Migraines, Visitors and Neighbourhood Watch and Packing...

 Our summer holidays have started - I know, we are retired so every day is a holiday. But we are now off on a South Island odyssey, this time for several weeks. 

Before we headed away though, we had a visit from Jim and Judy who are staying with other friends in Wellington and came out to do a bike ride around Waikanae. 

They love their electric bikes!

Jude is ready, Jim is still getting the bag sorted .

And they are ready for the off!

It was Saturday morning and I had been to the fruit and veg market, on the way home from which I started to see the dreaded aura that presages a migraine for me. I quickly took ibuprofen, so the aura stopped and the drugs held the headache part of the migraine at bay for a couple of hours while we went for brekkie and did some errands in Paraparaumu. But by the time we got to the electrical wholesaler I was toast. 

So home we went and off to bed I toddled with more ibuprofen. I got up when J&J arrived and had a cup of tea with them, then went back to bed for the rest of the afternoon. But I did valiantly get up and make coleslaw for David and sliced up a peach and a nectarine for my dinner. Considering I'd been feeling nauseous, they were a good choice and felt lovely. The effects of the migraine lasted into the next day - unusual for me, so clearly not going straight to bed when the aura strikes is a mistake!

On late Sunday afternoon, our Neighbourhood Watch group had drinks and nibbles out on the berm across the street - I was well recovered by then fortunately. It was lovely being out there for a couple of hours in the sunshine. We don't often have get togethers but it seemed like a good time to do so - no community COVID-19, everyone who had been away was back off their holidays. I've just taken over the role as coordinator of our group so I was pleased that it went off well. Drinks and nibbles are a lot simpler than doing a pot luck dinner or a BBQ -  a lot less organising for a start!

Richard was at ours doing some gardening, so he and David took the chairs across the road. I am amazed that we have so many outdoor chairs!

 

Kay and I guarded the chairs while waiting for other people to arrive - who knows? Someone could have driven past and thought the chairs were being given away! She and I had to start on the Lindauer Rose - rather yummy. We interspersed it with drinking lime and soda so we stayed sober. It isn't a good look to be the most inebriated at a Neighbourhood Watch event ...

A beautiful warm late afternoon.

I know the photos don't show it but I was there, I swear!

Monday was spent packing the motorhome (me) and trying to get the insurance claim finished for the eye operation and treatment in the UK - back in 2019... (David). It always seems to me that packing the motorhome should not take very long, but somehow it does. Decanting most of the contents of the fridge into the motorhome fridge is always the last job, but requires a great deal of spatial awareness and, if future frustration is to be avoided, a laser-like memory for the position of each and every item within it ...

I think part of what takes the time is prepping some of the food so I don't have to take all the ingredients with me. This time I made a batch of David's crackers, and I packaged up 3 batches of all the seeds so when it's time to bake some more, I can just decant one bag into a bowl, add herbs, seasonings and water, and Bob's your uncle!

This time packing clothing was easy - I absolutely know I will have brought about 5 x too many clothes, but at least now they are in Kathmandu clothing bags so they are not going to cascade out of the overhead lockers each time I pull something out of its precarious position - precarious because of overcrowding!

But as I write this, I still don't understand why it takes so much time!