[tag=PRP | tag=CC] | [lemma=military] [tag=NNS] [□]
[tag=PRP | tag=CC] | [lemma=military] [tag=NNS] [□=□]
[tag=PRP | tag=CC] | [lemma=military] [tag=NNS] [□ | □]
( As a matter of fact , they're filming the movie in New Zealand , and Hobbiton has been built not far from here , but as far as we know they're not using our chairs - - though come to think of it there have been a few strange hooded strangers slinking around at dusk . But we did have venison , for our neighbour is a deer farmer and we buy fantastic 100 % lean tasty juicy meat in quantity from him , and our delicate city-dwelling visitors found it hard to contemplate the tasty morsels on their dinner plates and stomach ( sic ) tasteless ( sicker ) jokes about Bambi . 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 . She and Graham and his daughter Emily spent Christmas with us , and she is currently trying to decide whether to spend the rest of her life in England or in New Zealand - - not an easy decision with all her friends in England and two out of her three children in the Antipodes . Books are really cheap in India , and they will mail them to you for a pittance . There was much talk of icebergs , but we did n't see any . It was Ian and Nikki , who had also talked themselves through the roadblock . By this time we were regularly seeing America 's Cup yachts practicing ; on that trip we saw five of them . Last but not least , one day in November we set the alarm for 4AM and sat outside for an hour to watch the meteor shower , an exciting display of shooting stars - - did you see it ? Two computer scientists and a philosopher , they play a wide variety of jazz , try to practise every week , think they are getting much better , but still have regrettably few gigs , maybe one a month or so - - some for meals but none for money . One consolation was that there were four other people doing the two-day hike , but since they were all in their early twenties and straight from military service in Israel , it was actually small comfort . Recently we let our hair down and played at a lunchtime event at a nearby winery , sitting on a big canvas-covered patio and performing Broadway music and popular opera songs while the audience helped themselves to buffet lunch . ( Ian is considering growing them . She seems to have lost some of her body piercings - - traded them for dreadlocks ! An insistent beat , intricate and often even fluttery , rolled out of the two drums - - one a mridangam or double-ended drum , the other no more than an empty gourd . The school put on a musical this year and Pam directed the orchestra , which comprised a dozen or so children playing recorders , drums , marimba , and various small percussion instruments . Dad and Mum still look after themselves , but - - at 90 + and 80 + respectively - - it 's getting harder and harder . Perhaps the most amazing act was a hypnotist who laid people out on the cold stone castle steps and had young men lift extreme weights and young girls believe ( in German of course ) that everyone was naked - - including themselves . ) a red saddle on their back ; tuis , who sing the most beautiful liquid song ever heard , in an enormous variety of tones ; big flightless takahe , swamp birds that have been rescued from the brink of extinction ( you 'll recognize them because they resemble a large pukeko ) ; kokako , who sing a slow string of very loud , rich , mournful , organ-like notes ; the stitchbird , like an English wren with an upturned tail . But staying was not really an option - - pretty soon it would be stinky and bustling , with insistent beggars and the inevitable " fixers " who greet you like best friends and want only to sort out your problems for you , whatever they may be ( for a fee ) . Maybe next year they 'll star in the Proms ?