So going back to work may not be all it's cracked up to be!

So we worked for wine today doing relabeling. It was definitely not glamorous work - actually rather tedious but not difficult. It was fun spending time with Joelle and her work colleagues. There was a lot of standing for Ernie, unpacking 12 pack boxes and repacking the wine into 6 pack boxes after the bottles were relabeled. I was able to sit for most of the day putting different labels over the current labels.  Thankfully we were able to do the work indoors instead of outside like we thought would happen. I did drop 2 bottle and broke them. I guess that will come out of my 'pay'.

Changing subjects, my son-in-law made a very interesting statements the other day. He said that New Zealand is really a third world country pretending to be a first world country. That statement alone made a great impact on me. We've had numerous conversations about living in New Zealand and some of the difficulties we've encountered. We've determined basically it's because their infrastructure leaves something to be desired. The internet usage both at home and at hotels is based not on the speed you choose but how much data you use on a daily/monthly basis.

In Joelle's house, we have to be very aware of who showered on a given day and who was planning on showering on another day because they have a hot water heater that heats the water only at night so that tank of hot water has to last all day until it heats up again overnight. Now, she did have one that heated twice a day but they changed to once a day to conserve finances. She does have a washing machine but not a dryer so we have to hang our clothes outside on the clothesline to dry. It's not that they don't have dryers here, it's just that they take several hours to dry clothes. So not very effective and quite costly. All the electric outlets have switches to turn the outlet on and off and Joelle is constantly reminding us to turn off the outlet if we are not using it. Again, to conserve finances. And again, living here is expensive.

Going back to my original subject, after a long day doing wine work, we decided not to cook but rather go out to eat. We chose an Indian restaurant in Blenheim and just had a great meal. It's quite common in ethnic restaurants to bring your own wine and pay a corkage fee. Trevor brought a super bottle of Savignoun Blanc from Forrest. After a full day of physical work, a bottle of white wine followed by a bottle of Pinot Noir and a lot of good food, I am a  most happy camper We're home now and getting ready for a cuppa. That's what they call a cup of tea and yes we drink it with sugar and milk. Well, after my cuppa, I think I'll be ready to crash. Have to get up tomorrow and go back to finish labeling the boxes on the pallets since we didn't have the labels today.

Oh, we're going to have to stop at the mattress store tomorrow to pick up a set of sheets. We bought a new bed for the sleepout last week and it was supposed to be delivered on Wednesday. Well Wednesday came and was getting ready to go and no mattress yet. We called them to find out when the bed would arrive and found out that they didn't have a king size bed in the warehouse but would have it on Friday. Since we were expecting the bed that day, they offered to deliver a different king size bed on loan for the next two days and then bring the one we ordered on Friday and exchange out. I've never before heard of a loaner bed. Obviously we declined and said we would just wait until Friday. Personally I think that was the better decision. Just not quite comfortable with a loaner bed.

That's all for today. Y'all have a great day! I'll be back on line tomorrow!