Is this John I see before me?
The highlight of our week has been driving down to Wellington to collect Claire. She had flown up on Friday for an NZLLA meeting on Saturday. After catching up with various friends and colleagues in town on Friday afternoon, Claire caught the train up the hill to the Hanlon’s in Khandalah. Also visiting the Hanlon’s was Anney, one of their nannies from Andover days. Anney regularly visits Felicity in Farnborough and is trying to meet as many of her Collard-Scruby siblings as possible whilst here.
Nicky and I drove down to Wellington on Saturday, heading into unexpected sunshine, and arriving at the Hanlon’s a little after 2pm. We had a welcome pot of tea made by Tim and Ned and a good chat with Anney who was just lovely. Kit and Clemmie came down to say hello and we briefly saw Bea later. After her meeting Claire caught the train back up the hill and soon afterwards the three of us drove north to Whanganui. Claire hadn’t driven through Transmission Gully before so was taking pictures as we travelled. Cresting a hill we were rewarded with this view of the Kapiti Coast:
We arrived home around 6.30pm, had a quick toilet break and then zipped into town to meet up with John (quiz team) for dinner at the Spice Guru. The food was as good as usual, and a couple of doggie bags were required to bring home the surplus that couldn’t be squeezed into our tummies. John came back with us for a few hands of Mah Jong. The 4-hander was an unusual experience for Nicky and I, and chows were required to go Mah Jong. It was a tiring but lovely day, and we were all very pleased to get to bed.
Today Nicky went to St Paul’s Church in Pūtiki as there was no service at Christ Church. On her way there she dropped Claire and I in town so that Claire could go to the book sale at the library. This required pre-emptive coffee at Jolt which we enjoyed outside. Claire bought a couple of audio books and I throughly enjoyed looked at the model airplanes:
The rest of the week has been more routine. Nicky went to the hairdresser after church and brass cleaning on Monday. She brought samosas home for lunch from the Indian spice shop which was a lovely treat. Tuesday was home group and Thursday Aramoho Library. On Friday she delivered edibles to Unity Foods and enjoyed this month’s Fashion Talk at the museum.
I have been working in the garden, trimming some more of the flax at the front, and burying the leaves which I cut from one in the back garden. The back garden grass paths was also cut.
We have had four evenings out including Saturday. The first was to see Holy Days at the cinema. A local story based in the 1970’s which while predictable was enjoyable. We also quizzed, just John, Mike, Nicky and I and came 4th again after loosing the tie breaker for 3rd place. We have also been working on a jigsaw which is proving quite challenging. On Thursday we attend our first community kai of the year at the marae, which was good as it was quiet and possible to have conversations more clearly than usual.
We have seen quite a bit of John this week. He called in on Thursday morning for a chat and a cuppa, discovered the un-finished jigsaw, and spent the next 3 hours helping me with it. I had to provided him with pots of tea and lunch. He called in again on Thursday, primarily for a toilet break, but also managed a cup of tea and some more jigsaw.
Nicky is making pizza for dinner as I write this, and Claire is making sure the sofa still works. I made a tiramisu for tonight’s dessert on Friday to give it time to mature. Who knows what the evening will bring.
Take care, Rick, Nicky and Claire.
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