Town and around.

The headcold did not disappear quite as soon as I had hoped and required taking pills for sevcral days. I still have a residual thick head, and no comments from the cheap seats, lol. I went to buy Sudafed at a chemist in Pukekohe only to be told they no longer sell it, that it used to be kept behind the counter (ingredient for making P in it) and now have other lesser products instead.

First up when I got back home, was to pick up my car. Kay picked me up from Mum's and we did half an hour on respective pieces of gym equipment at the JYM (bro and sister - in - laws fitness centre in Waiuku) before going to pick up my newly warrent of fitnessed car. Next step was to get it registered so dragged myself to the Post Shop the next day only to be told they could not use eftpos or register cars because the road builders outside in Bowen Street had cut the cable. Of course they had! - when I was at the hairdressers, they had done something to the water supply as well!. I remarked to the person in the Post Shop, I hoped that excuse would stand up in court if I got stopped by the cops and marched out. What happened to be able to do things by hand and process later I asked myself ?????


The powers that be have decided that Bowen St in Waiuku will be a one way street from henceforth and in conjunction with that, they are creating parking bays either side of the current road, with the idea of increasing park and better traffic flow in the town. If there are any businesses left open by the end of this exercise, good luck to them. Trying to shop or gain access to vital services (cafe and hairdressers, lol) meant risking life and limb whilst negotiating traffic cones and hazard barriers, torn up pavements with a fake grass matting laid down in several places and parking a cut lunch and a map away, walking with trepidation only where necessary with no casual strolling about. I was reliably told (by hairdresser) that all businesses are suffering from the lack of foot traffic and the impulse buyers and some are struggling more than others. Such is progress I guess.


One of the reasons for the timing of my visit was to attend a wedding which was last Saturday. Remarkably, the weather remained fine (still pinching myself here) and naturally the bride was beautiful, the wedding was lovely and it was a great reunion catching up with friends. I had gone home with minimal clothes and was able to cobble together an outfit to wear from things I had left behind including shoes (had forgotten up them but retrieved them from the top shelf of Mum's wardrobe). It was a bit of a Cinderella effort with the shoes as these were my pointy toed, somewhat heeled shoes from my dressier Dio days, lol, but did not have to do a heap of walking in them so just managed to last the distance but was feeling a tad crippled by the time I got back to Kays that night.

I paid a fleeting visit to Hamilton on Monday as I had not caught up with friends from my social worker days at Waikato Hospital for the last two visits home. Amazingly enough, it was the one night in two weeks we were all free and after a zillion emails between the four of us, we arranged to meet for a dinner at a local restaurant. It must be coming up to annual budget time or tax time in NZ because there seems to be an inordinant amount of roadworks going down the motorway from the airport all the way to Hamilton (and probably beyond) so it was a bit like doing a slalom course squeezing between cones, two lanes going to one, etc etc most of the trip.

On the way down to Hamilton, I stopped in Pukekohe to renew my drivcrs licence - therefore making it 10 years since I offically became a legal driver for the third time, lol. (my licence lapsed twice since I passed it for the first time at 15 yrs old, so drove for some years, not technically licensed). Luckily all I had to do was pay money, do a basic eye test and offer up two forms of identification then it was the new photo which will go on the new licence. Ouch, am never prepared for these things but at least think my hair was brushed this time (aussi licence look as though I have been dragged through a birch bush backwards, lol). I was feeling extremely legal by the time I drove off I can tell you with WOF, Rego and licence all attended to.

Had a great night with the social workers. We went to a place called Pummice which I am told has won awards. The food was well cooked and interesting and everyone enjoyed what they ate. Things certainly have got more expensive over the last two years. I was charged just under $11 for a glass of wine you would barely use as an eye bath with the amount that was in the glass. Needless to say, it was the one and only "glass" that I had that night. Up until last year, the four of us had met around the time of each of our birthdays for dinner out for nearly ten years now. I was blown away to receive birthday presents as we were there to celebrate a birthday coming up at the end of this week as well as the catch up. Needless to say there was lots of laughs, remember when's, with some photographic evidence presented of some of those moments. I feel very blessed with this group of friends as the eldest one of the three is the same age as my eldest son, and the youngest the same age and number two son and yet as work colleagues, that difference in age never seemed apparent. Maybe because I was a student social worker at the same time as one of them and they all were, and are, such excellent practitioners, that I learnt heaps from them during my time at the hospital. Being a social worker is very like being a cop or fireman in that there is a huge amount of black humour that goes with the job, and we certainly had that in spades.

Managed to catch up with three other friends in the space of a few hours the next day and then once back to Waiuku to fly to Wellington the next day to visit the number 1 grandson. So far, so good with the weather, have not had the windscreen wipers on in the car yet, woohoo.