The house is quiet, the decorations down and the tree disrobed and cut up for burning. A walk by the sea in the winter sunshine was a good time to reflect on the past year and consider the coming year.
For me, last year was one of hard work. I taught full-time for the whole year which was good for my professional development and for the bank balance but left little time or energy for anything else. We'd made the decision to go ahead with our plans to try to move to New Zealand and while future prospects are still very much unclear I have at least done all of the tedious paperwork necessary to get my qualifications recognised and be registered to teach in NZ (should I ever be offered a job).
Being out in the fresh air surrounded by the wild beauty of the coast is the ideal place to talk through our plans for the future. I shall continue to make every effort to get work in NZ and now that I'll only be working part-time I shall continue with my plans to sort through and pare down our belongings and generally give the whole place a sprucing up. That will be beneficial whatever happens in the future.
We also plan to take as much advantage as possible of this beautiful area that we live in and to try and get out to explore whatever the weather. Even an hour with the sea air blowing away the cobwebs is such a tonic to mind and body.
Today we were able to enjoy the warm sun, (once out of the wind) , and have a post Christmas picnic of smoked salmon sandwiches and Christmas cake with coffee sitting on the rocks above.
A Rock Pipet was obviously well aware of the feeding opportunity posed by people sitting down and rustling plastic bags. It bobbed around quite confidently nearby looking for crumbs.
The towering rocks behind us reflected the heat of the sun and provided shelter from the freezing wind. On the other side of the headland there were still patches of frost and the muddy track had frozen to a crisp dry surface which was much easier to walk on.
On the final stretch back up the spine of the headland this Robin followed us, hopping from bush to bush but unfortunately we had emptied out all the crumbs at our picnic spot and had nothing to give him.
For me, last year was one of hard work. I taught full-time for the whole year which was good for my professional development and for the bank balance but left little time or energy for anything else. We'd made the decision to go ahead with our plans to try to move to New Zealand and while future prospects are still very much unclear I have at least done all of the tedious paperwork necessary to get my qualifications recognised and be registered to teach in NZ (should I ever be offered a job).
Being out in the fresh air surrounded by the wild beauty of the coast is the ideal place to talk through our plans for the future. I shall continue to make every effort to get work in NZ and now that I'll only be working part-time I shall continue with my plans to sort through and pare down our belongings and generally give the whole place a sprucing up. That will be beneficial whatever happens in the future.
We also plan to take as much advantage as possible of this beautiful area that we live in and to try and get out to explore whatever the weather. Even an hour with the sea air blowing away the cobwebs is such a tonic to mind and body.
Today we were able to enjoy the warm sun, (once out of the wind) , and have a post Christmas picnic of smoked salmon sandwiches and Christmas cake with coffee sitting on the rocks above.
A Rock Pipet was obviously well aware of the feeding opportunity posed by people sitting down and rustling plastic bags. It bobbed around quite confidently nearby looking for crumbs.
The towering rocks behind us reflected the heat of the sun and provided shelter from the freezing wind. On the other side of the headland there were still patches of frost and the muddy track had frozen to a crisp dry surface which was much easier to walk on.
On the final stretch back up the spine of the headland this Robin followed us, hopping from bush to bush but unfortunately we had emptied out all the crumbs at our picnic spot and had nothing to give him.It's bitterly cold once more tonight so Peter has left his car by the top fields in case the ice makes the hill impassable.
