A Busy Easter

I thought my Easter break was going to be quiet. I like quiet. I like spending all morning in bed - sometimes just lying there listening to music and sometimes with the laptop surfing the net.
I like curling up on the couch & reading a book, or fiddling around with one of my many (never-to-be-finished) projects.
Ginge was going to be working on his jet engines. So we made a plan.  He would strip down one of the engines and I would do SFA, occasionally popping into the garage to harass him with the camera like only the best of paparazzi can.
Then I invited the Agent of Trouble over for dinner and TV/Movies on Thursday night, and suddenly my weekend was filling up faster than I knew how to handle.  Trouble was heading down to The Mount on Friday morning with some friends and had to leave my place before 9am.  But what about the pancakes I had promised for breakfast?  There went my first sleep-in.  (This is my own fault, because I insist on letting the batter set for an hour before cooking.)
Trouble managed to get away in reasonably good time - but not without extracting a promise from me that I'd join her down at The Mount on Sunday. I spent the rest of the day taking photos of the engines.

Photos like this.

At some point I got into conversation with my friend Nick, whether over text or voice I cannot remember now.  I agreed to go have some beers with him and other of his geek-type friends on Saturday.  Boy, my weekend was starting to fill up!  Nick wanted beers starting at about 3pm, but that was too late for me because I was going in to work at 4pm to see the plane in.
Oh yeah, did I mention my plane was coming back?  The one in Texas?  The one which had me sent to the 'States for five months of training and abject misery (misery levels may be exaggerated)? The one which is about two years overdue?  Well she was.  And she did.  There is photographic evidence of this, but due to the security implications I am not permitted to put them up on the internet.  You still believe me though, right?

I got my quiet night that Friday, and a sleep in on Saturday so I was feeling pretty good when it came time to pick up Nick and take him out to lunch instead of the afternoon beers.  Nick is one of my greatest friends.  We can talk about geeky stuff or serious stuff, about jokes and misery, and about life as well.  He has so much wisdom and experience I always feel like I learn something after spending time with him.  This time was no exception, but unfortunately the content of our conversation is not any of your business.  I will tell you though that he had the steak and I had the venison pot pie.  Both were delicious.

I made it back in time to get to work for the arrival of the Mighty P3-K2 (Shiver to the souls of yer boots, me hearties, fer thar be a fine sight!) and although I wasn't rostered on to be at work I did a pretty good job of making it look like I was.  It's all in the overalls you wear!
It was pretty exciting, really, and there will be a formal welcome ceremony next week as well as an official Maori and (I assume) Christian blessing placed on the plane. Until then we're cleaning her up since she hasn't been treated with much love these last four or five years.  Again - I'm not allowed to put photos up!
That night I couldn't sleep.  I was pretty excited about heading down to The Mount and discovering what The Agent of Trouble was up to.

Although rain was forecast for pretty much the entire country I had an easy time of it driving down the island, and when I turned up at the backpackers I learned that Trouble and her friends were at the beach so thither also went I.  The beaches of Mt Maunganui are what my flatmate Ginge calls 'real' beaches.  They have golden sand and surfable surf.  There was no requirement to swim between the flags.
This day it wasn't perfect.  There were plenty of people around but not many in the water.  The sand felt a bit grey and the clouds threatened to cry about it.  Shortly after I arrived it was decided we would go into Tauranga in search of food and then on to the Jazz Festival.

We had Fush & Chups.

There was plenty of laughter.

There were lots of Greedy Gulls.

We even tried to join in the dancing at the Jazz Festival, but without a lot of success.

There's more to come, but unfortunately the wheels of the world continue to turn and I must get ready for work.  Keep your eyes peeled and your screens refreshed for the second installment coming soon to an internet near you.