Standing out or above...

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I'll be growin a Mo. That's right I'm bringing the Mo back because I'm passionate about men's health and the fight against prostate cancer. Why...

Every year in New Zealand 2,656 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and about 600 die of the disease, making prostate cancer the second largest cause of male cancer deaths, after lung cancer.

The average life expectancy of a man in New Zealand is 4 years less than a woman.

To sponsor my Mo please go to http://www.movember.com/nz/donate, enter my registration number which is 178756 and your credit card details. Or you can sponsor me by cheque made payable to the "Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand" clearly marking the donation as being for my Registration Number: 178756. Please mail cheques to: Movember, PO Box 87 150, Meadowbank 1742, Auckland. All donations over $5 are tax deductible.

All donations are made directly to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand who will use the funds to create awareness, increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer, fund research and scholarship programs.

Thanks for your support

Paul

More info is available at www.movember.com.

Movember is proudly grown by Holden, L&P, The Rock, Tui and Schick.

Movember a proud partner of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand.

Wow, that one went fast. I guess that's what happens when you're working a proper job. Is that a good thing or not? Who knows. One thing is for sure though, writing about the daily routine isn't the easiest thing in the world. On a more practical note, the 's' key on the laptop I've been given by work has given up. entance tart looking like thi. And that's no use to anyone...

All this sounds remarkably like excuses, which is probably true. I've just reread what I wrote last time around. I finished with "Given that I should now have a bit more access to technology, I should be able to get on with emailing everyone properly soon." Hmm, so much for that plan. Good news though that finally people have discovered the marvel of Facebook, which is definitely making life easier for keeping in contact. And that can only be a good thing.

It is now June, which means it's officially winter. Quite a strange concept to get your head around that one, but as it is, the 'lows' of 10 degrees and scattered showers probably aren't too different from England this time of year. I hear that things are looking a bit more extreme down south, with snow in Queenstown and on the ski fields on the North Island this week. Just in time, as the season is due to start in two weeks time, and was looking pretty sparse. Hopefully be able to get down there for a weekend soon and try it out for myself.

Big news for the month is that once again I will be moving house. Having just moved in to here, the landlord decided to sell up, and so we've had to find somewhere else. Thankfully it wasn't too difficult and we've found a really nice new apartment in a complex just down the road. It's very exciting, and really can't wait - the villa is very pretty, but it is getting quite cold now winter is coming, being that it is made from wood, has no central heating, single glazed windows and I've just noticed you can see the ground through the gaps in the floor boards!

Now I'm starting to get a bit settled and into a routine, once again have to make the most of the weekends. Having transport (albeit a fairly dodgy, 1995, automatic Nissan Almera) is proving very handy and have managed to get out of the city to some of the rugged coastline around Auckland. Nothing quite like a brisk walk along a volcanic beach with the wind howling and heavy seas to blow away all the cobwebs. Having opportunities like that just 30minutes drive away from the city is a great benefit, and one of the many things which makes this such a great place to live.

Rugby fever is starting to take hold, with the countdown to the world cup now under 100 days. Everywhere you look there's ads for the All Blacks (I BELIEVE), and so keeping in spirit with it, I'm trying my best to get familiar with the game. This weekend I will have watched three games of various abilities; an amateur match at a club where one of my friends was playing, the All Blacks vs France at the pub last night and this afternoon we're off to the NRL Warriors vs Storm. Hopefully come September I should actually have a fair understanding of the rules. Hopefully. And if the All Blacks don't win the World Cup, there's always the ensuing recession to look forward to.