Renaming New Zealand

By -

I have started to get back to my walking routine this week - I try to do an hour or so first thing after breakfast. On Tuesday, while heading towards Green Bay, I realised that the alternative name for New Zealand, "land of the long white cloud" (or Aotearoa in te reo Maori) needs to be replaced with a more accurate alternative name; "land of the long shared driveway". When the outlying areas of Auckland were being settled for residential use, many of the homes were built on quarter acre sections, and with the roads very well spaced. In recent years as pressure for housing has increased and these sections have been sub-divided, rights-of-way to the new properties have often run down the side of the sections, hence the long driveways. I was reminded of this while walking, so just thought I would mention it.


Nicky has been as busy as ever at the library, and on Thursday had her works Christmas celebration - breakfast in a café on the other side of the train station from the library. Nicky had put a great deal of effort into organising this and it was a good event.


I have also been busy with Mac work and getting ready for Christmas. I have had a customer needing a RAM and OS upgrade, and another needing the same along with a failed drive replacement, another moving from Mac to PC and another downsizing and moving into a home office. As a consequence I have been out a couple of evenings during the week.


So, after all that it was good to finish on Friday with the Christmas break ahead of us. On Saturday morning while Nicky made more millionaire shortbread for gifts, I did the laundry and the household chores. Stella came over and we did some present swapping before we had lunch and set off on our delivery round. First stop was Ryan in Mt Eden (Claire was at work). Then we called in to see Mary Drillion in Remuera. She was looking well, especially for 98, but needs more care than I think she realises. Then we drove round to Glendowie and had a cup of tea with Ruth Duffus, who was in good spirits and very perky. We had half an hour on the beach at St. Helliers before calling in Caro's to spend our wine vouchers from the Hanlon's. Finally I dropped Nicky at June Melsop's just down the road, as it was starting to spot with rain and I wanted to get the washing it. I then went back and collected Nicky. Everyone seemed pleased with their gifts.


Today, Sunday, has of course been Christmas Day. We woke to clear blue skies but it started to cloud over by 9-ish. However, this afternoon has been glorious with hot sunshine and just a gentle breeze. Nicky and I had almond croissants for breakfast before opening our gifts. We both had a wonderful and entertaining range of goodies - I got lots of booze which I am sure Nicky will also enjoy. We then got on with doing our final preparations for the shared family lunch at Clem and Pats - two Christmas Puddings and over 2kgs of new potatoes in mint. We had some delays on the way up to Stanmore Bay with much heavier traffic than we were expecting, but were still the first there. Phil had prepared a large ham on the BBQ. Each year over the Christmas period there are around 3000 ham-related accidents in NZ, mainly dropping the ham on the foot, fingers being injured during carving, and choking.


Slowly the rest of the family began to arrive, everybody being delayed by the traffic. We started lunch mid-afternoon, turkey, veg, kumera, spuds and salads to accompany the ham. By late afternoon we had moved on to the desserts of strawberries, pavlova, mince tart, Christmas pudding and some other things which I can't remember. Sitting in the shade on Clem and Pats decking enjoying the company and food made for wonderful afternoon. Nicky and I departed sometime after 6 and drove a little further up the peninsula to Manly Beach and had a gentle walk along the sand. There were a number of other family groups doing the same thing. After taking our fill of the fresh sea air we drove back home, and settled down to watch "Boy", a Kiwi film which has become somewhat iconic.


We have really enjoyed today and appreciate all the effort that everyone far and wide has put into Christmas this year. We hope that all your Christmas days are full of joys and treasured moments.


Lots of love,

Nicky and Rick


PS: I will post some photos tomorrow as it is nearly 11pm and I am looking forward to getting to bed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Challenging week

By -
Image
 It has been a challenging week. At the beginning of the week Nicky was still getting worse, so she arranged an appointment with the GP on Tuesday afternoon. The GP confirmed that Nicky had bronchitis and sinusitis, but that her chest sounded clear. With the infection being viral, there was no medication that could be prescribed, but some additional painkillers were in order to manage the symptoms and assist with the pain caused by congestion, coughing and vomiting. As the week progressed Nicky started to improve slowly. The periods of incessant coughing and coughing induced vomiting started to subside yesterday. She was able get a little more sleep and keep a little more food down. The washing machine has been very busy with regular changes of PJ’s, dressing gowns and bedding. Some of the laundry has been dried outside but the winter weather has deteriorated over the last couple of days. While Nicky has been unwell she has cancelled all her commitments. I have been running errands...
Read more

Tea and Tissues

By -
Image
 We have had a quiet week at home, doing jigsaws and listening to Harry Potter. Nicky seemed to be getting better at the beginning of the week but it was short lived. As the week has drawn to a close she has actually started getting brighter and felt like doing some things round the house. Nicky got dressed for the first time this week on Friday to go to the hospital for a blood test, and we did a little shopping on the way home. Yesterday she made a couple of lemon cakes and delivered one to Eleanor for her birthday. Nicky found the few minutes walk there and back exhausting. Meanwhile, I gradually got worse through the week until Friday. On Wednesday and Thursday I ploughed through a whole box of 240 tissues, and most of a packet of throat lozenges. Paracetamol helped with the general aches and temperature fluctuations. This weekend is the first time I have done my morning exercises in over a week, and I even managed a short amble this morning in the lovely (almost spiring-like) ...
Read more

Easter

By -
Image
 Steve continued his convalescing with us at the beginning of the week, and continued to improve each day. He decided to start the journey home on Tuesday by driving to Te Kuiti. As Monday was going to be his last evening with us he provided another take-away dinner from the Spice Guru, which we enjoyed as much as the previous one. Steve and I were a little early collecting it, so while we were waiting I was having a look at the buildings at the bottom end of Victoria Avenue and spotted this: I think Whanganui rivals Napier for the quality of its Art Deco architecture. Before Steve left on Tuesday morning, he and Nicky went to the Splash Centre to have a wallow in the thermal pool. This had been recommended by Nicky’s physio when she had seen her on Monday. Nicky had a short swim too and they both enjoyed their time. We were very pleased that Steve felt sufficiently recovered to start his journey home, as it was not good seeing him in as much pain, as when he first arrived. It was ...
Read more