Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 Blog-wise it has been a short week with posting last Tuesday. Weather-wise is has been hot and sunny (until today) with temperatures reaching 29 and 30º. While this has been great for drying the laundry, it has been too hot for Nicky to do any gardening in the middle of the day. It wasn’t cold in the Aramoho Library when she staffed it on Thursday. Our quiz season re-commenced this week and we started the year tying for first place. We therefore had to do a tie-breaker, but in getting the music for it organised on the display system, the question master (Pete) accidentally revealed the answer. A coin-toss was used instead and we lost. Even so, we were pleased with the 92 points. I have been busy sailing, doing one every day except Tuesday, and two on Saturday. On one of the river cruises there was a chap from Maltby, which will mean nothing to many of you. Maltby is a parish (pop. 16,000) near where I lived in my childhood. He remembers inter-school sports competitions with the tw...

 And finally, I get chance to sit down and write the blog. It has been a very busy, and warm, weekend. Monday was a holiday here as Whanganui takes the same anniversary day as Wellington. In addition, it was Whanganui Vintage Weekend which was very well attended. This added to our commitments and coincided with visits from friends and social gatherings. Way back at the beginning of last week, which now seems so long ago, it was a routine start. While I sailed on the paddle steamer, Nicky cleaned at church, did laundry and made scones for our expected afternoon visitors. I had invited Jackson (who works in the paddle steamer booking office and is our Quartermaster) and his wife Molly over for afternoon tea. Jackson also takes on most of the wharfie duties, throwing out the rope when we are coming into park. I was a little surprised that he wasn’t on the wharf, and then when I left work he wasn’t in the office. An email from him a little while later revealed that he was in A&E wi...

 My apologies Dear Reader but we have had a very busy day and I'm just to jaded to write this evening. I will hopefully get finger to keyboard in the next couple of days.

 Our week started sufficiently windy to prevent sailing on Monday morning. Instead, after dropping Nicky at church to clean with Dale, I took Luna (our car) for a run out. I’m trying to do this once a month as I don’t think the short journeys that we do around town do anything for her long term health.   It was also the twelfth day of Christmas so the decorations came down, the tree was returned to the garden (in its pot) and the floor was swept. Nicky and I had the last of the Christmas cake with afternoon tea. Earlier in the day, Paul and his son Jason (friends from Blockhouse Bay) texted to say they were on their way to Whanganui and would we care to join them for dinner. Eating at The Rutland Arms was arranged and we had a good evening and natter. Nicky and I had planned to see the new Paddington film, Paddington in Peru, on Tuesday, being the cheap day at the cinema. Nicky had a morning hair appointment and Covid vaccination booked. However, the vaccination didn’t happen ...

 It somehow doesn’t feel like 25 years since the Sydney Olympics. I can still clearly remember Nicky, Claire and I watching the triathlon and getting an arial tour of Sydney as the athletes ran and cycled. January is the time of year when our household routine is a little different from the rest of the year. I’m scheduled to be sailing on the paddle steamer 6 days a week, and most of Nicky’s commitments are on their summer break. This means that Nicky gets a much greater amount of peace and quiet at home, and I get to drive the car. The one commitment that does continue for Nicky is church cleaning which she does after dropping me at the wharf. Monday started dull but delivered a sunny afternoon, during which we had a good chat with Maria on WhatsApp. Nicky harvested sweet pea and poppy seeds while I cut the berm. The strong overnight wind and rain continued into Tuesday morning, but started to ease off by the time I had finished the supermarket shopping (typical). I had a good cou...