Penguin guides (including me) are in high vis vests.

It’s also a tough time for bees and after noticing that they were drinking from Billie’s rainwater bowl, we topped it up to keep them from drowning. They are coming in to our bee bar in a steady stream, three or four at a time.

The popsicle life raft didn't work, so we just keep this filled to the brim so that the bees don't drown.

Rainy Day Update: Testing the adhesive properties of sugru with a boot that sprang a leak

I can’t stand it when things get thrown away because it is too hard to repair them. I have a 60 year old toaster, which I’ve had repaired twice because of burnt out elements (apparently, cleaning the toaster tray out more often prevents this…). Each time, I’ve had to scour the city I lived in for someone who was prepared to do it as nearly everyone tells you to buy a new toaster. I don’t want a new toaster. I just want my old one to work. I’ve had to beg guys to do this repair, even though it ends up costing $25 to do (and I think they take pity on me and charge me less than they should).

Which is one of the reasons Sugru is great. Sugru can’t repair toasters (well, not internally anyway), but it can repair a lot of other stuff that might otherwise go to landfill. Sugru is a mouldable silicon putty like plasticine, but unlike plasticine when you leave it for 24 hours it sets and gives you a tough, but flexible rubbery thing. It’s like silly putty for grown ups (sensible putty?) because you can do so much stuff with it.  I fixed my bokashi lid which I had accidentally melted (don’t leave glass containers in the sun on top of plastic, duh.) and then used some sugru to stop my light fixing on my bike from moving around the handlebars.

Lots of people get really creative with the stuff:

Sugru were looking for some people to test their new formulation (it does the same thing, but you don’t end up with sugru goo on your hands afterwards) and sent me some. The first thing I did was to fix a bathroom hook that had been driving me nuts for ages.

Love it.

Photo taken from the Bridle Path above Lyttelton in 2005

I moved to Lyttelton in 2004, met my boyfriend there that same year (he had a flat at number 6, London Street and I had a studio above it) and lived in the town for 4 years. I helped the boyf and Project Lyttelton (PL) set up the Lyttelton Farmers Market in 2005. It has run every week since the first Saturday in September 2005 and last weekend was the first time it didn’t  happen (it even ran on the day of the September earthquake last year). PL are hoping it will go ahead next week.

London Street in 2005 showing the restaurant in the bottom right corner

The boyf renovated and rebuilt the building on the corner of London Street that you see in the picture. At the time, we thought that the earthquake-proofing was overkill, but it is still standing and we are glad that it didn’t collapse and injure anyone (he sold the building and moved to Melbourne last year, though he still has a house in Lyttelton).

Lyttelton Coffee Company building in London Street - The street has been badly damaged by the earthquake (click to go to original photo by Duke Mule)

We know most of the people who run the businesses in Lyttelton and our hearts go out to them. The Lyttelton Coffee Company boys have been keeping it going with a stall on the street and this is typical of the community spirit in the town (the Street Party went ahead at the weekend for the locals). We hope the community can stay together and rebuild the town in a way that keeps the soul of Lyttelton alive.

You can donate to Project Lyttelton via bank deposit, or paypal, via the PL site: Project Lyttelton

Happy New Year and back to the drawing board…