Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

 Our activities this week have been dictated by the weather. When it has been dry we have been outside; Nicky continuing with her populating of the garden, and me with filling the gaps under the fence on the western boundary. I have now got as far as the northern boundary, but still have a couple more to do at the southern end of the fence before embarking on the eastern boundary. Just in case there is any confusion over my filling of gaps, here is a photo: When it has been wet we have been playing games, doing a jigsaw, watching the lunchtime government briefings, and managing the laundry. There have been some outings too with Nicky having a hair appointment, life group and a library visit. The supermarkets and Mitre 10 have also enjoyed receiving our dollars. We have discussed at length our two main options for the path from the carport down past the shed and into the garden. One option is to get Simon and his crew to construct it in concrete. His estimate to do as far as the s...

We have had a considerable amount of rain this week, so have spent much time indoors. However, we have been out for appointments and essential supplies. Nicky visited an audiologist who checked her hearing and fixed her non-functioning hearing aid, and then later in the week Nicky returned for wax removal. Her new glasses arrived so a trip to the optician’s was required. Nicky is very pleased with them and even though I had a hand in their selection, I also think that they are very nice. In addition we visited The Burrow, but more of that later. This means we have reached another milestone in settling into Whanganui. We now have optician, dentist and audiologist with whom we feel happy, to add to the doctors and nurses at the Gonville Medical Centre. These are services that we will use increasingly over the coming years, so I’m very pleased that we now have them “on the books” so to speak. The very spring-like weather (it can’t make it’s mind up) has encouraged changes in the garden...

We moved to Covid Lockdown Level 2 at midnight on Tuesday, along with the rest of the country except for Auckland, who are still at Level 4. This seems to have spurred some of my Auckland MacOnSite customers into getting round to doing things for which they haven’t previously had time, and I have ended up having my busiest week of the year. The move to Level 2 here enabled mask-wearing, physically-distanced shopping in Mitre 10, so I was able to go and buy some more wood for filling in the gaps under the fence. It was delivered on Friday, I painted three of the planks yesterday, and fitted some today getting almost two fence panels-worth completed. It also enable non-emergency medical services to get up and running again, so Nicky had a series of phone calls resulting in a visit to the opticians, the dental hygienist, Hospital Radiology Department for an X-ray of her hip/leg (there was nothing there apparently!) and a blood test at Med Lab. The weather has enabled the washing to be ...

 The terrorist attack at the Countdown supermarket in Lynnmall appears to be have been reported by much of the international media, so I am sure you will all be aware of the tragic and appalling event. Lynnmall is the oldest shopping mall in New Zealand, and was “our local” when we lived in Auckland. While I did most of our food shopping in other locations around New Lynn, we did use the mall for the cinema, restaurants and some of the shops from time to time. We also have friends of Nicky’s and customers of mine who live in Glen Eden, the suburb where the attacker lived. These associations have made the attack more alarming to Nicky and I, even though we no longer live in Auckland. The other major preoccupation in Aotearoa at the moment is the current Covid Delta situation. Like most of the country, Whanganui woke to a drop in restrictions on Wednesday morning. Level 3 enables contactless shopping so I was able to get a pail of fence paint in the correct colour (Ebony, ie: almost...

When we were at the Home Show the other weekend, the folks on the Civil Defence stand suggested that we download a GeoTech app which reports on all the earthquakes that happen in and around Aotearoa. I took up their suggestion of “winding down” the alert level that generates a text so that I didn’t receive one every few minutes, as there are small quakes all the time. This drying out crusty old mantle isn’t as stable as it appears on first inspection. However, we now have our own home and accidentally made seismometer: I haven’t been able to calibrate it yet, but the angle of perch of the pot suggests to me that a 5 or 6 on the Richter scale will have it tumbling. Alternatively, another good downpour will turn it into a rain gauge! Or, maybe I’ve just spent too much time at home this week. With our Level 4 lockdown being extended to the end of the month, outings haven’t been an option, other than for essential visits to the supermarkets. The weather for much of the week has been gorgeo...

This week has been much quieter than last week, due mainly to the country going into Covid Level 4 Lockdown at midnight on Tuesday. For those of you who don’t live here in Aotearoa, that means stay at home, get to work on those Covid kilos, and wear a mask (now mandatory) when visiting the essential services which are operating (supermarkets, medical facilities, and the like). This all came about because of a case of Delta variant Covid in Auckland on the North Shore who returned a positive test last Tuesday. He had been self isolating since visiting his GP towards the end of last week, but had been infectious prior to then. At the time of writing, we now know of over 8,600 close contacts and the number is rising every hour (a close contact is someone who has come into contact with an infectious carrier, I think). Most of the current cases (72 to date) are in Auckland, but 6 are in Wellington and related. It all seems to have started from a case in managed isolation who arrived from Oz...

By our standards, we have had a busy week. You may remember, Dear Reader, that last Sunday Lyn from over the road came for dinner, along with Frances. She was explaining that she had bought a shipping container. The location in her garden where it was to be sited required the removal of a tree stump and a Portuguese Laurel tree. She was philosophical but sad about the laurel tree, until she came up with the idea of offering it to us. Liking trees, we readily accepted. We had significant rain over night, and woke on Monday morning to discover that the puddles in paddock had turned into ponds, complete with ducks! At 7.45am, while sitting up in bed having our first pot of tea of the day, Lyn telephoned to say that Jono would be arriving at her place at 8.30am to extract the tree, and was strongly recommending that it be replanted asap. We needed a hole, about a metre square, so we quickly changed gear and started our day. Nicky had an appointment at the medical centre at 10.30a.m. so sh...