VISITING U.K.

When my parents were alive I visited U.K. several times.  I was on a new Zealand passport and originally, when I got to Heathrow I had a choice of Commonwealth or others, later it changed to E.U. or others.  I always went to the shorter E.U. queue having been born in the U.K. and Max, who was born in New Zealand came with me and we went straight through.

Over recent years I have been thinking about visiting one last time and was about to when Covid hit.  I was shocked to read an article this morning about the fact that I would either need a British Passport or something called a Certificate of Entitlement which would cost 589 pounds whereas Doug on a New Zealand Passport having been born here would only need an ETA at 16 pounds.

I do not know why the U.K. wants to punish me for having been born there. It is not the thought of the actual travel that deters me from overseas travel but all the bureaucracy.  

Here are the relevant parts of the article.

So then I did some research and it is definite that on the 25th of February if you're a dual citizen and you're born in Britain, then you have to have a British passport.

 "If you as a Kiwi [born in NZ] wanted to go to Britain, no problem at all - just use your Kiwi passport."

It put British citizens in a worse position in their own country than visa-waiver travellers - such as New Zealand-born citizens using ETAs, he said.

His shock at the cost was matched by his outrage at the bureaucracy involved - including finding a UK passport holder to confirm his identity, form-filling, the possibility of an in-person interview at the embassy in Wellington, and having to post his New Zealand passport.

"If you don't want to send the passport, which I didn't, you have to send a photocopy of every page. And they make the point that even if the pages are blank, you've got to send a photocopy. So I sent 42 pages, 41 of which were blank. Isn't that fantastic? So, yeah, this is bureaucracy gone mad."

Vince considered whether he could get around the rule by hoping authorities assumed he was New Zealand-born - but then realised his NZ passport reveals he was born in the English city of Coventry.

The wait for a new British passport would be worrying for people with travel already booked or who had an emergency, he said.

A new passport seemed a better option than an alternative the UK government is offering - a 'certificate of entitlement' costing £589/NZ$1373 compared to £94.50/$220 for an adult passport - but it is still much more than an ETA (£16/$37 for two years), and a lot more work.

"Up until now, it's cost me around about $600, copious amounts of form filling in, and now we're still waiting to see what else they want. It has to go by special delivery - there is only one way the post office will accept old passports and that costs $121. Absolutely ridiculous. And we're in our 80s, we'll probably only ever go [to England] one more time."

COOLER

Yesterday was 32 degrees C. but we still managed a lot between us.  Doug has been busy having a clean out of his workshop and I cooked a leg of hogget in the slow cooker on high.  It doesn't heat the room like the oven does and we ended up with beautiful tender meat.  I also managed to catch up on several routine jobs that needed doing.  Luckily, today has been cooler just 28 degrees but still hot.  Everyone was pleased with the walk I had chosen for the Parkinson's group today which was alongside the Hatea River in the bush.

At least lunch was easy, leftover hogget with salad.

Going out to water the garden when it cools a little - 32 degrees in the back porch.

SUMMER

It seems as though summer is finally here. Well, I wrote those words about ten days ago when the temperature was the early 20's and it stayed at about 23/24 degrees C. (my comfort zone ) until today.  There is a devastating heatwave  with wildfires in Australia, mainly in the south, and their weather tends to come over here.  Today it is 29 degrees, possibly 30 and tomorrow is forecast for 31 degrees.  The first load of washing was dry when I put the second load out.  Watering every night again. Still, apart from going to the Growers' Market I managed three loads of washing done and folded, made a loaf of bread and cooked mussels in white wine for lunch.  Will shortly put my feet up to read for an hour then we will both be watering.  The forecast is for the days to get cooler with 26 degrees C. on Friday.

It has been a busy week with the Walking Group starting again, a visit to meet new great-grandson, a meet up at the Town Basin with a friend from the Far North who now lives in Auckland and was driving north with her two daughters who were 4 and 5 when we first met and are now in their mid 50's, one lives in Auckland the other was visiting from Melbourne plus visits from daughters and cousins.  

The garden keeps changing and I am picking a good quantity of beans daily and giving a lot away. 

 Tomatoes on the first five plants are just starting to ripen.

NEW YEAR'S DAY AND THE START OF THE SECOND QUARTER OF THE 21ST CENTURY

We haven't been walking over the Christmas break as life has been busy but decided to do one of our favourite walks this morning, A.H. Reed Park to the Whangarei Falls.  It was 26oC. and most of the walk is in the shade.  We also did the extra part of the walk by going up and over the Falls itself.  

Two shots of the old chestnut tree

I don't know whether this will work but the link should go to the New Year's e-card I have been sending this year.  I don't usually send New Year's cards but this was just too good not to send.

I SWIPED IT TO HIGHLIGHT,  THEN DID A RIGHT CLICK,  THEN GO TO "......jlcards......."

 https://jlcards.com/kU2xn9

END OF DECEMBER UPDATE

•  First of all new flowers in the garden.  We often buy plants at the Growers' Market and couldn't resist these dwarf sunflowers

the same with this lovely poppy

These yellow "daisies" whose name escapes me were from a neighbour sorry for the blurred photo.

and in the vegetable garden This buttercup? squash came up in the garden from one we had last year

I was late planting tomatoes so we have a while to wait yet.  There are five at this stage and five younger ones.

The second lot of beans are just coming on 

We have also got cucumbers and courgettes and this shows three of the six bunches of bananas 

Christmas morning was spent at Granddaughter's farm and we enjoyed spending time with the family especially four of the five great-granddaughters.  Since then the first local great-grandson has been born and I have celebrated another year on the planet.  Doug suggested we go out for a meal but as everywhere is busy with holidaymakers I opted to stay home and we bought some delicious gurnard which we had for lunch followed by the last of the trifle.

Just before Christmas a couple from the walking group gave us some lamb (well hogget actually) and asked if Doug would care for some Monarch caterpillars as they were going away so we have a whole lot of "new blood" in the Monarch family. The cage they are kept in now has lots of chrysalises.

CHRISTMAS DAY

A bit cooler today with a slight drizzle which is pleasant so we were indoors at grand-daughter's for the present opening.  It is lovely to see all the great-grandchildren playing together. 

Then home for lunch of scallops with new potatoes and vegies followed by trifle.  We were to be joined by two daughters but both were feeling exhausted. It is the busiest time of year for youngest daughter who is a Rural Delivery Driver..

We were spoilt with presents including the annual pewter from Amos Pewters in Nova Scotia 

A description comes with each ornament : 

"Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together." Vesta M. Kelly. 

Each snowflake has its own unique and delicate beauty. Alone, its existence is fleeting but, united with other snowflakes, individual fragility is transformed into a frozen tapestry of collective strength. So too with people. The uniqueness within each of us is to be celebrated and appreciated. Yet there is also great value in coming together in a common purpose, giving us the power to hold strong, anchored in our shared beliefs and values.

If you look closely the snowflake is made up of six anchors.

Time to go for a walk.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2026

 The Christmas card we sent to the few people who still get cards. Mainly those who do not use the internet.  The card is Doug's painting of the local Whangarei Falls.