Here comes the sun
Wellington has made the news twice this week. The first time was due to the complete failure of the train system just before everybody headed home from work. The second was yesterday when it was reported that it had only had 6 minutes of sunshine this week. Two Irish tourists who were interviewed seemed to be surprised that this was an unusual situation! Yes, we expect sunshine even in the middle of winter down here!
I am starting to notice a slightly disturbing sense of disconnect recently. Even though all the retail outlets that I have used since we moved to Covid Alert Level 1 still have perspex panels or greater spacing at the checkout, things are largely back to normal. Yes, we have Covid cases again, but they are all from people arriving from abroad, primarily India and the USA, and they are being isolated. Even though our border control practices don’t seem to have been what they should, things are being tightened up and the Defence Force is now in charge. So when I see things on the news about what is happening off-shore, I have to take a moment to remind myself that Covid is still rampant in other parts of the world, and how lucky we are to live where we do. We have been here almost 13 years now, and I think this might be the thin edge of the wedge for starting to take Aotearoa for granted - but I hope not!
Nicky’s routine is picking up to pre-Covid levels with Seniors Church, Mainly Music, Wednesday Holy Communion, Life Group and BHB Quilters. Mine is also with Deep & Meaningful meet ups and weekend trips to the beach when the weather allows, but work is still quiet. Just a couple of on-site jobs again and a little remote support. However, lots of businesses, not just tourism, are reporting things are quieter than before the lockdown. Apparently during the lockdown Kiwi’s cleared around $1 billion of personal debt, and the feeling is that the fiscal wake-up call is discouraging people from returning to their previous spending patterns.
The Luminaries TV series finally finished last Sunday evening - yeah. Nicky watched the whole series again over two evenings to try and sort out just what happened, but my view is similar to when I read the book. Even if it is a good story, of which I am not convinced, it is poorly told. I don’t feel the supernatural elements added anything, and some of the characters made some very strange and difficult to believe decisions. The plot threads were drawn together during a court room finale in a too convenient a manner for my liking. I was not impressed.
On Monday we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary with a very nice lunch at Catroux in Westmere. Rich beef pie with Moroccan couscous and kumara salad for me, and salmon steak with noodle and green veg salad for Nicky, followed by warmed date scones and tea/coffee. All very good. Nicky spent the morning at church being Senior, and I spent most of mine at Greenlane Clinical Centre with a very nice ENT specialist who thinks I have mild BPPV (Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo). The MRI didn’t reveal anything, which did not surprise her, but she is sending for a CAT scan just to make sure. We had a quiet afternoon reading and finishing off the weekend jigsaw.
The rain has messed with the laundry routine this week, but hopefully the reservoirs will be a little fuller. Nicky bought some fruit muffins for toasting earlier in the week when she spotted them on offer in the supermarket, so we had two treats yesterday: toasted muffins for lunch and fish and chips for tea. Both seemed suitable with all the heavy showers we were getting.
Stella came over for Scrabble this afternoon, but we played Mah Jong instead before going up to Clem and Pats for dinner. They had kindly invited us a few days ago and we had a very good evening with them and Shani.
A photo from the archive:
Take care, Rick
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