Catching up

We are happily ensconced at Bruce and Gary’s beach house waiting for the settlement of our new home, the money has been transferred to the lawyer’s trust account and is due to be paid over on Wednesday. The vendor has a skip out in the driveway, the commercial cleaning van was there yesterday, so all is being readied for us to take ownership. We feel for the owner – he and his wife had the house built 23 years ago on land they subdivided around their original homestead, and a number of the trees on the place have been there for years. It is a wrench for him to leave, not only the house but his neighbours – his friend, 95 year old Eric, still lives across the street and they will miss each other sorely I think.

One house we had been very keen on, having seen it shortly after it was listed back in early November but not being able to make an offer to buy immediately because of the dreaded deadline treaty, looks as though the deadline treaty process didn’t get the result the agent was expecting. We saw the house advertised again yesterday with an asking price this time, and no mention of deadline treaty … Hah!! And we had said we would pay more than the current asking price – Hah again!! Oops, did I say that out loud? It was meant to be in my internal voice. Ah, well, how sad, too bad, never mind. Seriously though, it is a lovely house and will sell, but the agent and the vendor need to be mindful of making sure that the price isn’t ratcheted up past its value. Another possible issue in its failure at deadline treaty is settlement date - like a number of people here in Waikanae, the vendor is moving into a retirement village and her villa there won't be completed till late in January. Not every purchaser can wait that long to settle and shift. We are very lucky in having such good friends as Bruce and Gary who have been happy to accommodate us. We could have coped with a January settlement, as we also had Derek's place available while he is away in the UK and US on holiday.

It is lovely being here at Bruce and Gary’s – they come up in the weekends and often there are mutual friends staying as well. This weekend there is a full house, with Paul and Nigel, plus Joe and, outside in their camper van, Pete and Warren. Tonight the guys are going to the Kapiti Rainbow Christmas event – David and I, as the only straights in the house, will have a quiet night in and, in the interests of our livers and kidneys, no wine will be consumed for a change.

Last Friday night my sister Dee and her husband came to stay on their way back from Picton where Murray has been overseeing the operation of moving milk from the North Island to the South – lots of big tankers and drivers needing on site support and administration. Having Dee and Murray here was lovely; they are now in Palmerston North and this time Murray is overseeing movement of milk powder. PN is reasonably close to Waikanae, so on Monday Dee and I met in Otaki (well, it has lots of outlet shops) and we did retail stuff and lunch and catching up. The credit card did take a hammering, but think of the money I saved with the bargains I bought!

On our Saturday morning walk beside the lagoons we saw the ubiquitous Canada geese ...

and the ducks

Out on to the beach and we saw this shark and net.

Dee, Kapiti Island and the still life

David is hard at work on the Weaving Memories jobs – he’s up at 5.30 most mornings and often works into the night. If only I could get him to double his hourly rate AND charge for the hours he actually does, I could retire instantly. As it is, I am now doing a Post Implementation Review for a government project. I’ve done all the interviews and read the documentation and now have to complete the report. I have started, but there is still a way to go by end of Tuesday.

There has been some distraction activity though – I have been to see the movie Pride twice this week, once with David and yesterday with Wendy, Joe and Gary. And now there’s Jimmy’s Hall to see sometime soon.

I am also going out walking for up to an hour each morning – a recent blood test indicates that I am pre-diabetic. The reading had dropped (along with a few kilos) while we were on the boat, but with a more sedentary life here at home, it is likely to rise again. The doctor told me that walking every day on the fabulous paths and beach here at Waikanae would drop the reading back 6 or 7 points without any hassle. So I have been out and about exploring our new environment.

The water in the river is so clear. The whitebaiters were out in force for the last days of the season.

The bridge over the Waikanae River at Otaihanga Reserve - a popular swimming spot and lovely park. Where are my grandsons? They would love this!

As I was walking striding along yesterday morning, I got a birthday call from Scotland – my birthday is the 4^th, but we have a practice of celebrating for both the northern and southern hemispheres’ time zones, as it makes the birthday 36 hours long! That cannot be a bad thing! So it was just lovely to be talking to Marta, and the lovely grandsons while I was out enjoying the fresh air 13,000 miles away. I’d spoken with Tim the previous evening as he was driving down to Macclesfield to do some work.

Kapiti Island at 7.45 yesterday morning - there was wind up high, judging by the clouds, but it was beautifully calm on the beach ...

The biggest bluebottle I have seen for years. Size comparison - the shell was about 50mm (2") wide so that beast is at least 75mm (3") across - and look at those tentacles. Ugh!

The bluebottles were everywhere - at high tide mark, at the water's edge and points in between. On the ebbing tide they were still being washed ashore. If this invasion continues there'll be no swimming at the beach over summer. I remember them from the beach at Tongaporutu every few summers. They give me the screaming ab-dabs!

I had better get up and go for a walk now – Joe and I are on brekkie, and he was very late to bed last night, so I could be doing double duty as sous chef while he clears his head. Not to worry, we were all on the sauce last night with much laughter, serious and not so serious discussions, so he won’t be alone in having a slow start. Aha! While I have been loading photos on this post, he has got up already, he's brought me a cup of tea and is now hard at work in the kitchen - such stamina can only be the preserve of the young ...