Cyclonic Irritation

 For most of the week the April weather has continued where March left off. Cool beginnings and ends, glorious warm sunshine in-between. As a result we have a flower on the camilla and Dragons Gold on the kowhai. It has only changed today as Cyclone Vaianu approaches. We recored the top temperature in the country for the first three days of the week, 27º on Monday. Some of the sunrises have been very colourful. This was Tuesday:

It being the Easter school holidays, Nicky’s home group had a social this week. She made date scones for her food contribution, and I was able to sample a few to make sure they passed muster. Wednesday was Nicky’s monthly book club meeting and afternoon hospital visiting. We were quizzing in the evening. Danny and John were unable to make it, but Mike, Margie, Phil, Nicky and I made a reasonable fist of it coming 9th with 80 points. The library was hot and tiring on Thursday so Nicky required a cuppa and a lie down on her return. Yet again she enjoyed the Garment of the Month talk at the museum on Friday lunchtime, delivered edibles to Unity Foods, and ironed after the washing had dried.

The leaves falling copiously from the trees are causing us to be sweeping the paths round the house most days. I have also given the house a once over and am keeping my eye on the gutters. Along with some weeding, pruning and grass cutting I have scrubbed the south-east patio. I haven’t done it for 2 or 3 years. It is the area that gets the least sun so it dries slowly after rainfall and we start to get an algae build up. It took me three days because it’s tiring and not fun, but it looks much better now and should mean we have a less slippery winter.

We have been enjoying our TV watching this week. We finished the first series of Karen Pirie, based on a Val McDermid novel, on Tuesday. Thursday evening saw the return of The Great British Bake Off and The Great British Sewing Bee. We are fans of both, but recorded the Sewing Bee and watched it on Friday evening - too much of a good thing, and too late to bed otherwise.

Our first commitment yesterday was at the Medical Centre for some vaccinations. We both had ‘flu shots and I also had a Covid booster. After dropping Nicky back at home I went into town to Brickanui - a convention for LEGO enthusiasts. John, Mike, Danny and his three children were there too. For Mike and I it was a once in a lifetime experience. Not bad, but we won’t be doing it again. Most of the models that people displayed were standard lego kits. While most of these are quite impressive, we couldn’t understand the exhibiting of something where the builder had made no creative input. More interesting was a large model of Wellington Railway station, and a chap who had made a range of orreries, having done all the maths himself to work our the relative orbits, and then set about finding the right gears in LEGO Technics to build them. John, Mike and I had lunch at Mint afterwards, feeling a little Last of the Summer Wine-ish.

While I was out Nicky vacuumed and mopped the floors (and much better they are for it too). In the afternoon I put away or wedged in some way everything outside that the approaching cyclone might try to disperse. For dinner we sat down to a lovely lamb dish which Nicky had created, followed by passionfruit flummery made with home grown passionfruit.

As a result of our vaccinations we have both been feeling below par today, and the weather is dull and damp. We are expecting heavier rain and strong winds later as the cyclone passes the lower North Island. Nicky didn’t feel up to church so watched on-line. We have started a jigsaw. We had a treat for lunch, consuming a packet of four almond croissants that Nicky had bought after my mentioning of seeing them in the supermarket. They were lovely.

We had a power cut for about half an hour this afternoon, so I’m posting this early in case the Cyclone Vaianu induces another one.

Take care, Rick and Nicky.