A four-day week

A few weeks ago, I reduced my hours at my office job to 30 hours a week in order to have more time for the other things I do in life. While this means a fairly substantial cut in pay, having a four-day week is wonderful. I'm feeling more relaxed, more creative, and have started up my online shop again.

I've opened up a shop on ArtFire, which is an American-based online store for all kinds of handmade items. There are artisans there from all over the world, and the site is growing every day. It's free to join, and I recommend that you go there if you make your own things and want to sell them, or if you want to buy gifts that you won't find anywhere else.

The link to my shop is here:
http://DaisyhillDesign.artfire.com

From there, you can browse all over the site. There are some wonderful items, and great prices!

Things New Zealand doesn't have (Part 4)

Here's something New Zealand doesn't have that is actually quite cool. Unless I have been misinformed, there are no traffic lights anywhere on the west coast of the South Island. In fairness, this whole island only has one million people on it, and the vast majority of those are on the east coast, but still I think it's pretty cool that the towns don't have traffic lights. Greymouth has nearly 10,000 people living in and around it, but still, no lights. (They do have roundabouts.)

I wonder how people are able to pass their driving tests if they live somewhere that doesn't have much traffic or standard junction types. It's hardly fair to make them travel to another part of the country to take their test, especially since they will need a few lessons as well, but it's also hardly right to give them a full licence without having experienced the basics of "normal" driving conditions.

Mind you, I obtained my own driving licence in the UK without ever having driven on a motorway (because learner drivers are not allowed on the motorway) and was then expected to just know how to join traffic driving at 70mph/112kph or more (usually a lot more!) and be able to change lanes and deal with that speed with no experience or tuition whatsoever. There is definitely something wrong with that system. The first time I had to join a motorway, 13 days after passing my test and with nobody else around and no real driving experience apart from lessons twice a week, I nearly cried with terror...

(By the way, I have no idea if the west coast of the North Island, or indeed any other coasts, also have this paucity of traffic lights. Maybe my dear Kiwi readers can keep us informed.)

Things New Zealand doesn't have (Part 3)

New Zealand doesn't have Boots. It doesn't have anything even close to Boots, not in Christchurch anyway.

Boots is the Mecca of one-stop-shopping for all toiletries, cosmetic items, and perfume. The main branch in Belfast had aisle after aisle of just about every brand I could think of and every product I could imagine for primping, preening, and prettifying oneself. And it had a loyalty scheme as well as great offers for free gifts with purchase, or buy-one-get-one, or buy-one-get-1000-points. I was the mistress of going in with a fiver and coming out with an armful of goodies thanks to clever use of my Advantage Card. And I really miss it!

Having said that, I am spending a lot less money now that I don't have this sort of shopping available to me. And it is possible to find some Boots brand stuff in the shops here (I've seen a lot of Sanctuary range for sale in Postie+ and some Natural Collection bits and pieces in the local chemist's). So it's not all bad!