Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

The last week in February has been another eventful week. On Monday we finally took over responsibility for the electricity bill. In the evening we had our first “Riparian Villas” gathering. We had invited all our neighbours (Mark & Elaine, Jacqui (and Glyn)) who bought the other two sections) and Paul and Naomi who had sold the three sections. We had a very pleasant evening swapping stories and learning histories, and with there being eight of us, it was helpful for us to see how the furniture arrangements worked out. On Tuesday we started re-arranging the boxes (and other items) in the sewing room ready for Sam from Whanganui Furnishers to come and fit the curtain rail. While doing so, a crew of men from Bullocks arrived to construct our vehicle crossing. They dug out the area (extending it as we requested) and put the boxing round. Many interesting conversations took place as teas and coffees were delivered throughout the day which peaked at 27ºC. In the afternoon Steve and...

As this week has progressed it has improved in a number of ways. The weather started out wet and finished hot and sunny. We both felt a hint of lurgy but are now feeling much better. Things have progressed with our home by dint of tradies and our own efforts. We had three days at Covid Level 2 and are now back to Level 1. Nicky experimented with drying the laundry under the car port and it went quite well. We listened to some Harry Potter while unpacking boxes of games and bedding. Some have been found storage, some have gone to The Salvation Army. I put a new battery in the bathroom scales and confirmed my suspicions that we have both lost weight since Christmas, despite consuming three quarters of a 3kg Christmas Pie (not all in one sitting I hasten to add). We have played games most evenings which has been good. We really enjoyed our pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. The kitchen worked very well with Nicky at one end of the cook top tossing the pancakes, and me at the other frying the ...

The big event in Wanganui this week has been the World Masters Games - Olympics for the Oldies. Our friends Fay and Ivan have come up from Christchurch to participate, so we have been able to have them over for dinner a couple of times which has been good. Nicky had lunch out with them on Thursday while I waited for the electricians to arrive. They have also won some medals which is very good (mainly tennis and swimming). On the house front, the major progress has been with Pace Modular coming on Wednesday. They completed the fitting out of the walk-in wardrobe. This enabled us to empty five boxes of hanging garments and our two big suitcases. Pace also fitted the kick boards in the kitchen which makes it look very neat, and started on the step-drawer and integrated fridge/freezer. Both proved to be a challenge and are not quite finished yet, but the fridge is in its cabinet so we had a big empty space appear in the living area. This was filled yesterday with some of our IKEA dining r...

If January was a little quiet, February has been anything but so far. Much has happened to progress our new home: Monday: Brodie and Devon continued with detailing the outside of the house. Sparkies installed heated floor controller (shower room), an extractor fan ducting to the outside, commissioned instant hot water tap (basically plugged it in via a longer cable), and installed outside lights (mixed reviews). Tuesday: Brodie and Devon continued with the detailing outside, then came inside to install the hall storage cupboard shelving, then back outside to do cladding, then back inside to fit door handles, and door stops, then install shower room and toilet wall cabinets. Sam arrived and fitted all the roller blinds to both rooms at the front of the house. Wednesday: Brodie and Devon finished the cladding, put up hand towel rails in the laundry, shower room and toilet (which is brilliant because they weren’t in the contract). They tidied up outside ready for Crown. The drive has...

It has been a case of same again for us with house progress this week - Bert on Wednesday and tradies on Friday. This time the tradies were plumbers who fitted the basin and vanity units in the shower room and downstairs toilet, and the gas cook top in the kitchen. Bert had brought the cook top with him on Wednesday, along with the door handles. It is quite a mighty device, but we need to have a non-combustable surface behind it to meet with its installation requirements. Our first choice is to the left over black tile from the shower room, but as an interim we have a couple of the grey tile off-cuts doing the job: We are really enjoying the basins the shower room and the replacement one in the downstairs loo, and they also take us another step along the path to completion. We have used the cook top already, doing some veg to go with dinner on Friday evening, and boiling eggs for breakfast yesterday - our first boiled eggs of the year! Our week began with a public holiday as Whanga...

Our week has been much quieter than we had hoped for in terms of tradies working on the house. It mirrored the previous week quite closely in that Bert called in on Wednesday and tradies (actual builders this time) came on Friday. Bert finished installing the downpipes from the guttering which is a great relief to me as we have had quite a bit of rain this week. He also took the warming drawer apart so that we were able to extract the instruction manual and we are therefore now able to use it and the oven. This meant we could make toast for the first time, so we celebrated by having some for lunch. On Friday Brodie and Devon arrived, and along with doing some detailing work round the windows on the outside of the house, they also fitted the doors (no handles yet). Not only does this mean that the privies are now private, but that the sewing room is no longer the “door storage facility”. Apart from the door handles and the hanging rail in the wardrobe, the room is now finished. It is ...

Looking back through my notes for the week, it has been much busier than my own recollection indicates. The Christmas and summer holidays continue, so we haven’t had our hoped for flood of tradies. However, progress has been made. Bert the Project Manager came over and we went through all our issues as there is still much to do. While he was here he got the hot water working, so after he left we celebrated with showers (first time I have had properly wet ears this year) and a glass of wine each with dinner. We also have hot water connected to all the taps. On Friday the electricians came and finished installing the internal lights, got all the power sockets working, and fitted the oven, microwave and warming drawer. The lighting particularly has been a revelation, and we were much later to bed on Friday than we have been previously this year. On Saturday night we ran the dishwasher for the first time. There were three electricians and they had stuff and dust everywhere, so we went over...