JBs' Sabbatical Stories

 So finally, I'm getting around to putting up my photos from Christchurch. Apologies for the delay. Please note that most of these were taken in Spring, so you may see people wearing more layers than now. Having said that, the city seems to do Crowded House's 4 seasons in one day anyway! For those of you unfamiliar with Christchurch, it's a city on the south island of New Zealand. © https://www.roughguides.com/maps/australasia/new-zealand/ There are far fewer people on the South Island (most people actually live in the Auckland region.) It's incredibly flat compared to Auckland but there are hills nearby.  In February 2011, Christchurch was hit by an earthquake that killed 185 people and destroyed the city. What strikes you when you see Christchurch now is that there are loads of gravel car parks - but these used to be buildings. We saw an excellent film whilst we were there about the re-building of the city and it's really worth a watch if you get a chance. It...

 It's a been almost a month since I wrote and I have really no excuses, so apologies! Firstly happy New Year to you and I sincerely hope that 2021 is a heck of a lot better for everyone. We've kept in close contact with family and friends back in the UK and know how difficult it currently is. Our thoughts really are with you. The St George's ScrubClub and well and truly back in action making scrub caps for staff at St Georges so a massive thank you from us both. If anyone would like to join this amazing virtuall army of sewists (of all abilities) feel free to contact me and I'll put you in touch. So we spent Christmas here in Auckland which was weird and quiet. Why do I say this? Well, it takes getting used to it being summer rather than winter with Christmas and even though I've had at least 3 Christmases in Australia before, it still seems weird. Many people go away from Christmas so Auckland was definitely quieter. It was most unusual for us as neither of us were...