Whanganui Milk Run

 Spring is coming to a close, so the weather is all over the place. Some days lovely sunshine and clear skies, some days overcast and penguin-cold southerlies, and some days just plain wet.

The Portuguese laurel (which I call Stan for obvious reasons) is in full display mode, and the Tiger lilies have noticed the sunshine:

It has been a generally routine week for both of us. Nicky’s vestry meeting was preceded by a meal (very good apparently), and she had five visitors to the Aramoho library. I have cut grass, cleaned gutters and swept the outside of the house.

There have been a few notable occasions. We came first at the quiz this week with 107 points, winning by 3. On Thursday evening an old crown of Nicky’s came out whilst she was flossing, so had the be re-cemented by the dentist on Friday. She also had a very busy evening on Friday serving and undertaking kitchen duties at a fundraising church banquet event. She didn’t get home until after midnight and is still tired now.

Also on Friday Nicky had an email from Helen in Blockhouse Bay informing us that 7A & B Exminster Street had come onto the market. We don’t know what has happened with Dawn, but when we last saw Valda she had said that Dawn was looking quite frail. We assume she has either gone to live with family or into care. We had 12 happy years there and hope that all goes well for Dawn with the auction sale.

Jancis has also emailed this week with the sad news that she has had to cancel her trip to New Zealand. This was scheduled for late December and would probably have been her last trip here. Her health issues with her back have become significant. As much as we would have liked to see her again, we feel she has made the right decision.

We started and finished a jigsaw this week, which Nicky returned with fours other to the Jigsaw Exchange on Saturday, after dropping me at the Waimarie wharf. We had two sailings yesterday, our usual 11am and a charter which cast off at 6pm. The passengers on the charter primarily consumed alcohol and food, but were a well behaved bunch. The same could not be said of the weather which turned very cold as the evening progressed. I was very pleased to return to a warm home, hot meal and shower.

The weather was better for today’s 11a.m. sailing, but part way up river we ran out of milk in the galley. Jen, the manager, was on the boat assisting new galley crew, and rang the folks at the gin distillery in Upokongaro and arranged for Nikki (not PMNK, another Nikki) to be on the Upokongaro wharf with a 3 litre carton of milk at 12.00. As we approached the Upokongaro wharf, the skipper announced that we would be slowing down and getting closer to the bank than usual so that Nikki could throw the milk to Donald the engineer, in the hope that he would catch it. The passengers viewed this as a very jolly jape and crowded onto the starboard side of the boat to watch what happened. Nikki threw the milk. Donald decided to let go of the grab rail on the boat, so that he could use both hands to try and catch it - which he did. This was followed by cheers and a good round of applause. By the time we got back, more than half of the carton had been consumed.

This evening we are off up the road to have dinner with Mark and Krystyna, which is why I will be posting this earlier than usual.

Take care, Rick and Nicky.