After the storm…another one

Bruce and Wendy were still with us on Monday morning, which started dryer and clearer than recently, and developed into a hot sunny day peaking at 29º in the afternoon. We had a big breakfast of stuffed mushrooms, scrambled eggs and avocado on toast. Nicky had her 3-month checkup with the GP and I started loads of washing. We spent the morning just pottering and chatting with B&W before they headed south again just before lunchtime. We went off to Ponsonby (N) and Parnell (R) and followed this with sewing, mowing and working in the office. We had very enjoyable lobs for tea. It was great to have seen Wendy and Bruce again and return some of their hospitality.

It was wet overnight and this continued into Tuesday morning, but the afternoon was dryer. I had a job in Devonport in the morning and then collected Nicky from the station at lunchtime as she was taking her half-day-shopping-day. The afternoon was sewing and making a tuna and pasta salad for work (N) and shopping and admin (R). We had pancake stacks for tea and had some left over so popped them in the freezer.

Wednesday was muggy again with some clear periods and some major downpours. I had a couple of jobs to do, one of which was quite late and up on the North Shore. Nicky was having an after hours works do (hence the pasta salad) so I went straight there to collect her at 7pm, which just gave her enough time to get sorted before going up to church for the Ash Wednesday service.

Thursday developed into a lovely sunny day, so I did loads more washing, ironing, and working on some kit in the office before going into town for my Deep & Meaningful meeting.

Friday started clear and developed into a very hot sunny day, reaching 31º according to Luna in the afternoon. I had two jobs booked over the bridge and even though they were a few hours apart I wasn’t enthusiastic to go twice as the traffic has just been manic recently and some journeys (especially in the rain) have taken me more than twice as long as usual. So, after finishing my first call in Devonport I had a walk along the promenade and up the main street before driving up to St Leonards beach for a swim and my picnic lunch. I stopped in Mairangi Bay on my way to Browns Bay and had a walk along the beach and another swim and took a call which resulted in a quick trip to Red Beach for my last job of the day after finishing at Browns Bay.

I was very pleased to be sitting down with a pot of tea to do my admin when I got home, only to be thwarted by a power cut (don’t worry - the hot water was already in the tea pot). I popped round to Dawn to see if she was out of power too and check that she was OK, and while I was there I got a text from Vector to say that the power was out. It included a link to app which I downloaded which they have developed for updates on their service. This indicated that the power should be back on around 8.35pm, and I think it was. I’m not too sure as we were down at the beach at the time, but I though this information service from Vector was excellent.

I texted Nicky to ask her to come up from the station on the bus because after Dawn and I looked at the instructions for opening the garage door manually I didn’t fancy trying it as I didn’t feel the emergency was that great. So we headed up to the chip shop a little later than we usually do when going to our annual free Music in The Parks down in the Bay. This didn’t affect our enjoyment of the food, the music or the evening, and we actually sat on the beach this year, getting sand between our toes but not on our chips. For the first time in many years (though we didn’t make it last year) the evening stayed warm enough for shorts and short sleeved shirt, though Nicky did don her cardy just as we were collecting our things together to walk home. It was a great way to end the working week.

We were up early on Saturday morning as Nicky had cramp. The magnesium she is taking is certainly helping, but she is still getting cramp from time to time and is noting it is more likely when she has had a day where she hasn’t consumed as much water. She wasn’t working as it was the first session of the year for BHB quilters, which went very well. I had a modelling job in Titirangi so Nicky dropped me there just before 10 and afterwards I walked home (it’s only 5km’s) but I found it more tiring than expected due to the warm weather and having worked quite hard on my modelling poses. I spent the afternoon making scoria bread (as I now think of it - relatively high in iron, and if we don’t eat all of it (fat chance) it could be used for road aggregate - it’s a robust loaf) and vegetable soup, as we had an excess of veggies from last weekend. Nicky returned from Scrabbling at Stella’s around 8pm and we had a quiet evening with the tellybox.

Today started off warm and promising as N headed to church, but the weather is forecast to change as cyclone Gita heads towards us. More warm rain then.

Take care, Rick.