Wot a weekend...

Wot a weekend! It was a public holiday on Friday in New Zealand to celebrate Waitangi Day - 6 February was the date in 1840 The Treaty of Waitangi was signed between representatives of the Queen of England and Maori Chiefs agreeing to share the country (feel free to correct my interpretation - its a long time since i got up close and personal with the nuts and bolts of the document): kinda the birth of the nation really although the journey between then and now has sometimes travelled a bumpy road. Whatever the road has been like, celebrations in 2009 seemed happy ones and the long weekend was a stunner.

My eldest now has her learner's licence and her first driving lesson under her belt. This is weirding me out a little. Not because my daughter can get in the drivers seat and other drivers beware but more because my child is now legitimately considered old enough to drive. Crikey where's my zimmer frame. It was bad enough that my youngest is no longer at primary school. Folks, I may need a period of adjustment.

Other things were happening on the weekend. My parents are on the move to a new house after 25 years in the current one. I grew up in the one before where they are now. Another era comes to a close. 2009 seems to be a year for this. My siblings and I have been rallying around to help them box their possessions, get rid of twenty five years of accumulated junk and shift pesky things like pot plants.

Also went to a book launch yesterday for Jill Marshall's new women's fiction 'As it is on Telly' (Penguin). I enjoyed her last adult fiction 'The Two Miss Parsons' (Penguin 2008) and hope to clear the reading decks for this one soon. In the midst of a recession it was uplifting to celebrate the birth of a new book and hear that Jill is signed up for 2 more. All is not lost - publishers are still publishing! The launch was fun, I got to don my crazy new heels (that any witch-pirate would be proud to wear) and participate in a tv quiz which our team won. While some people are concerned about the number of hours we watch tv i have had many positive things come out of my viewing hours - story ideas, quiz wins (including a spot prize of a bottle of bubbles for knowing A Close Shave's Sean the sheep) and the introduction I use in my author visit talks. I seem to have quite a good mind for trivia which is probably not a bad thing when you are a writer, although I apologise if I've ever bored you to death with a conversation riddled with an endless supply of seemingly useless information.