Visitors from away

 On Monday afternoon this week, when I arrived home from the office, Irene and Ian Jameison of nb Free Spirit had arrived here at Cafe Rata.

They had arrived from a week in Sydney where Irene had spent most of the time quarantined in the upstairs suite in her brother and sister in law's home - she had developed the covid symptoms on their second flight out from the UK.

When she was clear of covid, they flew to Auckland and then on to Whanganui to pick up Mary and Alan's little Toyota HiAce poptop camper which they have hired for their 5 month sojourn. It is a lovely wee van, but bloody hell, it's tiny! However they like each other a lot, so it's fine. 

Ian and Irene arrived here while I was at work on Monday, and even though I came home with a significant headache (migraine - feel sorry for me please), it was fabulous to see them. I did spend the first 20 minutes or so lying on the couch and then had to sit up and join in.

Over the next couple of days, in between bits of work, we socialised and Ian and Irene put some time in making the van their own, even temporarily. Mary and Alan's grandchildren had been the main users of the van as a playhouse for the last couple of years.

Irene cleaning the roof, Ian on his knees with David watching - Ian was fitting the bits to the battery so the new folding solar panel would power the battery and keep the fridge going.

Irene was very careful not to get Ian wet as she had the hose dribbling to rinse where she had been washing - she is far far far kinder than I would be ...

Mary, if you are reading this - do not despair or feel guilty that the camper wasn't pristine. Ian washes their motorhome and their boat with monotonous regularity - he's a bit OCD really ...

Yesterday's task was to stick on the NZMCA wings and number front and back. The front is done - successfully - but you wouldn't know that judging by Irene's worried look ... And see her right hand - she is itching to take over 😆

Right hand up a bit ... Keep it smooth, Ian.

And here it is, all done. I looked at ours afterwards and decided we need a new set of wings on the front - it has suffered in the heat.

We introduced them to Quiddler, a word/card game, and dammit, Irene won both games. While David was washing bird poop off the two back porches and cleaning the outdoor furniture of bird poop, I, I & M played cards - dinner was cooking at this time, so we weren't entirely idle.

David has decided to sell his dad's old desk and chair. They are iconic pieces of NZ furniture built by Chapman Taylor. The desk is huge and heavy. 

Did I mention huge? It won't go through the doorways with its top on. So that has to be unscrewed. And it still won't go through doorways so 2 doors had to be removed. It was wonderful that Ian was here because he was very very useful. Irene describes him as her man who can - pretty apt!

The desk is now in the garage waiting to be advertised and waiting to be dispatched to a new home. And the two doors removed by necessity were speedily replaced. David vacuumed his now almost bare office that for the first time since we moved in back in 2014 actually looks like it could be a bedroom!

Unrecognisable! And almost no reproducing cords in sight!

This morning the Jameisons were heading off on adventures. Fortunately for her, Irene did not put socks on under her sandals - what is it with that British custom? Naff or what? I'd had to school her about it when I got home on Monday. So all day yesterday she looked right and fitted in nicely - sandals, no socks. I did tell her that she would be instantly recognisable as English if she reverted and she'd lose any credibility...

Filling the water tank - a bit of a different story from the motorhome and a hugely different story from filling the tank on the boat ...

Both Ian and David have had prostatectomies. David noticed that the 3 letters of the number plate spelled out the acronym for something that neither of them need again - digital rectal examinations ...

Here she is, (see - no socks) all ready to depart on their adventures: 5 months of wandering around wherever the fancy takes them. And judging by some of our conversations, they are keen to do more silly stuff, like swing bridges and fly by wire and walking around the outside of the Skytower attached to the railing by a flimsy carabiner and wire.

We sent them away with 

• a loaf of sourdough, 
• a couple of small bags of pasta and one of rice, 
• a rice salad for tonight's dinner (that Irene made from last night's leftover rice) 
• a wodge of chorizo
  
• several small bags of fresh herbs (parsley, mint, thyme, and lime leaves) and 
• spices from the pantry
• a couple of lists of places we thought they would enjoy seeing or activities we thought they'd enjoy, and
• strict instructions that if they are aiming for Tongaporutu they need to get in touch so we have time to join them there.
  

Safe travels, you nutbars. M&D xx