Hear, there, and hear again.

It isn't that this week has been busy in the conventional sense, but that a number of things which are not part of our usual routine have happened.

First thing on Tuesday morning we went off to Epson to get Nicky's hearing aids fitted. It took about an hour to go through getting them set up and explaining how to use them and maintain them, and what Nicky might expect in getting used to them. I then took Nicky onto work. As I think anyone who uses hearing aids would agree, the world seems quite a different place at first. Nicky has been very good at persevering with her aids and she is starting to get used to them, but they are not a "fix all" solution. They do look very neat though.

In the afternoon I nipped into town on the train (after leaving the car outside the library for Nicky) to have a tour of the organ at the Town Hall. I had mentioned to Nicky when we went for a free concert there a few weeks ago that I wouldn't mind a look round, and tours were available as part of the Heritage Festival. I have to say, it didn't disappoint. It is a major instrument with some 5,193 (I think) pipes, and three air blowers in the basement which move 3 cubic meters of air per second. During the refurbishment over the last few years the organ was rebuilt with a view to people being able to take tours round "the innards", and the walkways and staircase provided easy through claustrophobic access. It was quite an experience and I now have a much better understanding of how organs work.

I was back at the Town Hall again first thing on Wednesday morning for a tour of the building itself. Our guide was Gerorge Farrant, the City Planner who also took us round The Civic last year. I hadn't realised that the Town Hall not only provides and auditorium for the entertainment of the great unwashed, but the Mayor (Len Brown) and his entourage also have their offices there. We got to see Len's office, but not the man himself. One of the major features from the Town Hall refurbishment was the creation of three light wells. These had just been dead spaces previously, but sections of the roof were glazed and banners were made by local groups and the spaces are now light and uplifting. Going up the clock tower provided some great views of Queen Street.

Very much first thing on Friday morning (7ish) Nicky drove to Auckland General to take part in an osteoporosis study. She was scanned and measured and infused with a drug that has been found to be beneficial for osteoporosis sufferers. The study is looking at whether or not the drug can help if given before the onset of the disease. She will be seen again in 5 and 10 years time, when she will also be given the results of the study. We don't know if she is in the test group or the control group, but hopefully we will find out at the end.

Work wise Nicky has been busy at the library and I have had a reasonable amount of Mac work spread over the week. I have managed to fit in a quick visit to Claire, and get all the laundry done before the weekend. The forecast was not good (and it has been largely correct), whereas Thursday and Friday were almost summer days apart from the cool breeze. This new approach to the laundry has worked out so well that I may try it again in the future so that we can have laundry-free weekends! Oh, what a thrill.

This weekend has been the end of the Heritage Festival, so we have again been taking advantage of some of the offerings. We had a very late breakfast yesterday and then drove into town in the pouring rain. We parked in the Victoria Street car park as we were heading for the Art Gallery and the Central Library on Lorne Street. As luck would have it the rain seemed to stop just as we walked out of the car park. We had a quick trip into the Art Gallery to check on the arrangements for the film we wanted to see, and then went to the library to see the John Logan Campbell exhibition. This was a bit of a disappointment, but the Protest exhibition which we had to walk through the get to it was very interesting.

We then headed back to the library and had a bit of a wander round before taking our seats for the film. This was a compost of silent films from the archive of Aucklander's doing their "messing about in boats" thing from the beginning of the 20th century.  It was quite interesting to see and had piano accompaniment. It was almost 3pm by the time it finished, and we were ready for lunch and knew that we wouldn't made it to the Domain in time for the volcano walk, but the sky was blue and the sun inviting so we sat outside for our first course at the café: we both chose chicken tikka and mango wraps, which had loads of chicken in them and spices to stimulate without overpowering. We moved inside for our desserts because of the cool breeze, but enjoyed a date and orange scone (N), chocolate encased Tirimasu creation (R), and a cake whose name I can't remember but the sponge was gluten free and made with egg whites and ground almonds, and the fruit was doris plum (both). It was good, but not as stunning as our other choices.

 Flower chandelier in the Art Gallery

We took the car up the the museum afterwards and had a stroll round the domain to work off a couple of our lunchtime calories, but we had had the best of the weather. We spotted some geese and goslings on our way back to the car. 

By the time we got home and settled into our cups of tea followed by beans on toast, the rain was coming down and the wind picked up again. Apparently, earlier in the day Auckland had experienced 130kph winds, and there had been some damage.

When Nicky got back from church this morning, we packed up the picnic lunch she had prepared in true Blue Peter style, and headed off to Hobsonville Point to visit the NZ Traditional Boat Building School as our last heritage event. We got distracted while finding it by a new housing development, but we found it in the end. Unfortunately the details in the heritage brochure were wrong, and the place should have been closed by the time we arrived, but Tanya was very accommodating and helpful, and showed us, and two other groups of people who arrived, around the school and the workshops. They run courses in boat building, the old way using wood, for both apprentices and the general public. You can even build a boat as a family event from as little as $500. It's brilliant, and the yellow cedar smelt wonderful.

The rain returned just as we were leaving so we drove to Sunderland Bay (at the end of the point) and had our picnic "English style" (in the car). We came home via Herald Island as neither of us had been before. The rest of the afternoon was consumed with Scrabble and baking, before settling down in front of the tellybox for the evening.

If you are thinking dear reader, that food and laundry are the highlights of my life, you wouldn't be far wrong.

That's all for this week, take care

Rick