Reminiscing and nostalgia in Oxford

When we come down south, we like to park the motorhome in Dean and Phaedra's front yard. Dean and I worked together on the Waiuta Prohibition and Alexander Roaster and Battery site remediations back in 2015/16 - the sites were heavily contaminated with arsenic. Two great pieces of work that we absolutely smashed, if I do say so immodestly. Dean's background is in remediating contaminated sites, and combined with my project management and a number of other people's deep knowledge of the area and passion for making sure it is cleaned up (looking at you: Jim, Gavin, Shane, Fiona, Mark D, Bruce) we did a sterling job, coming in on time, under budget and with a high quality result. It's the piece of work over my work life that I am proudest of - and, as always, it was the team that achieved.

So getting together with Dean and Phaedra is always a pleasure. Dean has had to take early retirement because of his health. However he is still extremely active. They have pet sheep, productive chickens, lots of fruit trees and a thriving veg garden. The sheep won't ever be eaten, mind you. Dean's softness about his animals is a turnaround from his upbringing and early work-life on a farm...

So we watched him feeding the sheep who recognise his hi-viz jacket and come running for sheepnuts. If he's without the jacket, he only has to speak... 

It's time for breakfast, so where are you, Dean?

Oh good! About time!

 

It's this way, OK?

Dean has made mini feeding troughs from guttering.

They all have to cluster around in case he forgets to fill all of the troughs. Humans are notoriously unreliable ...

 

Aha, we are all getting our fair share, even without the hi-viz!

 

Phaedra had ministered to one of the chickens the previous day - its crop was full of soured mash. Dean had tipped the chicken upside down and held it still while Phaedra massaged the crop so the stinking mush/mash poured out of it's beak. Since that treatment, Phaedra was feeding it honey water with a dropper and small pieces of cooked scrambled egg - cannibalism ... But the chicken was doing well. She had been isolated from her flock so she couldn't pig out on grain for a few days. Phaedra said she was her least favourite chicken because she's a bully; but even so she worked hard to save her.

See what I mean? Lovely people.

As Gavin and Deb live in Rangiora which is not terribly far from Oxford, I had asked Dean and Phaedra if I could invite Gav and Deb to come for dinner.  Yes I could and yes they would come.

What a good evening we all had. Lots of reminiscing, being pleased with ourselves (always satisfying, isn't it?) And lots of discussing kids... Lovely food too!

Gav had tried getting in touch with Dean previously, but Dean is no longer using his work number, the only one Gav had. So they were both really pleased to be back in contact.

When we head back up country from our Fiordland trip, we will all get together again - it'll have to be at Dean and Phaedra's because getting the motorhome up and back down Gav and Deb's drive is a hell of a mission! It's narrow and tree-lined, and the trees needed branches lifting, trimming or removing. And given they will now have redoubled their growth efforts, Gav would probably need to get the chainsaw out!

Whereas the parking at Dean and Phaedra's is level, all gravel and easy access, both in and out. No contest really.

I was gutted that their feijoas weren't dropping while we were there, and that they will probably have finished by the time we get back, dammit! But it has made me determined to plant more feijoas at our place. There's most of our bedroom wall available and I reckon we could get 3 or 4 trees in there.

We left Oxford and backtracked to Rangiora for a really lovely lunch at Siri Thai.

 

Delicious curry, preceded by spring rolls and curry puffs that we shared. David had Tom Kha soup for his main.

And then we headed out to Woodend Beach Holiday park. I bet it's great in the summer when it's full of tents and caravans and kids. But in the autumn it was rather dreary. And the rain came down overnight. It was the remnants of the rain that flooded the West Coast and Taranaki having come over the Tasman from Sydney. But by the time it reached the east coast of NZ it had passed its best and wasn't a threat. Not that it sounded benign on the roof of the motorhome, mind you! But it was lovely to be snuggled inside and not worry about whether we'd be stuck - we were parked on grass over sand.

Late in the morning, we headed to Christchurch to the North South Holiday Park, after a bit of supermarketing and breakfast at the cafe next door. David was on one of his nagging/persuading/never letting up on pitching to be able to buy himself a new laptop (Macbook Air or Pro). I am not in the frame of mind to buy another laptop, given we have just spent $11,000 on secondhand film conversion gear, and lost another $10,000 because a guy in the US who constructs such machines had taken the money over a year ago and not delivered and has now gone bankrupt, and David and a few hundred others are without the machines they were promised and without their money. We left Woodend Beach after David had listened in on a creditors' meeting in front of the court in Austin, Texas. Still, none of the debtors will get their money back.

So as I said, I was not in a frame of mind to be coughing up for a laptop which David only 'needs' if we are away from home and he 'needs' to work. And both 'needs' are in quotes because neither of them are actually needs. They are 'wants', fair and square.

So to take the sting out of my 900th refusal, I asked the young man at the table adjacent if David really needed a laptop... A very funny and friendly conversation ensued with Tony who had flown in from Hamilton, walked in the cold, inadequately dressed for the chill and rain, from the terminal to get breakfast (two of them). The upshot was that we delivered him to the Antarctic Centre as he had a few hours to wait for his friends to arrive up from Invercargill, and it was still chilly and wet.

Second upshot (the one I aimed for), the conversation about the laptop requirement has ceased for the moment. Note that I am not holding my breath though.

We parked up at the North South Holiday Park and finished our packing for the trip to Sydney. Then I cleared the fridge of everything that wouldn't last until we get back, scooped the shop-bought feijoas and put them in a bag into the freezer, put the blueberries in the freezer too, tossed out silverbeet I'd been transporting since we left home, and realised I'd done quite a good job of clearing out the leftovers - it certainly helps to have a leftover luncher onboard!

David changed the toilet cassette and emptied the waste water tank, in the rain - he's brave. And so we are set for our return - all we need is milk. A few veg and some fruit wouldn't go amiss, but milk for tea is the only necessity!

On the road again

Once again we are out on the road - this time in the South Island. As a reward/recompense for having sold the boat and not going to the UK this year, when I saw an ad for a 4 night trip down in Fiordland I suggested to David that we do it. It includes 2 nights at the Fiordland Lodge (swanky - tidy clothes required) and 2 nights on a launch in the Doubtful Sound.

So that meant either a flight to Queenstown or take the motorhome for another trip down south. 

And then David received an email notifying him that there was a Pub Choir event in Sydney. He had previously asked Kirsty if she'd be interested in attending with him. So, as we were going to be in the South Island, we decided to fly from Christchurch and leave the motorhome on its own for a few days.

Here we are currently in Christchurch - our flight was originally due to be leaving at 6.45 this morning, and neither of us saw the email or text at 1.30am to say the flight was delayed. Hence we were up at 3.45am to finish getting ready for the taxi's arrival at 4.20am... As I'd showered and dressed by the time I saw the text, it was too late to go back to bed - I already had my shoes on, after all!

We've cancelled the taxi and rescheduled it for 6.30am, had an early breakfast, and now we wait. David had turned off the heating in anticipation of our departure, and now I'm chilly again!

The trip so far:

We had a smooth crossing on the ferry - it was incredibly windy with a strong northerly, but Salvi told me later that it's only the southerly that has the Cook Strait kick up rough. Good to know, even though the knowledge was a bit late for my peace of mind!

We headed straight over to Nelson and Stoke after the ferry trip - we had planned a few days with Ann and Salvi. There was lots of Five Crowns to play. Report: Ann and I won four out of five matches against David and Salvi. One was particularly close with only 2 points in it; but the others were decisive wins. Yay!!

Back before we left for the UK in April last year, Ann and Salvi bought our Kia Sportage - a seamless swap as we drove it to Wellington Airport complete with our luggage and our grandson Olek, they flew in from Nelson, we had brekkie together and then they drove off to the Hawke's Bay to visit their son. I mention this because on going out and about with them while we were staying at their place this time, I was struck by several things:

• the Sportage is very high - how I climbed into it for 4 years I do not know! Ann said I had the seat up very high (I needed to so I could see out of the windscreen without peering through the steering wheel) and she and Salvi had to lower the seat so they didn't take their heads off on the doorjamb. I'll believe that about Ann as she is very tall, but Salvi is hardly any taller than me, dammit!
  
• the Sportage has a lot of instruments that I do not remember at all
• the Sportage is huge in comparison to the Honda Jazz we now own
• I am pleased we do not own the Sportage now.
  

We went to visit Chris and Ann who have moved into a Summerset village in Richmond. It's rather lovely, but very different from Parkwood. As it's new and was a scraped earth development and formerly farmland, there are no established trees and it looks like all available space is taken up with housing. Very impressive facilities though. And there is room for people to have vege pods and given it's Tasman district, I expect the newly planted trees will grow. Chris and Ann have a vege pod and also grow tomatoes and they have a grapevine. Apparently the gardens out the front of each place can only be altered by using pots - the plantings already in place have to stay. Ann has lots of pots ...

We were meant to leave Ann and Salvi's on Monday, but early that morning, as I was mixing a batch of cheese scones, I developed a bloody migraine. So it was back to bed for me with neurofen, the cheese scone mix went inside with David for Ann to bake and I tried to sleep off the headache. It's been the toughest one to shake unfortunately as my neck is a bit of a mess and that keeps the headache hovering - as it has for the last several days, dammit! David has been doing a good job of stretching my neck but it needs a couple of adjustments and they won't happen until we are back in Wellington. In the meantime, it's applications of the heated wheatbag that Ann gave me, neurofen and neck stretching for me. The cheese scones went down a treat though, I gather...

We headed away from Stoke on Tuesday morning and drove to Murchison - that is such a scenic drive - it's not until recently that it has registered on us just how isolated by mountain ranges Nelson is - ranges to the north-east, to the west and to the south - hemmed in, they are! But then, if you look at a topographical map of the South Island, there are mountains pretty much all over it !

In the year following the Kaikoura earthquake when the route south from Picton was through Nelson, Murchison and the Lewis Pass, Murchison had a period of being a thriving little town - cafes opened up, and those already established did a roaring trade. Since then, the town appears to have lapsed back into its backwater status. However it is a local hub and it does have a thriving Four Square store which sells a huge range of grocery items (not coconut yoghurt though) and an old established haberdashery with a huge range of goods.

We stayed overnight at the NZMCA park which is a real bargain at $5 per person - there was a howl of member outrage when the price went up from $3 per person a couple of years ago... There is a network of these camps throughout NZ and they are very popular. In the main because they are cheap - most of them have no or few facilities. But NZ is scattered with public dump stations that almost all have taps for potable water as well. And many motorhomers and caravanners here seem averse to paying fees to a commercial holiday park. We don't mind doing so because it's usually less than $50 per night and it's a family's livelihood - keep the economy moving, we say. There is a lovely camp outside Murchison that we have stayed at twice, but it was a bit far out to just pop into town for the groceries we needed. And the other one is down by the river and rather dark. 

In the morning, we headed across to the east. 

My god, that road from Murchison to Oxford is interminable! We did two stops: one just as we entered the Lewis Pass where we stopped in a leafy roadside lay-by to have breakfast: yummy - in the frying pan I heated a tortilla and added scrambled eggs to cook along with all of the leftover veg from the burritos we'd had for dinner the previous night plus some additional grated cheese. What's not to like, I ask you? It would have been better if I had a lid for the frying pan as the tortilla wouldn't have got so browned...

And the second stop was somewhere further on - I needed a break and a cuppa. We just pulled off the road at what wasn't a lay-by but did the trick. 

Then it was onwards through Rangiora and on to Oxford. The journey's driving time wasn't much more than 4 hours and in days gone by that would not have been an issue. I AM GETTING OLD!! 👵👵😐

OK, writing this has taken up much of the waiting time for the new departure time for the taxi. Mission accomplished!

Passports, potties and performances - in the past

 I think I'm starting to sound like Tony Porter of nb Holderness whose post titles, as a matter of course, are often alliterative!

Let's start with performances:

Several weeks ago now, Jane and I went to St James' Theatre in Wellington to see Witi's Wahine - a play that featured some of the women in Witi Ihamaera's novels and his life. It was wonderful - powerful and moving. Really well acted, sung and orated - a small cast who took on different roles throughout the different stories.

However I won't go back to the downstairs seating of that theatre - the rake of seating is not slanted enough and I struggle to see the stage (did you know I'm short?), and the seats are damned uncomfortable! My back was even more of a mess than it was before we went in!

We had a lovely dinner at an Asian place and thought we had plenty of time to get to the theatre. I'd had a 'mare earlier in the day trying to access the tickets which were apparently sent to my phone as electronic tickets, and not available in print. So when we arrived we headed straight for the ticket office to beg to be allowed in with a variety of evidence of ticket purchase: a printed screen shot of the confirmation email, a screen shot of the barcodes and an email showing I'd paid ... I needed a pee so I left Jane sorting out the tickets because we had just realised the show started half an hour earlier than I'd thought! Doh - clearly I didn't read the information closely enough, did I?

Jane and I reminisced about one of our first ventures in the city at night way back in the very late 70s when we both lived in Kilbirnie. I cannot remember what the event was, and it was probably just going in for a drink to have an evening out away from toddlers, having left the husbands at home in charge. On our way back, before we left the city, we stopped at a burger bar, and had a most entertaining time - it was in the middle of the red light district, such as it is/was. As we were much younger and more attractive, we had some interesting interactions with passers-by. I think even a couple of policemen checked we were OK... Both husbands were a bit horrified to learn about it on our return.

At the end of the last post I mentioned that we were going out to a buffet dinner with music that evening. The food was great and the music was really good. The group were called Too Many Chiefs. We were familiar with two of the guys: Andrew and Rob (I think), and another we knew from many years ago - from the group Formyula - but the woman was unknown to us. Good guitarist, reasonable voice but her songs were pretty depressing ... David and I took Grahame and he loved it. We joined some people at a table for 8, so their 5 and our 3 filled in nicely. They were from Speldhurst, a retirement community in Levin. Lovely to meet them and compare retirement village notes.

Moving on to passports:

When we returned from the UK back in September, we very shortly afterwards got ourselves ready to head up to the Far North in the motorhome. We discussed whether we should take the passports with us - not because we were leaving for a foreign country, but for the sake of security. We decided in the end that they would be safer left in a hiding place at home than gallivanting around in the motorhome. So the hiding place was agreed and there they were secreted. All was well, so I thought, until a few weeks after we came home, we made a plan to head to Australia to see Kirsty and to attend the Pub Choir there in Sydney with her. So passports had to be retrieved. I knew where we had put them, but they were not there. So we searched the house and searched again. David told Kirsty that he was happy that I was taking responsibility for losing/misplacing them and forgetting where. He wasn't so sure it was my fault, but he was happy for me to take the blame. Charming, eh?

So there was only one thing to do - replace them. I decided not to replace my UK one - not so useful these days with Brexit rules. Strangely enough the Brits didn't think that the rules they were going to apply to Europeans would also be put in place for them... 

But the NZ ones would be replaced. So applications, new photos (fortunately you can do them at home now), the personal details of a witness who had known us a sufficient length of time, and the applications were sent on their way electronically. 

Then, after the applications had been received and acknowledged, what did ACP come out to the lounge holding? Yep, three passports. Where had he found them? In an opaque plastic bag with our UK currency, Oyster cards, ...

Were they in the place we had agreed to leave them a few months prior? No. Who had moved them? ACP. Had ACP notified me or consulted? No.

Was he lucky to still be alive? Yes. Was I pissed off he'd happily let me take responsibility when he was pretty sure he had moved them from the agreed place? Yes indeed.

Upshot: I am now in charge of security of documents. Sanctions have been put in place. He has been warned...

And replacement passports have been received - it was too late to withdraw the applications because as soon as they are received, Internal Affairs cancels the old passports.

And then there's potties.

Here in Parkwood, we are focusing on earthquake preparedness, and in Sector 10 (our sector) we are being extremely diligent about it. It's clear that, unless an earthquake happens during work hours and on a weekday, the staff will not be available to sort us out. So it behoves us to be as self sufficient as possible. And being self sufficient doesn't mean being on our own; but it does mean for our group, looking after ourselves and each other.

One of the likelihoods is that the sewage system could be damaged (as it was for some months in Christchurch). So having access to a toilet seems like a sensible idea. 

So I hunted down online portable toilets, and found the ideal thing! A portable folding camp toilet - it's ideal because it folds down into a parcel about 6cm high by 35cm x 25cm. Here it is here! They have been dubbed by Janet as the Squatty Potty.

When it arrived at our place, we had a show, try and tell with 5 other women in the sector. All fully clothed of course, but what an absolute hoot. The laughter was uproarious and it was so lovely to hear!

The upshot is that we purchased one each for almost everyone in our sector. Others around the village have also shown interest so I am fairly sure more will be purchased. I am thinking of asking Mighty Ape for a commission!

Over the last couple of our own sector's meetings, we have decided on buying other equipment too: wind up radios, wind up torches, solar power packs for charging our phones and laptops.

We are determined to be prepared and able to look after ourselves and each other. Aren't we wonderfully self sufficient? 😇😇😚😚😜😜

Friends and food...

The last couple of weeks have been rather social and we like it!

At the beginning of the month, I called in at The Acquired Brain Injury Unit to visit Judy on my way back from the osteopath - the staff told me she was over in the kitchen making her lunch so off I went to surprise her. Well, she is doing fabulously. She had been out that morning to shop for the ingredients and was making a baked frittata. There was plenty, so I stayed and shared lunch with her.

We then had a text a few days ago to say she was to be discharged on 16 Feb - Yay!!! It has been nearly 4 months since her accident, and a long recovery period. My advice is avoid blood thinning meds - and if you have t take them, ask to have the lowest possible/feasible dose of the least powerful drug available. The severity of Judy's injury would have been far less if she wasn't on that stuff. 10 March update: Judy is home, progressing well and fabulous as always. Such a relief!

Then a week ago (back on 8 Feb - god, this post is late!), we had a sector meeting here at our place. Parkwood has a set up where the residents are grouped in sectors of about a dozen (more or less) houses, each with a sector leader and a deputy. The primary purpose is to be a mini-hub of support in a civil emergency, and the secondary purpose is for increasing social cohesion - as we age we can get isolated and having neighbours who keep an eye out and having the occasional get together are both bonding.

I was recently asked by Janet, our lovely neighbour, if I would take over from her as sector leader. Yes, I said. So she briefed me on what was involved and we agreed a meeting of Sector 10 people would be a good idea.

So we had 10 out of 15 people here for afternoon tea and a meeting - 2 people were poorly, 2 weren't really interested, and one (the lovely Brian whose house we stayed in here last February) was away in the South Island.

Afternoon tea was sumptuous, if I do say so myself: cheese scones, plain scones with jam and cream, chocolate brownie and Wendy (our deputy) brought yummy muffins. Note to self (i.e. the catering department): fewer scones and a smaller cake required...

We had an agenda, of course - it's not that long since I ran a lot of meetings that always had an agenda and desired outcomes identified ... And sensibly, if I do say so myself, the first item was Afternoon tea and a catch up.😋

We agreed we would meet once a month and determined we would have our meetings on the first Wednesday. One happy outcome is that after our meetings, we can all go (if we desire) straight up to the monthly Mix and Mingle gathering, and if I continue to over-cater, we can take the leftovers up as our contribution to the nibbles! Result!

The first item on the agenda was afternoon tea and a catch up...

That evening, we went out to Otaki Golf Club to an event  of dinner and live music. The event happens every two months for the cost of $50 each. We asked Christine and Peter who go regularly if we could go too. The music was great with musicians who regularly play together and in a range of different bands. And dinner was not fancy and it was delicious. And who should we see there but Clare, the intrepid woman who has cycled down the west coast of the USA twice and from Auckland back to Paraparaumu via the East Coast, as well as lots of cycling in the South Island... back in 2019, I posted about her here.

Andrew London and Kelvin (?) who regularly play together

The full complement of musicians - they are very good!

 

(10 March update: We really enjoyed the musical evening, and intend to go again, but for the next scheduled time, we will have just arrived in the South Island for our trip down to Doubtful Sound (2 nights in Fiordland Lodge and 2 on a launch in the sound - a treat for not going to the UK this year.)

____________ a month's interlude, and then:

So instead, we are going to an event with two of the same musicians tonight - at The Winemaker's Daughter: a buffet dinner and 4 musicians.I will keep you posted on how it was.)

We've done a bit more entertaining in the month (!! 😈😠😖😑😐!!) since I wrote the piece above this and obviously I have been very slack about getting it uploaded! So a rapid update to ensure I get this posted before the sun sets again:

• We went to Stokes Valley to stay the night with Jo, Shane and Liam - Jo was my PA back in Telecom days and she was brilliant. She always says she was my manager, and she is correct. I was good at managing other people but crap at sorting paperwork and filing, whereas Jo was a star. She also used to field calls from Tim and Kirsty if I was in meetings and had full delegation to say yay or nay to their proposed after school plans...
• It was great to see them and it has been ages and ages. I have to thank David for setting it up, as he had the idea and executed it - and considering he's not that comfortable doing the social secretary thing, it was impressive. He did volunteer me to make cheese tart though - without consultation, I might add. But still revenge was sweet - Jo made a yummy pasta dish with feta which David professes to hate but ate and had seconds and declared it delicious. Guess what I'll be making soon...

  

  Mel had to come (we took the motorhome) and of course he had to try out Liam's gear...
  

  

  And the drone - yay!!
  

  
  

  

  I may have got shorter but Jo is still tall and lovely!
  

  

  David and Shane - not sure why we didn't get any photos of Liam. He is such a cool kid!
  

  

  Mel slept inside and dressed himself in Liam's gear.
  

  
  
  
• From Jo and Shane's we headed a wee way north up the Hutt Valley to Silverstream and at a lovely cafe met Sarah and Grahame, their two very grown up and impossibly tall kids, Mya's boyfriend and Grahame's parents, Marjorie and Norman. That was a brilliant catch up too but no photos of anyone - doh!. But a bonus - in an after brunch walk we came across a car show, not vintage but 30s 40s, 50s and 60s cars - all the ones we were familiar with.

  

  I think my brother had one of these as his first car way back in the 1960s.
  

  

  A Bradford van - a friend owned one of these when I was flatting in Nixon St in Hamilton (Teacher's College days - not my favourite time of life). Two flats worth of young nutbars used to pile into the back of it and go jaunting around the city and outside. I remember one trip to Morrinsville for a milkshake. Other trips where we would pull up at the lights on Victoria St and all pile out, run around the van, get back in again in time for the lights to change to green and then off we'd go. As I said: nutbars.
  

  
  
  
  
• part of the staying connected and not losing touch again was that we arranged for Sarah and Grahame, Norman and Marjorie plus two of the 3 young ones to come here for an early dinner after they had been to Tutus on Tour at Southwards the following weekend.
• and another part of staying connected was that the next weekend Jo, Shane and Liam came for lunch.

  

  Liam (lovely kid), Jo and Shane here for lunch - afterwards, we played Five Crowns. Liam won and Shane came last. I think that's why he's not smiling ... Much hilarity! I think they were going to buy the game when they got home ...
  

  
  
  
• and then the following day we had Robert and Glenn over for lunch.

I have to confess that I made the same meal for both of the Hutt Valley groups: construct your own tortillas with chilli beans (canned - lazy option but David says they are yummy - too hot for me...), spicy cooked tomato, onion and garlic, mushroom sauce, avocado, cheese, lettuce, pickles, relishes, beetroot and carrot salad.

I made a curry for Robert and Glenn - I thought it wise in case all guests conferred and found out about my lack of imagination. I did however, provide the same dessert to the last two sets of guests - apple tarts with icecream. Very yummy.

I sent this to ACP as it seemed very apt.

An adventure abandoned

 Earlier this week we decided that we would take the motorhome to Paraparaumu Beach and freedom camp on Friday night, go out for dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant with a friend, and be in pole position for Saturday breakfast with the guys.

So we loaded up with teabags, milk, bread, butter, cheese, chutney (in case we got hungry in the night ...), a few clothes and some toiletries; David primed the toilet cassette, and away we went. We called in at Novus Glass in Paraparaumu first because the new suction cup that Sam and the team at Freeway fitted also doesn't like the heat and had let go - leaving the rear view/reversing camera monitor dangling...

Jarrod glued the suction cup on to the windscreen having first removed the glued on bolt that the original camera monitor was attached to. Yay! That means the front windscreen blind now closes properly and I don't need to keep the two sides together with fat rubber bands!

He spoke about his slight anxiety re his ferry trip to Picton on Saturday morning given the weather was meant to be pants. I checked the Wellington, Picton and Cook Strait weather and told him he'd be fine, but to take it easy if it was windy on their way down to Invercargill on their motorbikes - there's a Bert Munro World's Fastest Indian event on this weekend, I think.

For some strange reason, it didn't occur to us it was going to be windy here on the Kapiti Coast - doh... But as we left his workshop, the rain started and we noticed that the sky was black to the west and south. And as we pulled into the freedom camping parking area on the Paraparaumu waterfront, we realised it was pretty damn bumpy with very strong wind gusts and the rain was coming in sideways. And we could barely see Kapiti Island through the deep black rain clouds.

So we turned on the gas, started to make the bed, commented on the wind and the driving rain and then looked at each other. A very quick decision to call our friend David R and suggest cancelling dinner - he said he had just been about to call us and cancel. I do love it when all participants are on the same page!

Gas turned off, and home we went.

It was a bumpy drive back along the expressway, but to be fair, not as windy as our trip from Warkworth down to Whangaparoa a few weeks ago!

As it was hosing down and very windy at Waikanae, we parked the motorhome beside our house, unloaded the little we had taken with us and scurried inside to the warm, dry and immovable accommodation!

After the long trip to the Far North, we had decided we would do short trips away in the motorhome, but I am fairly sure we hadn't banked on durations of less than 3 hours ...

It's too damn hot!

 It may be very cold in the UK and bits of the canal may be frozen over and the new owners of Waka Huia may be considering fitting a firebox, but here in Waikanae it is too damn hot!!

We have resorted to using the heat pump's other function - air-conditioning. 

We have also decided we need to get another unit fitted - we have one in the lounge dining, and we need one in our bedroom.

I know many people will tell me that 29 or 30 deg isn't hot, and I know my lovely sister is visiting friends up in the Far North where it was 29 deg on the day she arrived.

But for me (and for ACP) it is too damn hot - even at 24 deg!

I have been going out for a walk early in the last couple of mornings and it's pleasant at about 7am. By 8am it's getting hot and humid.

On Saturday we went out for breakfast up in Waikanae and David and I walked there. It started to rain during breakfast and the guys offered us a ride home, but we refused the kind offer. I just loved walking home in the rain. It felt wonderful!

For British readers in particular - but for everyone really

 Listen to this please: James O'Brien Full Disclosure: Nick Wallis  

If the link doesn't work for you (it's Apple because we are Mac users here in this house), then look on your podcasts app and find James O'Brien Full Disclosure: Nick Wallis; Exposing the Post Office scandal. It's the latest interview on Full Disclosure.

And if you haven't already watched it, get on to ITVx and watch the 4 part drama series about it.