35,000

That's the number of frequent flyer points I had that were about to expire so, rather than waste them, I went shopping.

I realised when I unwrapped them that I had gone a bit retro but all in a good cause.  The phone because I only have a walkaround one that will be no good if the power goes out (emergency planning in action!), the mincer, well, just because. The wine aerator is the mod con, I only drink one glass at a time.

Going low tech

A few thousand travellers, including me, were at the mercy of mother nature on Friday, trying to fly into or out of Wellington.  The fog was going up and down, flights were cancelled, delayed and diverted.  By the time I got to the airport late in the afternoon to get home, surrounded by high tech (people on their on their mobile phones, ipads and whatnot, automated everything for checkin) someone had decided that low tech was the way to go - worked a treat too.

Wandering Elephants

Yup, elephants.  These guys are an installation for the Garden Festival which began yesterday.  They are on the landing outside work at the moment but will be wandering to locations right round the mountain over the next 10 days.  They are life size, made of woven willow and very beautiful.  The local duck population however, were looking less than thrilled.