Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 Yesterday was my 477th and final sailing on the Paddle Steamer Waimarie as paid crew. My third season ended with a chilly night sailing in clear weather. We had completed our last public sailing of the season in the morning with a goodly number of passengers. Just before they all disembarked, Sam the skipper made a brief and very complementary speech about my time on the boat which was followed by enthusiastic applause.   Today, we started clearing the boat ready for winter maintenance and turned it around so that is facing upstream. I finally locked the boat up for the last time and we sat down outside the museum for a few beers accompanied by cold meat and salads. We chatted and watched the world and river go by, before I detected the presentation ambush. After lovely speeches by Jen the Manager and Stuart the Chairman of the Trust I was presented with a tray full of goodies: cheeses, preserves, snacks and a tin of spam. A bag of four bottles of wine came next, and finally ...

 We have been muchly visited this week; some planned, some short notice, some unexpected. Clem and Pat arrived late afternoon on Monday having booked ahead to ensure they got the best accommodation… our Room of Requirement. Nicky had spent the afternoon getting it ready after cleaning at church, getting her electric blanket tested and going to the hairdressers. I sailed on the boat and after Nicky collected me we raided the supermarket on the way home. Dale and Bob joined us for dinner of roast pork and roast veg followed by fruit crumble made with ground almonds in place of flour. The six of us had a good natter and enjoyable evening.   On Tuesday morning I cooked a “Full English” breakfast for us. Afterwards Nicky went down to the dentist to get her 36 year old gold crown re-cemented, while I sorted out some issues for Pat with her phone. She has very kindly given us her old one for Nicky to use, as hers was well past its use-by date. Clem and Pat headed east late morning. N...

 It’s Official. I am soon going to be proper grown-up. I know this because my SuperGold Card arrived in the post yesterday. For those of you who don’t live in Aotearoa, this is a card that provides discounts for the over-65’s in many establishments. For example, the supermarkets in Whanganui give Gold Card holders a 5% discount at the checkout every Tuesday. The downside of this is that on Tuesdays the supermarkets are overrun with oldies, many of whom are indecisive, some of whom are quite mad, and all of them have no idea how to drive a shopping trolley. I am the exception to the rule. Except possibly for the indecisive and mad bits. The news from the rest of our week is far less earth shattering, though the heavy afternoon rain for Thursday only lasted a few minutes. Nicky’s week has been punctuated with her regular commitments and laundry. She has squeezed in some weeding when she could. I had a pretty quiet Monday that included cutting the grass in the back garden, and sleepin...

 This week has not turned out as expected. We were not scheduled to sail on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, so I was looking forward to having three days off. This had become four days when last Sunday’s sailing was cancelled due to our skipper being ill. He is still not entirely recovered. However, the weather had other plans and we caught the edge of a major storm system on Thursday and Friday. Sailing was cancelled due to the high winds, and I was relieved not to be on the boat because of the accompanying rain. Instead we both stayed home and watched the wind and the rain whilst reading and doing a jigsaw. Nicky also had some periods of nausea on Wednesday and Thursday along with feeling generally “not right”, so didn’t quiz or staff the Aramoho Library. While Monday was a little damp at times, it was mild and we achieved the national highest recorded temperature of 25º here in Whanganui. I cut the grass in the back garden and Nicky cleaned at church. Tuesday was a better day so...