[tag=IN | □=□]
[tag=IN | word=□]
[tag=IN | tag=□]
They lie in the middle of streets and hold up the traffic . Between the five of them they could manage four recorders , three viols , a flute , a piano and a harpsichord : the combinations were many and varied . For us it has been hard spending a whole year without her , particularly when she has been miserable on the other side of the world . Without their help both girls would have been without a vehicle - - and public transport is virtually non-existent here . This gift , mundane as it sounds , was really wanted , in striking contrast to all those socks , ties , and executive toys in years past ! The future of computing is being determined by cappuccino-drinking white males between 25 and 30 - - as culturally homogenous a group as you 'll ever meet . Mysore has several other palaces and we visited many of them . Although she has n't been on exciting overseas trips like some people in the family , Nikki has been out of Hamilton once or twice . Feeling a very long way indeed from any humanity - - there were no other boats out there at all - - we steered nervously through a narrow , rock-bordered channel between islets , the heavy ocean swell crashing to left and right , to take a peek at an incredible anchorage , almost unseen from the outside world except through a large hole in the huge rock that protects it from the elements . After two days of rough weather without hot food or drink Ian decided to make a cup of tea : a hazardous experience . A nice way to spend 24 hours is to arrive at the boat in the evening , head out , perhaps sailing a little in the dark ( we have full navigation lights and have wrestled a few times with the challenges and excitement of night sailing ) , anchor for the night in a secure bay and watch the moon over a meal and bottle of wine , then up in the morning for pancakes , coffee , a sail , and back home the next day . ) , one of our favourite places . We now see them almost every time we visit the area where the Cup races are to be held , between Rangitoto and the Whangaparoa Peninsula . There was not much time and a lot of work , but he managed to fit in a flying visit to the Capello Sistina ( Sistine Chapel ) , having to practically race through the Vatican Museum , rushing past all sorts of wonders , to get a few minutes in the Chapel . Nikki , given the choice between cruising around the Island with her parents or painting 50 m of picket fence along our front boundary , chose the latter . Eventually we managed to drag Pam out of the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art . Her other subjects have been Mathematics , in which she continues to try hard without achieving as much success as we think she deserves , Biology , where she is doing really well , and French , which her school only offers as a correspondence course - - not a very satisfactory arrangement for Nikki . " Ian and Tony motored across the treacherous passage to the Coromandel Peninsula in a glassy calm , past the Watchman and his Dog , two tiny rocky islets in the middle of the ocean with a lighthouse and immense crashing waves that seem to arise out of nowhere , through the ferocious tide rips at the end of the Peninsula , past Elephant Cove on Happy Jack 's Island , a little enclosed rocky bay in the centre of an island that is not much bigger , holding just one or two boats ( it was already occupied ) , and down to Te Kouma harbour on the Coromandel for the night , before heading home . Everyone knows not to travel around India without one , but this couple had broken the golden rule : they forgot - - got caught short , you might say . She told us of how shivers would sometimes go down her spine in lectures - - little frissons of intellectual excitement - - and now whenever Ian lectures he surveys the bored and listless faces of his students and wonders , doubtfully , whether any shivering is going on out there . " Christmas " letter out - - though Christmas is long past - - so that you 'll know we're still alive . Thinking ahead is not one of our strengths , and we had phoned just a couple of weeks before , hoping for a lucky cancellation .