Sunday is the day we bring up the wood for the week, Erola gets underneath the house and chucks it out to me, then we stack it in the living room. Got out loads this time, since may not have time next weekend before I go away. Erola reckons there’s only 4-5 weeks worth left, I assume she blames me for using more than she usually does. I think that when she is here on her own she actually goes to bed practically as soon as she gets home, so she is prepared to do that after I leave. The weather today was terrific, went for a lovely walk on the beach, like summer really, and watched the Surf Rescue club practising, they win lots of awards.
Went down to Hilary’s for ‘family dinner’, so Ali & Hilary could help me choose some paint colours for my new house. We decided that of course I have to decide on the carpets, kitchen unit colours, tiles etc before we can really settle on anything, but they did persuade me that I’m better off going more neutral in order to appeal to more people in the rental market. I can always have ‘sea colour’ accents. Having not yet got even the ‘site plan’, which was supposed to come last Friday, I’m not hopeful of nailing everything down before I leave the country, which having been here so long will be extremely annoying. Erola tells me I’m too soft with the builders, she’s right! I’m still in 2 minds, house prices are dropping so I may even buy after all, but not till next time!
Tuesday ‘windy Wellington’ really lived up to it’s name, I thought the house was going to take-off at one point. It is sort of built on stilts at the back, so this would not be an impossibility! Gusts of up to 100kph apparently, I went for a very quick walk later on when it had quietened down a little.
In the evening Hilary, Ali, Junior and I went to a new restaurant on the waterfront, Wagamama, where Adam has just got a new job. We were expecting him to be cooking in full view, but it turned out that he was ‘prepping’ and then washing-up. Hilary thinks it’s just as well, he worked in a restaurant once before doing a similar thing, and he loved it, until the Manager changed. Whoever is in charge of him has to understand his condition, and that’s not always the case. He seemed to be doing fine though, Hilary’s only concern is that the job is not full-time so he won’t be earning as much as he was as a lifeguard. She also pointed out to me later on that the cultural differences between Junior and ourselves were highlighted, which Ali will have noted, but she thinks she can change him. Junior ordered the most expensive meal on the menu (it was a trial run for Family & friends so was free) and then complained on the comment card because it came on a big plate but the food wasn’t heaped up & didn’t completely fill the plate. Goodness knows what he’d make of nouvelle cuisine! Apparently it was only the third time he’d ever been in a ‘proper’ restaurant, and it showed. We all enjoyed our meals, & the service was really quick too, and since everybody arrived more or less at the same time this was brilliant. I may go back one lunchtime before I leave on one of my trips downtown. It opens officially on the 21st.
Wednesday was almost like a summers day again, just a slight nip in the air. I walked around the village for a change, taking photos of some Kiwi houses, particularly the ‘shacks’!
On Saturday Hilary, her ex-colleague Verena Mary (V.M.) whose job was ‘dis-established’, and I went to Downstage theatre to see a one-woman show, My Brilliant Divorce, starring a very well-known Kiwi actress, Ginette MacDonald. It was a full house, and the play was very good indeed, funny but with some powerful insights into the divorced state. Apparently Erola used to ‘flat’ with Ginette, but is not in touch now and so couldn’t get any freebies. The weather this week has been great, but unfortunately the forecast for tomorrow is not good, not good news for my train trip.
Went down to Hilary’s for ‘family dinner’, so Ali & Hilary could help me choose some paint colours for my new house. We decided that of course I have to decide on the carpets, kitchen unit colours, tiles etc before we can really settle on anything, but they did persuade me that I’m better off going more neutral in order to appeal to more people in the rental market. I can always have ‘sea colour’ accents. Having not yet got even the ‘site plan’, which was supposed to come last Friday, I’m not hopeful of nailing everything down before I leave the country, which having been here so long will be extremely annoying. Erola tells me I’m too soft with the builders, she’s right! I’m still in 2 minds, house prices are dropping so I may even buy after all, but not till next time!
Tuesday ‘windy Wellington’ really lived up to it’s name, I thought the house was going to take-off at one point. It is sort of built on stilts at the back, so this would not be an impossibility! Gusts of up to 100kph apparently, I went for a very quick walk later on when it had quietened down a little.
In the evening Hilary, Ali, Junior and I went to a new restaurant on the waterfront, Wagamama, where Adam has just got a new job. We were expecting him to be cooking in full view, but it turned out that he was ‘prepping’ and then washing-up. Hilary thinks it’s just as well, he worked in a restaurant once before doing a similar thing, and he loved it, until the Manager changed. Whoever is in charge of him has to understand his condition, and that’s not always the case. He seemed to be doing fine though, Hilary’s only concern is that the job is not full-time so he won’t be earning as much as he was as a lifeguard. She also pointed out to me later on that the cultural differences between Junior and ourselves were highlighted, which Ali will have noted, but she thinks she can change him. Junior ordered the most expensive meal on the menu (it was a trial run for Family & friends so was free) and then complained on the comment card because it came on a big plate but the food wasn’t heaped up & didn’t completely fill the plate. Goodness knows what he’d make of nouvelle cuisine! Apparently it was only the third time he’d ever been in a ‘proper’ restaurant, and it showed. We all enjoyed our meals, & the service was really quick too, and since everybody arrived more or less at the same time this was brilliant. I may go back one lunchtime before I leave on one of my trips downtown. It opens officially on the 21st.
Wednesday was almost like a summers day again, just a slight nip in the air. I walked around the village for a change, taking photos of some Kiwi houses, particularly the ‘shacks’!
On Saturday Hilary, her ex-colleague Verena Mary (V.M.) whose job was ‘dis-established’, and I went to Downstage theatre to see a one-woman show, My Brilliant Divorce, starring a very well-known Kiwi actress, Ginette MacDonald. It was a full house, and the play was very good indeed, funny but with some powerful insights into the divorced state. Apparently Erola used to ‘flat’ with Ginette, but is not in touch now and so couldn’t get any freebies. The weather this week has been great, but unfortunately the forecast for tomorrow is not good, not good news for my train trip.
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