Almost ready! (2)

Well, we have less than 24 hours until the taxi arrives to whisk us off to Manchester Airport.

The lists have been written, checked, re-written and slowly ticked off. We are now debating what to wear on the plane, actually we know what we are going to wear but questioning what it will be like when we land in Auckland! Have just checked the temperatures forecast for our arrival - 24C, 25C on Tuesday and 26C on Wednesday! A slight difference to the 3C the BBC are telling me was the temperature in Market Drayton at 3.00 p.m. today.

Today's modern technology means that we have already gone through the check in procedures for the motor-van and we will be able to do the same with Emirates Airlines after 8.10 p.m. tonight! Just glad the holiday itself is not in cyber-space!

What we won't have in NZ is the spectacular display every night by the starlings coming in to roost in the Tern Valley. It is the first year we have seen them here, we have seen them in years gone by on the other side of town. I had hoped to put in a video here but did not succeed as it was taking so long to load we would have been back from our holiday by the time it was finished.

Well, this is likely to be the last entry before we depart. I have discovered how I can keep recording entries even when I am not on line. All this is very new to me but I see it could become rather addictive. With a bit of luck the next time you get a "New Post" e-mail from me we will be able to stop talking about going to New Zealand and actually be there.