Much water in the river

 We have had frequent rain this week, sometimes very heavy. On the upside, we have also had some periods of sunshine, but the cool, strong winds have been very noticeable. The rain has made the river very full and fast flowing, and in town there was a little flooding:

I have managed to do quite a bit in the garden. I cut all the grass on Monday, and on Friday finished some minor modifications to the retaining wall topping. I also created four steps on the path from the drive down to the garden:

This is largely because we have reluctantly agreed to open our garden for the Arthritis Awareness Open Garden Day in January. The path down from the driveway is the most difficult to negotiate, so I am hoping the steps will help. A couple more may be required. It will no longer be so easy to wheel our wheelbarrow up and down this slope, but it will be easier and safer to use.

Nicky had had another week of poor or little sleep. Her diverticulitis pain has receded a little during the week. Regular conversations with Felicity, Alison and Katharine in England have been good. Reg making it to 100 is great news. I took Nicky to the parish Vestry meeting on Tuesday evening, because she didn’t feel up to driving and had not attended Home Group in the afternoon. Nicky felt able to staff the Aramoho Community Library on Thursday and enjoyed a Pastoral Care Team afternoon tea on Friday. An Advent retreat on Saturday was very good. Today she didn’t feel at all well after dropping me at work and vomited in the car. By the time she had got home and sorted herself out however, she did feel recovered enough to attend church and help with the hospitality duties assigned her.

My sailing schedule has got busier this week, with five in total. We had a charter booked for Wednesday, but moved it to Tuesday because of the very strong winds that were forecast. This turned out to be a very sensible decision. We had two sailings yesterday in lovely sunny weather. The first at our usual time of 11am, the second at 5pm. This gave us a break of an hour and a half between the two. I was the last the leave the boat after the first sailing so closed the gate on the wharf. I found some other crew members in the office and suggested putting the padlock on the gate as none of us were going to be in the vicinity of the Waimarie paddle steamer. This seemed to be viewed as a good idea so I went and fastened it before walking to the Mud Ducks café for my lunch. I thoroughly enjoyed my pulled beef cheek and chatting with a couple who were sharing the table with me. The riverside was looking quite attractive on my walk back to the Riverboat centre:

At 3pm the crew re-assembled and wandered out to the wharf, only to discover the the skipper had left his keys on the boat. Yes, you guessed it: the key to the gate padlock is on the skippers keyring, and the skipper was not one of the crew who had been in the office. The situation was treated with much mirth, partially because we knew the manager was on his way in to resolve a cash float issue and would have a key. The few minutes delay didn’t cause us a problem but did provide some entertainment.

The second sailing today was notable because we got absolutely drenched in torrential rain. Nicky collected me and by the time we got home the rain had almost stopped.

A week or two ago, I had been contacted by a young lad called Beau from BuildTechNZ, the company we contracted to build our home. He wanted to come and see us and our home and to arrange a photographer to visit. Beau called in on Thursday, and turned out to be a lovely lad. We had a very enjoyable time showing him our home. The photographer’s visit is yet to be arranged.

Finally this week I can’t finish without mentioning the World Cup (football of course). There is a one hour highlights programme on each day which meets my requirements, and some of the games are being shown live, but usually a bit early in the morning. As I write England have drawn their second game, a much more usual state of affairs than the 6-2 victory in their first game. I wonder what will happen next.

Take care, Rick and Nicky.