Picnic Week

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I am now living with a retiree. This Philippa will work no more. She is an ex-worker. She has ceased to be an employee, but instead of pining for the fjords she will be doing other things, some of which might even be exciting! She has already agreed to do a couple of hours a-week voluntary work back at the library completing a project about recording houses of historical and/or architectural merit in the west of Auckland.

Nicky’s last week at work began, as usual, with Monday at home. We had a late breakfast of omelette, followed by Nicky doing some shopping and baking and me going off to work. In the evening she went to see the Clearwater’s as John has been very ill following their trip to Africa. She had lunch out on Tuesday will a long standing colleague and her “official” leaving celebration was an after work picnic at the Tui Glen reserve after work on Wednesday. The weather has been great this week though a little cooler (I was able to have lunch sat in the sun one day) and Wednesday was no exception, so the picnic started in late afternoon sun which was most enjoyable and went very well with the surroundings. A goodly number of people arrived (some are in the photo) and there was lots of mingling (most people didn’t sit) and lots of food. I had spent the day cooking, finishing the 40 Eccles cakes that Nicky had started on Monday, making 12 individual smoked fish pies, and 17 skewers of salad vegetables. Her manager, Penny, said some very nice (and true) things in her speech, and she was given Karen Walker earrings and some flowers.
It was a very good event and only broke up as the sun and temperature went down.


Nicky wasn’t working a late duty on Thursday, her last day, and as I had work not far away I took her to Henderson, though we were very late due to an accident on Great North Road. I have had a good week for work so February has ending with some more positive numbers. Thursday and Friday were two enjoyable evenings out for me with Deep & Meaningful and having a drink at The Block.

Planing for our future, especially financially, is a significant issue for us at the moment. We had an 8am (yes, in the morning!!) meeting in town on Wednesday with a “financial counsellor” which was good. We are yet to receive the conclusion of his thoughts about our budget. We also had a good meeting at WINZ on Friday discussing applying for me to receive superannuation as a “non-qualified spouse”. Until I have some more information about my pension funds the question is unresolved but I came away understanding more about our options.

Nicky spent most of yesterday, reading, ipadding (this is a new verb I have decided to invent as I think she will be doing even more of it than usual), cleaning, and then playing Scrabble with Stella and Steve. I had organised a D&M picnic at Herne Bay which was well attended and enjoyed. Those who stayed the longest managed to get into the photo:


Today has again been lovely, so while Nicky was at church I had a walk and swim out at Karekare which was great. This afternoon we went to the airport to meet Bruce and Wendy from Canada (via Vietnam). They weren’t expecting us so it was a nice surprise and we had time for a cuppa before their luxury airport shuttle whisked them off to The Mount. 

Take care, Rick

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