Zed's shortage

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We have had a tiring week. As you will remember Dear Reader, we concluded last week with a midnight bedtime after my niece’s skating competition. We were up again at 5.30am on Monday morning to take her to the airport for her 8.30 flight to Queenstown. After getting home from the airport and having second breakfast (me), Nicky went off to Seniors Church and I returned a customers decommissioned Mac. The day was wet so we spent the rest of it at home, doing ironing, digitising audio books, and reading.

After both of us spent much of Wednesday cooking in preparation for my nephew Johns’ arrival next week, we were just sitting down for some R&R in front of The Chase when I received a text from our estate agent (Felicity) in Wanganui. She was informing us that some new sections were coming onto the market. Nicky found some information on-line and we emailed the agent to say we were interested and would come and have a look as soon as we could. I had work booked for Thursday and Friday, Nicky was helping at Seniors Church on Friday and had BHB quilters on Saturday, and with John arriving Monday lunchtime we thought it might be Tuesday before we headed south. On Thursday morning we received an email from Agent Felicity suggesting that we should take a look sooner rather than later. We realised that if we rearranged our Thursday and Friday commitments, we could go down to Wanganui Thursday and return on Friday.

A couple of hours later after a number of phone calls and emails, some hurried packing, accomodation booking and lunch making, we were on our way south again. We arrived just before it got dark so were able to take a brief look at the new sections, and were pleased with what we saw. We arranged to meet Agent Felicity at 10.30 Friday morning to take a proper look.

After dinner at our “Fishermans Flat” at the holiday park and a poor nights sleep we packed and headed off to The Warehouse to get me some wellies (gumboots for the locals). I haven’t had any for many years, and felt now would be a good time to acquire some as it facilitates thorough wandering round sections. They were not the only things we acquired in The Warehouse, which was the nicest one I have been to in NZ. Next stop was breakfast at The Yellow House Café. Two lots of eggs Benedict on brioche (one with bacon, the other smoked salmon) went down very well. Tea, coffee and some Apple and Blueberry muffins were purchased (the latter for later consumption and were very good). As an aside, we are very pleased to have found two cafés and a restaurant in Wanganui that we really like.

We had a good look at the sections with Agent Felicity and liked what we saw. We had concerns about the gentle slope of the site impacting on building costs, and the proximity of vendors large dogs, and the river. Agent Felicity said she would have a chat with the vendors about the dogs, and we went off to the council to investigate flooding. Both enquiries came back with reassuring answers though not cast-iron solutions. We also had a brief meeting with a company who build passive houses (too expensive for us) and another meeting with Agent Felicity before finally departing for home via the Mud Ducks café for a pot of tea. Much of the journey home was wet, but we enjoyed a roast dinner in Te Awamutu which we hadn’t planned and so was a pleasant experience. We arrived home around 10pm and headed for bed, only to have another poor night. 

Doing the two long trips on consecutive days took its toll, along with the disturbed sleep due to the combination of both excitement and anxiety. Before Nicky went to the BHB Quilters yesterday we emailed Agent Felicity with an offer for one of the lots on the section we had seen. We will start progressing the contract next week and see what happens.

Stella came over late afternoon yesterday and stayed for tea so we had a good long chat (no Scrabble!). Today while Nicky was at church I did the ironing, and we have spent the rest of the day quietly at home.

The weather has continued to be regularly wet this week, and the temperatures have also now dropped. 4ºC last night and probably the same again tonight. It’s like an August Bank Holiday in England!


Take care, Rick

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