Wet end to the week

We have had two notable days this week, though for very different reasons.

On Monday while driving down to the shops on Margan Avenue I hit a cyclist on the roundabout. Fortunately, because I wasn’t going fast, he only suffered bruises and some damage to his bike, but it was a good 36 hours before the images of the event were no longer right at the front of my mind. I am still concerned as to why I didn’t see him. I have been driving for 29 years and it’s the first time that I have had a collision with a cyclist.

Saturday was a much better day as it saw the beginning of our attendance at this year's Auckland Heritage festival. We kicked off with a real goodie - a guided tour of the history of Ponsonby with Edward Bennett. We encountered Mr Bennett for the first time last year on a tour of Mayers Park, and found him to be be incredibly good - informative, entertaining, clear and well-paced in his delivery. He didn't disappoint this year and we thoroughly enjoyed our walk round Ponsonby, centred on the Three Lamps area for those of you who know it.

The walk took a couple of hours and during that time the wind (which was bringing rain), got up. We both fancied a hot drink so popped into one of the many cafés on Ponsonby Road, Dizengoff. We accompanied our two pots of tea with toasted coconut bread (N) and toasted fruit bread (R) and felt very much revived. We enjoyed our tea and toast so much that after perusing their menu decided we would return another time for lunch.

We had a couple of retail tasks to perform while near shops, but as we completed those and returned to the car it started to rain. We drove over to Morningside for our next walk and arrived in time to have our picnic lunch English-style (in the car). We met our guide for Street Art Then an Now in a car park by a large piece called The Divide, which is an image of two dogs brandishing short swords which represents the acrimonious split of two street artists who had worked as a team for many years. The differences between tagging, graffiti, street art and murals was explained as we walked through the rain, up the hill from Morningside to Kingsland. Our guide was informed and informative and the event was only spoiled by the weather. By the time we got back to the car we were very wet so put rugs on the seats to protect them.

After we had got home, showered, changed and had a pot of tea we set about finished getting everything ready for our dinner guests. We organised the lounge, then Nicky went off to clean bathrooms while I got the steak and ale pie into the oven and prepared the vegetables. Maria and Sheryl brought pre-dinner nibbles and Kelly, James and Wendy brought desserts, and we had a long leisurely meal with enjoyable conversation and didn’t get around to playing charades. When everybody had left, we tidied up, put the clocks forward an hour, and went to bed. It had been a lovely day.

Apart from Nicky going to church this morning, we have had a quiet day at home today. We were both still tired after yesterday, and the rain was still pouring down, so we decided not to got to either of the Heritage walks that we had planned. We have just had pumpkin soup and walnut bread for tea, and will settle down to the tellybox shortly (Michael Wood’s History of China and the new sears of Grand Designs NZ).

Take care, Rick