sunshine and sand

Firstly, being English, I have to mention it. The weather. Its been pretty fab these last few days. Every where looks gorgeous when the sun shines, lovely bright colours and clear blue skies. It really encourages me to keep up with my running in the morning and today I ran the furthest ever. I went to the local shopping mall to get my hair cut at a barbers run by 2 girls, Marilin and Denise, from Liverpool. (Yes, I did say barbers and they really only do men's hair but being multi talented they do me a sneaky cut out the back). The mall is about a 25 min run away along the beach and I felt pretty good that I managed it without having a heart attack, until I looked in the mirror and discovered my face was as red as tomato from that beautiful bright sun!

Now, talking of multi talented people, take a look at the most recent tour Micheal has just completed http://thevirtualviewcompany.com/49athena its lovely house, close to the beach.

Well, moving on. There is a strange phenomena in the shop at the moment. If you sit on the chair out the back or stand on a certain tile next to the fridge you get a strange wobbly sensation. Michael has, on occasions, been bounced out of the chair. Its a bit like on Jurassic Park when the jelly starts to wobble indicating the approach of a dinosaur. Vaguely wondering if it was an earth quake or that perhaps the Mount was thinking of reactivating itself, I decided it must be the building works that are underway out the back of the shop. There are 2 huge building projects in competition with each other. One is directly behind the shop car park and the other just over the road from that. You may not be familiar with Mount Maunganui, but it is basically a huge sand bank with an volcano ( The Mount) at one end and the ocean on both sides.So when foundations are dug out they are basically digging out a huge sand pit. There is no bed rock or clay. The builders are using a huge munching machine from Germany(see photos) which digs down into the sand then mixes it up with tons and tons of cement and water which in turn forms the retaining wall around the site. We have been assured that this method causes the least disturbance to the surrounding buildings but I must admit I have checked the shop insurance as I have a feeling the whole street is going to fall down into these 2 huge holes and be swallowed up by the sea. The holes are way below sea level. The buildings are going to be high rise apartments. The Mount is fast developing in to an even more popular holiday destination and it really is starting to come together but in the mean tine we have huge lorries, diggers and cranes driving round the streets and the sand and dust flying about is unbelievable! But at least the workmen come in for pizza! The buildings should be finished by 2009 then all the millionaires can enjoy their drinkies on their decks 2 inches from the next buildings deck while craning their necks to have a peep at the sea. Lovely!!

Well, to change subject a bit you will be pleased to know I managed to down load a new French tutorial onto my mp3 player. So now I have moved on from Monsieur Albert in the cafe to listening to Michel Thomas. If you are familiar with this guy you will know he has a unique method of teaching a foreign language which is very good and works for me. The only problem is I wish he would clear his throat! Either he is a heavy smoker or his false teeth don't fit properly. If you are not familiar with the guy then lets just say I feel the need to clear spit out my ears. Well, I'll leave you with that thought.....aurevoir, mes amis