The restorative powers of tea

One way and another I have had a busy week, but at least the weather has been good most of the time which has meant I could get the washing dry without having to stand and shout at it.

Monday started off with a trip to Devonport to look at what turned out to be an almost terminal Mac. On my way back I called into the White Cross centre in Avondale to have my right foot checked. There appears to be a bit of debris still in one of the wounds from my beach accident. The Doctor said it would probably work it’s way out in time. Unfortunately, it took me two and a half hours to receive this news because somehow I dropped off the waiting list after signing in at reception. So, by the time I got home it was well into the afternoon and I was hungry, thirsty and not feeling too good. Some food and a restorative pot of tea worked wonders. We had dinner on the Rattigan and Jancis popped round in the evening to use the wifi. She stayed to watch a DVD Nicky had brought home from the library (Scapegoat) which was very good and we all enjoyed. We discovered that Jancis didn’t have any plans for her birthday on Friday as her cousin and husband will be away, so we invited her over for dinner.

Tuesday started of a bit cloudy but dry, so the washing went out as planned and I set up some files for Jancis (she has come over from the dark side of computing). Nicky rang mid-morning to say that Dilworth Hearing had called and her hearing aids had been returned from servicing and were ready for collection. So, I zipped over to Howick and then delivered them to Nicky before bringing the washing in and grabbing a quick buttie to keep me going while giving Jancis a tutorial. I didn’t get back until about half past three was really enjoyed a light late lunch and another restorative pot of tea. I then started plotting for Jancis’s birthday as I had discovered that it was her 70th this year.

Wednesday was a full work day, the morning in Takapuna moving a number of devices to a new wireless network, and the afternoon in Waterview. This was with an elderly gent who only has vision in one eye and partial hearing in one ear. He shouts so he can hear himself and I had to shout so he could hear me. My ears were ringing when I left after two and a half hours.

Thursday had a bit of moisture in the air to start with, but I still got the towels washed and dry. The morning was food shopping, regular stuff and special stuff for Friday night. The afternoon was present shopping for Jancis. I went to see what Kevin Kilsby had on offer (he does wonderful ceramic Pukeku’s) and had a bit of a moment when I discovered his shop was no longer there. Fortunately, it had only moved round the corner to his home. The selection was as good as ever, but I had something else in mind, so drove into town, parked by the silo’s and walked through the Wynyard Quarter to the Ocean Gallery. I bought a great photo of The Spirit of New Zealand in a reasonable swell and also had a good chat with the photographer. In the evening I started making a white and dark chocolate tart for Jancis’s birthday.

First thing Friday morning I finished the chocolate tart (it needed lots of cooking in the fridge) and headed off for a swim Herne Bay way. En route I had to stop to take a phone call from a customer in Whangaparaoa who’s Mac sounded like it was in a bad way. So I turned round, went home, got changed and got my work “tools” and some lunch, and headed up to the peninsula. The problem wasn’t too difficult to solve, so I decided to go and have a swim at Red Beach (no nasty sharp shells so very foot friendly as far as I am concerned). The water was lovely and the sun came out while I was drying off and eating my lunch. I drove home, had another restorative pot of tea, and prepared a smoked fish pie for dinner. I had some pastry left over so put “70!” on top of the pie with some of it. The remaining pastry was rolled into two cylinders and coated with melted chocolate to use as holders for the “happy Birthday” candles, because I was concerned that sticking them into the chocolate tart would break the biscuit base.

Jancis dully arrived and was very touched with the photo of the Spirit of NZ. I served the smoked fish pie with a selection of veggies (mange tout and sweetcorn, home grown green beans with yellow capsicum in garlic and chilli butter, and baby carrots with toasted almonds). Jancis brought a lovely Shiraz which we all enjoyed before moving onto the chocolate tart, which also turned out well. FYI, all the dishes were Hairy Biker Pible recipes (thanks again Katarine & Ben). After clearing the table we wallowed in front of the TV and watched Keeping Mum on DVD. It was a great evening and we really enjoyed doing something a bit special for Jancis.

Saturday morning dawned warm and sunny, so we had scrambled eggs on the Rattigan, even though we felt like the morning after the night before. At least this time we had had a night before, whereas when we normally feel like the morning after we haven’t had the pleasure of the previous evening. We decided we would have a quiet day at home. pottering, ironing, topping up the tan (it was starting to fade a little) and reading about. Nicky made a great soup for tea with the lobs veggies from Friday so I added an ale house loaf and we thoroughly enjoyed it on the Rattigan in spite of the hot weather. We finally packed up outside after our cups of tea (around 7.30) as the sun was no longer warming enough.

Today started just as warm and sunny as yesterday and has been another glorious sunny day. Nicky went off to prison so I went out west and had a lovely long walk along Karekare and onto Whatipu beaches. I hadn't been on the beach long when it was buzzed by two bi-planes. Their flight into the sun looked very Hollywood. Stella and Steve came over for Scrabble late afternoon, and we finished off the soup from yesterday while watching The Muppits. Here is a picture of the first clouds I saw today, around lunchtime.

Take care,

Rick