Unexpected treats

It has been a bit of a week, one way or another, with a range of notable, though sometimes small events. It began last Sunday with us driving down to Wanganui. We got to the section just as the sun was setting which gave the timber frame a gorgeous orange colour. The work in hand was the roof formers and trusses, so scaffolding surrounded the house. This gave us a “one time only” elevated view of our home so we sized the opportunity and enjoyed walking round the temporary platform.

We had an early cup of tea on Monday morning and were greeted with a crisp and clear start to what became a lovely sunny day. On walking down to the section we found Adam the Builder (Bert is actually the Project Manager) getting ready for his day and had a good chat. We drove over to the other Wanganui section where “our team” are working and had a tour of that house now that the frames are up. It is vast, more than 4 times the size of ours. We shopped on the way home for lunch.

At some point in the morning Nicky had been exchanging texts with Milly (her niece Alison who now lives in Wellington), as she was working in Palmerston North and was wondering if we were in Wanganui. We arranged to meet her in a local park after she had finished work, as Palmy is only about an hour’s drive from Wanganui. We had a great chat catching up on news while walking round the park and by the river, and enjoyed the cherry blossom before departing and heading to our respective homes.

During our drive back to Wanganui, Nicky picked up an email form Bert who had been updating the build schedule, and was now projecting a completion date of the end of January next year!. We were both upset by this news. It lead to a very miserable evening and poor night’s sleep as we digested the consequences, both financial and logistical. 

The weather started out clear again on Tuesday morning, but there was no spring in our step as we walked down to the section, even though we were now at Covid Level 1 by virtue of our location. While chatting with Adam another email came through from Bert, apologising for his mistake in moving something on his Gantt chart which produced an incorrect completion date. We should be on schedule to have our Code of Compliance Certificate by the end of November and be in the house this year! A great relief to know this news, especially as were had a meeting booked with Bert and Bryan the Kitchen that afternoon - it saved Bert some significant ear bending. The meeting was in Bell Block, just east of New Plymouth, and we stopped at the Main Street Café in Waverley for some morning tea. This was our first visit to this café and we really enjoyed all their humour as well as the tea, coffee and date cake. They also had an excellent range of Cecily Cards so Nicky spent up large. We will probably be going back as one of their specialities is an all day breakfast with an 8” sausage! 61st birthday here I come.

Bert was again very apologetic when he got to the meeting, which went well. Bryan the Kitchen spotted all the mistakes in my kitchen design which I knew were there, and came up with solutions. He came up with a task for us to visit Trade Depot again to check out the fridge/freezer dimensions. Bryan’s firm will be fabricating and installing the kitchen. By virtue of asking what I thought were all the right questions, I am now much more confident that we will be getting as much of what we want, as our budget and space will allow.

We drove back to Auckland from Bell Block, which meant quite a bit of night driving for a change. We stopped at the Stoked Eatery in Te Kuiti and had an enjoyable dinner and good break.

Wednesday was laundry, shopping and Nicky zooming with church before going off to Trade Depot. We discovered the fridge/freezer will work OK in our plan as all the interior sliding units can be accessed when the door is open at 90º - it does not need to open further, which is good as it will be next to a wall! Bert emailed his new, more detailed schedule, which lead to much discussion about when we go down to Wanganui again.

Thursday morning was mild and grey, and Auckland moved down to Covid-19 Alert Level 2. The main difference being that gatherings can now be up to 100. Mask wearing is still encouraged, particularly in Auckland, and required on public transport. A generally quiet day punctuated with me doing an on-site job and Nicky meeting up with some of the Life Group ladies for afternoon tea in The Bay cafe.

Friday was another gentle start with a bit more laundry. However, much cheer mid-morning when I went to see if the wheelie bins had been emptied (they hadn’t) to discover The Listener in the post box. This is the best current affairs magazine in NZ, and we have been subscribers for a number of years, but the owners closed it down shortly after we went into Covid Level 4 lockdown in April. We were hoping that it would be resurrected but didn’t know that it was happening. It also has the TV listings and a general knowledge crossword that we enjoy doing. It was a another little bit of getting back to “normal”. After doing an early afternoon on-site job, we had some time on The Rattigan in the Barlow Recliners enjoying some spring sunshine and doing the bonus crosswords in The Listener.

The Auckland Heritage Festival started yesterday, and after breakfast we went off to our first event, a guided tour of Mt Richmond. Our enjoyment of the guides’ information, the walk and the sunshine was only marred by Nicky feeling increasingly under the weather as the walk progressed. By the time The Scrabble Crew arrived in the afternoon Nicky had started making brioche for tea but her temperature was rising. She had an early night and is improved today though didn’t feel well enough to attend church this morning. I put the clocks forward before going bed, as it’s that time of year again. Hello lighter evenings, and The Chase watched in sunshine.

A major storm system is crossing the country at the moment (we are hoping it doesn’t damage our house framing) so we have had rain this morning and some very strong winds. We decided to stay home and do a jigsaw. We hope Auckland’s reservoirs are being filled to alleviate the city’s water shortage.

Nicky has throughly enjoyed reading Troubled Blood this week, Robert Galbraith’s latest (aka JK Rowling), especially when she has had difficulty sleeping. It’s now my turn. Sorry Stella.

Take care, Rick