Dr Quake's Chronicles Vol 7 Iss 1

Sunday 9 January, 2011

Happy new year and greetings from Fernie – home of 30 feet of legendary powder snow annually. Or so they say.

We have enjoyed a white Christmas at Whistler and had a fantastic 14 days or so. A bit of everything – sun, snow, rain, snow, snow – the lot. A few powder days, one or two cement-snow days but for the most part heaps of snow and heaps of fun – 2m of snow fell over the course of a week over Christmas. It was amazing really.

I must say my scepticism about the Peak to Peak gondola, built for the 2010 Winter Olympics to connect the launching pads for the alpine areas of each of Whistler and Blackcomb directly, and thereby avoiding a long trip down one hill to the village and up the other hill, has been replaced by my eventual acknowledgement that it does serve a useful function. In fact we used it on more than one occasion to get over to Blackcomb to the Crystal Hut to get a fully loaded waffle for lunch! Now there’s a use for you!

Whistler of course was crawling with people after 26 December. Observation – heaps of really attractive dogs on holiday in Whistler too. Lots of poodle crosses and cute looking terriers. I was struck by the contrast with the dogs that seem to teem over New Zealand, or in the Hutt at least – which all seem to be jowly, deep chested, slavering pit bull types. Not the least bit cute anyway.

We did First Tracks at Whistler on our last day, which happened to be 1 January. We figured that everyone would have a hang over and so we would have less company and we were right. Only about 100 of us uploaded at 7.15am. It was a beautiful gondola ride, starting in darkness with Venus glowing brightly. Breakfast was way better than our usual rush job at home and then at the ring of the bell at about 8.00am we hit the snow. As lift after lift was gradually opened we were amongst the first down at each – fantastic. To cap it off it was a blue sky day so all in all a great last day.

January 2^nd we transferred to Fernie. That involved a beautiful bus journey back down the hill to Vancouver, a flight from there to Cranbrook and an hour-long bus shuttle ride to the tiny ski village of Fernie. We haven’t been here for many years and it is little changed.

Snow has been falling ever since, except for uuugh – rain on Thursday and above zero temperatures. Not good. Since then however it has been dumping and the temperature has plummeted so it is all good. We look forward to the avalanche control guys getting things sorted and opening up all the high bowls very soon. They have been hampered by the very low cloud and poor visibility apparently. Need to be able to see where to let off their explosives and what effect the munitions have to guide their next steps. Apparently the White Pass chairlift was destroyed by an avalanche 4 years ago so they take the whole avalanche thing very seriously.

Over this past weekend we have met up with Brenda and Donna who we met at the Pari Centre in Italy in May. They live in Calgary and drove (along with Bruce, Brenda’s husband) to Fernie to ski with us. It was really great to meet up again.

The disappointment of the trip would have to be the beer. I had this recollection/vision/image of very distinct and tasty local beers. Kokanee very different from Kootenay and so on. This trip I have been struck by the soapy tastelessness of all the local drops and have resorted to old faithful Stella. Seems a crime to drink a Belgian beer in Canada but there you go. Crumble proposes the theory that this phenomenon of regression to the beer mean can be put down to the global beer hegemony of Fosters and Lion Nathan. He is probably right.

Nothing too esoteric to start the year, but that is the overview of what we have been up to!

That’s all for now from

Dr Quake & Dr Crumble

Dr Quake’s Chronicles V 6, Iss 15

Tuesday 21 December, 2010

Greetings from Whistler!

As you see we have headed off to skis again this Christmas. And having been slow out of the blocks upon our return from Spain, Switzerland was all too difficult and here we are in Canada by default. Easy peasy. No issues about the day of week that you arrive. No issues about the day of the week you check out. Etc etc. The Air NZ flight direct from Auckland to Vancouver is a great invention. No mucking around on LAX or SFO. No grappling with unfriendly US immigration types.

Funny how every year in early to mid December I reflect that I really should take some annual leave immediately after the end of term for a few days and then come back into the office to clear the end of year back log feeling fresh and able to be productive. Instead, I plod on and take way longer to get it all done than is reasonable. Every year. Same story. Old dog, new tricks.

We darted over to Melbourne for breakfast on Saturday 10 December. It was a rush job. Just time for dinner with a group of friends on the Friday night, breakfast with the de Araugo connections on Saturday, lunch with David and off again on Sunday morning early. It was good not to be on the red eye getting back into Wellington at midnight.

We left Wellington again on Friday 17 December. Last minute rush to get the cats to their accommodation and even more last minute rush to pack. Now that we are here in Whistler we are purchasing items of gear that did not make it to the suitcases!

We have just over a fortnight here and then we are heading to Fernie for a week or so. We haven’t been there for ages. Donna (the dancing lawyer) and Brenda (the engineer) the Calgary duo who we met at the Pari Centre in May are meeting us for the weekend in early January. We are looking forward to catching up with them and meeting their husbands. Then back to Vancouver, brief catch up with Joe and Jen Belanger before heading back to NZ and the office.

Our big news is that Crumble has tendered his resignation from his job as Principal Advisor to the CEO of the Retail Institute after two and a half years and having completed Stage 1 of the Literacy and Numeracy Training Implementation for the Retail industry in NZ. It’s a long story. It appears that John the CEO has scope to engage him as a consultant so things may not change all that much. We’ll see.

We look forward to a continuing white Christmas. Season’s greetings to all the Quake readership – stay tuned for Volume 7 coming to you soon.

That’s all for now from

Dr Quake & Dr Crumble