Hurry up and wait!

I am just starting a new piece of work with the Dept of Conservation down in Hokitika - my favourite place! We were going to make our way down there, leaving home very early on Wednesday morning for the ferry departing at 0845. However on Monday afternoon we had a text and an email (comprehensive communication - lots of brownie points!) to let us know there were gale force winds forecast and it was likely the ferries on Wednesday and Thursday would be cancelled.

Bugger!!

Our plan had been to wend our way to Stoke near Nelson and spend a few nights at Ann and Salvi's place, consuming their electricity, eating their food, basking in front of their fireplace and playing cards in person rather than by FaceTime (as we have been doing with much hilarity and pleasure since the beginning of lockdown back in late March).

So instead of waiting and seeing - see previous post which explains my impatience - ACP who is purportedly the one with patience (and obviously an endless capacity for uncertainty - that is sarcasm, by the way, in case you missed it in your outpouring of sympathy for said ACP!) that ACP (previously mentioned a couple of times in the same sentence) suggested I try to rebook when the weather was likely to have cleared. Dammit, almost every other passenger had the same idea but quicker than we did. All booked out on Friday and Saturday ... (Actually, it turns out it is the start of the school holidays - that's why they are all booked out.)

So we decided we ought to just suck it up and wait and see. Are you bloody kidding me?! Nah!! ACP gave it 5 minutes (that is the limit of his uncertainty tolerance timeframe [UTT]) then said he would try to book a passage on Sunday.

So we are booked at 0630 Sunday, with the latest check in at 0530. I think that means leaving home on Saturday afternoon and staying overnight at Plimmerton NZMCA camp so we do not have to be up quite so early.

Earlier that arvo, I had started setting out the clothing I will need while we are away - a bit hard on two counts:
* there is not much clothing space on board (remember that I did change the wardrobe into a pantry),
* I need casual clothing plus work stuff.

I hadn't taken it all out to the motorhome but had stacked it neatly on the bed.

• x number of tops, 
• x-4 skirts/work trousers, 
• all of my jeans, lots of jerseys, plenty of socks
• at least a week's worth of underwear

 Then the delay occurred. So did I put it all back on hangers and in drawers and do the exercise again in a few days' time? Nah. So, in between showers, some of it was stored in the motorhome and the rest was carefully stacked on the armchair in the bedroom.

Note to self, nothing has yet been identified as travelling clothes ...