Well since my first entry I have achieved quite a bit in the week following I feel. Although at this rate there will be about 50 entries by the end of the year! Palmerston North Boys High School (PNBHS from now on) was on an exeat last weekend so I had to find something to do or else be left in Palmy North, eating noodles I don’t even have a cooker!! Been working hard to try and get my laptop linked to the internet so I don’t have to go to the computer room every time, this has been successful, but the wireless network reaches to about 3 ft outside of my room so I have to sit in the common room or computer room for now. I’m hoping to charm them in to getting a lead fed to my desk so I can start using Skype and the like. So for anyone on Skype it shouldn’t be too long.....

Back to the exeat weekend: As the school ended at 3.30 everyone including boarders was out in a flash and I thought I would be alone. However I passed some year nines getting changed for football training, having the burning desire to do some sport for the first time in a month as ran to my room, changed and came back out to the field in the rain and using my initiative asked if they wanted any help. Luckily the coach was unavailable that day and so the female art teacher who had been put in charge of them was more than happy for me to train them. Kids nowadays are pretty cheeky, not that I ever was, but all in all was a fun session. I was then invited out for a house staff meal at a Mongolian Buffet restaurant which I willingly accepted. Little did I know what this night had in store. I thought that I would have the meal back by eight, do some washing and early night for the train journey I had planned for the next day (train journey to be explained, be patient). The house parents brought eight bottles of wine to the restaurant and between 8 staff we got through them all. All the younger guys and house master then decided to ditch their wives and go for a beer at a local bar, I did not have a choice in the matter as I was told “Gappy, out the bus, we’re going for a beer”. First night out went pretty well, after meeting up with some of the 7th formers (Upper sixth) I crashed out about 2am, knowing I had to be up at 7 to catch the train to Hamilton.

To go back on myself, Chris and I had decided to travel up to Hamilton, to collect his car, this meant taking a seven hour train to Hamilton. First of all trains here aren’t used often, as they go slower than a car and seeing as cars can only go 100km an hour, that isn’t fast at all. Feeling the effects of the night before the train journey felt like an eternity. We had somehow booked ourselves on the scenic train, and through the seven hours the train driver would explain everything we could see much to my irritation. However there was one very big highlight of the train journey, we met saw Kevin. Kevin is a very lonely and very crazy man who lives into he middle of nowhere. When the train driver said we may see Kevin the farmer I thought either a very sign with a farmer on it or just a simple farmer ploughing a field. But Kevin had run from his house to about 10 metres from the train dancing and waving his scarf at us. I am going to do that train journey again only to be able to film it next time we go past him. Apparently he is there in the snow, hail, rain or shine. When the journey finally came to end we were met at the station by Anna Swan who was an ex Gappy at Gordon’s from four years ago. She took us to the farm where Chris picked up the car and we drove to her house. Time was running out and so we headed to Mark Porters school Hamilton Boys and after speaking to the mast went round the back and walked around the deserted house due to an exeat calling out his name. Eventually we found him much to his surprise as we hadn’t mentioned our visit. We then planned to meet up in Hamilton that night. We then picked up Lee Shadbolt another Gappy from the same year as Anna and went and had a good night out in town. The next day we had to shoot off as we had a five hour drive to Hawkes bay and Havelock North where Hannah was staying. Before we embarked we stopped at an electrical store and bought an iPod cable to link to the radio, it has been the best buy of the whole year and probably will be $15 and now no more listening to the entertainment vacuum they call radio. Saturday was the best day weather wise we have had since we arrived, not a cloud in the sky for the whole journey as some pretty awesome views which we stopped off at on the way. The car even though it is an 1983 Toyota Accord, was in good nick and first time we had both driven a automatic, it’s been nicknamed Optimus after Optimus Prime the Transformer, as we are pretty sure it could be a transformer..... We were both fuming once we arrived as we only just spotted the cruise control! Which would have made sticking at 100km/h a hell of a lot easier.

Hannah’s school called Woodford House is a very rich girls boarding school, and after seeing them (Emma another Gappy) living in a flat with a cooker and all I was extremely jealous. However there was a slight problem of where to stay. Evening though there were two spare mattresses in their flat boys had to be out by 9pm. We took it upon ourselves to try drop hints to the matron that we had no where to stay but she was happy to drive us to hostels to see if there was room. We then thought we would sleep in the car but the temperature was dropping, the next plan was to just stay and make up an excuse that we just came back early the next morning. But we were saved by a South African girl called Jenny who Hannah and Emma had met, who was a Gappy from a different company working at a primary boarding school nearby. We were cheeky enough to ask to crash there and she was happy to even though we had never met her, this saved so much hassle and gave us a much needed night’s sleep. The next morning we headed back to Woodford House to get ready for the drive back. We went to thank the Matron for helping us, and she invited us to have brunch, I had been thinking she wasn’t nice but she saved it with that offer. The drive back was relatively smooth, only two hours, we started to worry when the petrol was rapidly dropping and we were in the mountains but I was sure Optimus would pull through. We arrive safely in Fielding at about 3pm on Sunday. I saw Chris’s accommodation and school in Fielding voted New Zealand’s most beautiful time fourteen years running, as Chris doesn’t stop going on about. We thought we would extend our road trip slightly, as we drove up to Marton about 40 minutes away to see a Canadian Gappy and two German Gappy's however when we got there they weren’t in. Probably would have been worthwhile phoning ahead but nothing had gone wrong so far. So back to Palmy it was and that ended a very good, interesting and faultless first road trip of the year.
Chris and I stopped by the Lattitude office, based in Palmy, to have a chat with them. It was then that I achieved something great, when we had them making us coffee I hopped on the computer and ‘Facebook raped’ (Writing stuff on someone else’s account) the Lattitude page so their status read’s “Lattitude New Zealand love Chris Sewell and Andrew Primett, best Gappy’s ever”, to then have Hannah text me saying how did I do it, meant word had spread. When back at the Hostel I then found out there was a Senior common room, on the other side of the Hostel, I had wondered where all the older years disappeared to. I was invited up for toasties, which I hadn’t realised were made for us. Everyday different year nines are on duty in the senior common room after prep till bed where they make toasties, tea and coffee, whilst being having abuse hurled at them. This is definitely how school should be. There's respect for older years, structure and visible character building. That’s my little rant about how the younger children in Gordon’s have got it easy, they wouldn’t survive in this house, cleaning everyone’s plates at all meals, and up at 6 sweeping and cleaning if gated. Sorts the men from the boys. Started to get to know some of the Year 13’s better and will be meeting up with them on the weekends I’m sure. I should be refereeing a football match this week, I had been sent to find a Year 13 to ref it, so I subtly hinted I could and got the job. Although it is 15XI so I have been told not to expect much, well I shouldn’t expect anything at all really. ( I just reffed it today and yeah 7-2 loss wasnt brilliant!)

That ends another week, if you haven’t noticed as I left on a Wednesday I have started writing them Wednesday to Wednesday but I will break the trend soon as I don’t think much interesting is coming up. Only plans so far are All Blacks vs. Australia later this month tickets wer e only $72 so some of us are going down there and will ahve a good night out after the match hopefully. Could be helping on year 10 camp? Maybe. Then its holidays where plans are in motion to travel the South Island for two weeks in a campervan with the Gordon’s lot and some other Gappy’s we met. So until the next outing or interesting event.
Keep in touch. Messages are much appreciated, although I know many of you are on face book. Speak to you all soon

Prim (Andrew to the relatives)
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