Simple Pleasures

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Men, some would say, are just boys in bigger bodies, which if true, explains why we can take great pleasure in simple things, such as riding in the front seat on the upper deck of a double decker bus. Regular readers will recall the trip which Nicky and I took over the harbour bridge on a double decker during the 2016 Christmas holidays. Well I had noticed during this Christmas break that there were double deckers being introduced on the 25B route, one of my regular buses for going into town. I also observed that there were still single deckers doing the route so I knew it wouldn’t be guaranteed that my next trip on a 25B would necessarily be on a double decker, but going into town on Thursday for my Deep and Meaningful MeetUp group, the 17.08 25B from Blockhouse Bay was a double decker. I was the first passenger so headed straight upstairs for one of the front seats. A couple of stops later the second passenger alighted, another male, and he took the other front upper deck seat. We exchanged pleasantries at our mutual joy!

The bus ride was the highlight of my week, so you can guess was the rest of the week was like - OK actually. The weather has been generally good to hot and sunny, windy at times, but suitable for my laundry duties. I have also had some on-site work which has made the last couple of weeks feel better. I have also finished reading the latest Lee Child which was good.

The library has been getting busier too, though yesterday it was quieter again. Nicky had her new hearing aid “paired” on Monday and feels much better now that she is back to full audiological capacity. Stella and Ros came over for Scrabble yesterday after Nicky had returned from work (armed with half a dozen hot cross buns which we thoroughly enjoyed).

We have had a couple of treats over the weekend. The first was a new tellyboxing experience for us and New Zealand, called Go South. This was a “slow television” travel programme - a film of the journey by rail, sea and road from Auckland to Milford Sound. It was shown in two programmes, the three hour short version and the twelve hour extended version, which started at 1.30am this morning. There is no commentary, just a few captions along the way, and the sound of the transport and environment around the cameras. It was shown with no commercial breaks, and I have to say I think it was rather wonderful. We only watched the first half of the short version before going to bed, but this morning I had the TV on again as I did things round the house while Nicky was at church, and I kept popping into the lounge to see where we were. I have both versions recored to enjoy in shorter chunks in the future.

The other treat has been the return to Aotearoa of Lady Barlow of The Beacon, aka Jancis. She arrived yesterday and has popped in twice today for socialising and technical support. She is looking well and it has been good to see her again.

Take care, Rick 

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