Living in New Zealand: Working in the Studio What I Built!
After months of site preparation; tons of shifting bricks, rubble, concrete and timber; two day’s work with a builder (assembling the horribly-named SheShed) and weeks of finishing off inside and out (including a temporary deck) Sunflower Studio is ready.
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It's a joy to work in the garden, with views of the harbour, but I have to be careful not to be distracted.
Living in New Zealand: Cartoonists Like Me Need a LOT of Tea
Working from home means being very close to the fridge. To keep myself on track, I distract my stomach with big mugs of tea. I’ve been borrowing the boyf’s Land Rover mug and that couldn’t continue, so the talented Coralie Winn, who works out of the gallery near Spooky Boogie, made me a big mug of my own.
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Now I just have to resist the chocolate.
New Zealand Garden Diary: Rampant Rampicante Squash
The cucumbers planted nearby are still tiny, but the rampicante squash is rambling all over. Tastes pretty good (like a courgette/zucchini) when young, but I’m looking to store the big one.
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Living in New Zealand: Wild Swimming Safely Is Hard When There Are Idiots on Jet Skis
In the summer I usually swim loads in Lyttelton Harbour. But it has been an odd summer with too many cool, windy days and the Lyttelton Port Company have been dredging the inner harbour through January and February, our prime swimming months. Plus I have been exceptionally busy in the garden sorting out my new studio. A lot of excuses! But I did swim a lot when I was on Quail Island as volunteer DOC warden. And it reminded me just how much I loathe jet-skis.
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Jet-skis are an abomination and I wish they were only ever used by trained lifeguards (not by bevvied-up blokes and their 10 year old kids, neither of whom know the regulations.)
The speed limit near swimmers is 5 knots, but many boaties and jetskiers ignore this in New Zealand
Whenever I'm swimming I and I see jet-skis I think about poor Kirsty MacColl and I have terrible, murderous thoughts.
At least (for now) you can find places without jetskiers.
Cormorant at Quail Island
