This morning we had breakfast at the Village Inn with Steve and Chris, Anastasia’s father and step-mother. I had Eggs Benedict (sorry Dad, still better in New Zealand) and some average coffee. General conversation about what we were doing, what they were doing, who got drunk at the company party that they had been to the previous evening… all in all, general chit-chat.

After breakfast we all went back to the house so Steve could have a look-see, since he hadn’t actually seen the place yet. Steve promptly started to dish out advice on how to put up shelves and made several rash promises about coming back to put some up and fit some doors or something. While they were here the pre-game build up was on television for the Tampa Bay Bucaneers vs North Carolina Panthers game. This was something of an important game, for reasons I don’t fully understand so I won’t go into. Those of you who care about football will already know better than I would anyway. Short story: playoffs were on the line.

So, a bit after Steve and Chris left the game started and Anastasia became glued to the television. I did some emails and amused myself, watching the game every now and again. All in all football is a very tactical game. It’s like a cross between rugby and chess. There’s the usual appreciation of particularly good plays, or dives, or whatever, but it’s also a very strategic stop-start kind of engagement. All in all, I rather like football more than rugby. This of course will be news to no one.

After the football game it was time for chilling out. We managed to watch the extended version of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, with a bit of a break in between the change in discs for some food. We just had bits and pieces, and Anastasia made these BBQ beans which were really nice which she’s going to show me how to make tomorrow.

Post film it was getting rather late, so after checking a couple of things on my computer, we went to bed.