Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

We have been getting more sociable this week. On Tuesday Maria, my friend from D&M, came over for afternoon tea, so Nicky and I conjured up delights for the event. Nicky made puff pastry, caramelised red onion and goats cheese squares. She went to the trouble of making her own puff pastry (Paul Hollywood’s recipe and photographic guidance) which she topped with the Hairy Bikers caramelised red onion and goats cheese. They were absolutely wonderful, and we had some of the onions left over for future use. I made flaky pastry lemon curd tarts with a layer of Philadelphia cheese in the bottom. They were pretty good too. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo of Nicky’s creation because we were just finishing putting them together when Maria arrived, so were straight into tea and chatting. I had finished my tarts earlier: It was really good to have some time with Maria and enjoy the food we had made, though we all agreed that doing two dishes with butter rich pastry wasn’t nec...

We have had another week of cool/chilly starts and finishes, with lovely clear skies and warm sunshine during the middle part of the day, requiring the wearing of the winter shorts. Getting to grips with living with Level 2 has seen more social interaction and non-essential outings. Steve and Ros came over on Monday for tech support (R) and haircut (S), and Nicky made my birthday cake so that like me, it can it can mature sedately. Nicky and I have had some trips out; one to recycle the backlog of soft plastics and collect our free brandy (it’s purchased with Reward Points), and another for an amble along Tamaki Drive. We really enjoyed the afternoon sun and the view over the water of Rangitoto as we walked from Mission Bay to Kohimarama and back again. I was interested to see both a beach sculpture and a giraffe on a balcony: We also had a walk to the end of Taunton Terrace, here in Bockhouse Bay, to take in the view and some photos. The combination of much less tr...

We have consent. Following an email from Wanganui Council about an invoice we had a phone call from Bert the Builder on Thursday to say that the consent for our build had been granted and he can start the build!!! It is the most exciting news we have had this week, and for us more exiting than moving down to level 2. Little seems to have changed with the move to level 2. Supermarket shopping is still the same, church is still closed, and with not being daily café patrons their re-opening has not had an impact on us. There is decidedly more traffic around, but people are still being pretty good at physical distancing. We had a walk up Mt Roskill on Monday to take the air, and were quite startled by all the residential construction that was happening which we didn’t know about: On Tuesday Stella came over so Nicky bought cream doughnuts to celebrate (just the three). We had collected compost and seedings for her from Steve after going up Mt Roskill. Level 2 started o...

The major news this week comes from the topic of the year so far: we have had two days with no new Covid 19 cases. The other days have been low numbers, 2’s and 3’s. What alert level 2 we be like has been a major topic of discussion. We should find out when we will be moving to level 2 tomorrow. I think it can be summarised as much more like normal life, but with physical distancing everywhere (cafés, shops, the beach etc) and quarantine/isolation being maintained at the border. I think most people are looking forward to it, especially those that I think of as being in the “discretionary spend” industries of hospitality and tourism. One big change with level 2 for us is that we should be able to go to Wanganui again to see our new home progress, once we have consent from the council and our builder can get started! I have had more work this week, mainly done remotely as has become the norm, but on Tuesday a customer dropped their new and old computers in to me for setting up, ...

In these somewhat testing hours, every week reinforces our neuroses. Gone from routine acquisition, “no coffee” has instigated some extreme group rituals of mature infant tantrums. We are now in Level 3, which from a social perspective is almost the same as level 4, but more business are now allowed to open, so long as workers are able to keep physically distant, or staff and customers can have contactless interactions. What this really means for most people is that takeaways can be ordered on-line and either delivered or collected. Kiwi’s are able to get their coffee fix again, but this isn’t a deal breaker personally as I still enjoy the coffee I make at home at home. We celebrated moving to level 3 by having takeaway for dinner on Friday night, and because we wanted to support our local businesses. Mango chicken, vegetables and nan were duly ordered from Mt Everest Kitchen (where we have enjoyed eating in the past) for me to collect. It was far more than we need as I had fo...