Getting Around

Before I went to New Zealand in 2006 I decided that I had to have a car. For years I (like many men as they grow older) had hankered after a rag-top. I'd had one as a youngster but this was my second chance. I decided on a Mazda MX5: fun, seriously good to drive, superb quality and not too expensive to run. As luck would have it I managed to find exactly what I wanted before I went out. It was in Auckland - a 'new' car. In New Zealand many cars are considered 'new' if they come in from Japan when they are 5 years old. Japan's motoring laws make it very expensive to keep a car after it's fifth birthday. The Company delivered it to Napier for me.

Wendy was to pick me up from the Airport. I was foolish enough to mention that I had two cases and that the MX5 wouldn't be big enough. Wendy's response was that the MX5 wasn't big enough to hold her handbag. From that moment forth the car has been known as The Handbag. Napier's climate is such that it is the ideal car for one person most of the time. When I am transporting the children I swap the Handbag for one of the Geddes people carriers. It goes without saying that a young blond looks a darn site better driving an MX5 than an old baldie. But wotthehellarchie.

Last year I was living on the outskirts of the centre of Napier and decided that a bike would be ideal to help me keep fit and enable me to get into the centre easily without using the car. So I bought a bike. And what fun that turned out to be. My favourite route into town was via the seafront cycle path. I could cycle 20 kilometres a day and still fit in all my other activities.

The Handbag and the bike await my return.