Was I Away Somewhere?

I've been back in my Napier home for 96 hours as I start this post.  During those hours I've slotted back into my New Zealand life as if I'd never been away.  There was a time when I walked back into the Croquet Club, for example, and people welcomed me back as though I'd been away for half a lifetime.  Having been back to play my first game this afternoon there were some "welcome back, stranger" comments but it was almost as if I'd not been away during the previous 6 months.  It was the same when I had my hair cut.  Then there is the television: the same programmes; the same adverts.  

What is different is the centre of Napier.  Many buildings have been torn down and are being re-built.  The new Farmers has opened and the old shop has, fortunately, been taken over by another company and is not lying vacant.  A lot of shops have closed and a few new ones opened.  Like everywhere though the signs of the recession in the retail trade seem to be showing.  How so much change can take place in 6 months is amazing.

Friday afternoon was special.  I collected Catriona from Woodford House where she is a weekly boarder.  She had no idea that I had returned or that I was collecting her.  Her welcome was to drop all her books (carefully!) and rush up to give me a huge hug.  We then stopped off at The Strawberry Patch for an ice cream which we ate sitting in the sun.  I took her back to school early this evening (Sunday).

It's 124 hours as I end this post and time for bed (said Zebedee).  Ermintrude would have been very happy with the last few days.

Cloud mass in the deep low over the North Island that greeted my return

First priority: make cornflake crunch

A rally of several hundred motorcyclists this morning at Ahuriri where I was having coffee with a friend

I'm not sure what it was in aid of but most of the riders had teddy bears with them

The Ahuriri boardwalk forms part of many kilometres of foot/cycle path around Napier

Lots and lots of these wild flowers made a wonderful contrast with the azure waters of the Bay

Kiwis doing what Kiwis do

Modern mixes with traditional on Bluff Hill.

All overlooking a friend's house (in the foreground) down on the waterfront

And in front of The Cottage the wonderful scent of Honeysuckle

in full bloom

Views from a Balcony

I called in to see a friend on Wednesday afternoon after playing croquet.  That in itself was a reminder to me that I really must think more.  Diane had asked if I'd play a match in one of the Club's competitions.  I was happy to.  Did Diane want a levels match or a handicap match.  Diane chose the levels play.  I beat her 26 to 7.   Happy that I'd played well in preparation for the tournament tomorrow we arrived back into the Clubhouse to the realisation that we had no competition levels match to play.  Not only that but had we played handicap and had I won we'd have had to replay it because I thought my AC handicap was 8.  It is in fact 7.  I really am a very silly billy.

Anyway as we sat with our cuppas on June's balcony we watched the world go by:

An Evening in Ahuriri

I went to a friend's for dinner last week.  The house is on the seafront at Ahuriri.  Watching the sky change during the evening from the grey of rain to a golden sunset was very pleasureable.

         

Lunch At Café Ahuriri

We had lunch again at Café Ahuriri today.  When I first came to live in New Zealand I used to cycle right around the seafront of Napier from the first place I stayed to Ahuriri and there I used to have coffee and do the crossword before cycling home again.  It was a good distance but a 6am start would see me home and showered ready for croquet at 0930.  I was fitter then!!  At that time the café was in the 'village' centre.  Last winter Cheryl who has the café acquired a largeish old property out of the centre (which I have it in my head used to be a cinema but I must check that) and converted it into the new Café Ahuriri.  It has lots of shelter and an outside walled area as well as inside space.  It's lost none of its old homely character and home cooking but it now also has a lunchtime chef and new dishes for lunch each week.  It's also about the least expensive place to eat in Napier.  I absolutely love it.

The café with Bluff Hill (Napier Hill) behind it

 

 At Christmas each table had a tiny tree of its own

Wendy's latte came in a bowl today

Art on The Beach

When we were at Ahuriri Beach recently the children made a rock stack. They are a popular form of art in this Country.

A Big Log

What's to be said?

Three Doors Up

I went out for lunch with friends to Three Doors Up in Ahuriri on Sunday.  It's a happy, comfortable bistro-type restaurant serving excellent food with friendly service to which every restaurant should aspire.  More importantly, though, is that they serve the perfect créme brulet.

A Very Long Day

Some days are longer than others. That's just how it is. Yesterday was one of the long ones. Not, you understand, because the number of hours I was awake was any greater than usual. In fact it was considerably less. I was up at 0630 but in bed by a very New Zealand-like 1030 - some time before my usual 0100. And it wasn't just long for me.

Yesterday the children (Jamie no longer counts as a child for this purpose) broke up and it was the Leavers' Assembly which, this year, I decided not to attend. Instead I played a doubles croquet match - part of the Club championship. We lost our match. I was then going to pétanque but something made me turn around and I came home instead. I wonder what made me do that.

I was just finishing lunch when Wendy drew up with the children. She was obviously upset. One of our neighbours - she was 41 years old and with small children - had collapsed and died at the pre-school (across the road from Pukatapu School where the children go) earlier. As so many of the parents were at the Assembly it became a very emotional occasion. By the time they arrived here the children were very subdued. We sat down and had an impromptu lunch and chat.

Such an incident happening to someone so young and so suddenly generates so many emotions and so many thoughts. It was decided that we should not be negative and mope but be thankful for every minute that we do have to enjoy time and, particularly, time with the children. So we just set off to Ahuriri (part of Napier on the coast) and for three hours sat on the beach, played, ate slushies and chips and were thoughtful, a bit teary at moments and very thankful at others.

And that was only half of what happened yesterday. It was an emotionally long day. Waking up seemed a very long time ago.

Jump!

Butter wouldn't.....

No fear

I'm lighter than you!

How do you like being up there then?

I never could do that

The Old Custom House, Ahuriri

The Old Custom House in the port of Ahuriri is part of old and pre-earthquake Napier. I photographed it a few weeks ago.

Drinkeries

Two of Napier's eatery/drinkery places on the harbour front with Napier Hill behind. Says it all really.

Ahuriri

When I went to one of the art exhibitions on Friday I saw a painting which I liked very much because the subject was unusual and rather imaginative. What I didn't know was that it was of a building in Ahuriri. When I went for my bike ride in Ahuriri later that day I photographed the building.

The Dentist, Hastings and a Day Out

I was up at 0600 this morning to go to visit Martin at 0845 in his Dentist capacity. The practice is in Hastings, half an hours drive from here.

June had decided to come over from Napier to see some art galleries in Hastings and Havelock North so we were to meet, see the galleries and have some lunch. June forgot that she had a hair appointment at 1300 so we saw only two galleries. I was not tempted by anything I saw in either gallery (thank heavens!). But I did spend some time after June had departed taking photos.

After I got home I decided that the late afternoon was so beautiful I would drive with the bike to Ahuriri and cycle round the port and take photos. It was both enjoyable and productive. I'll post the results soon.

Martin had brought fish and chips for dinner so that saved me making spag bollocks as planned. After some emails and blogging I went back to Wendy and Martin's to watch the very last and final episode of Green Wing - a zany spoof hospital drama in which one of the characters was Wendy and my Director in Comhairle nan Eilean so we just had to watch it.

The only blot on an otherwise Good Day was my blood test result. The PSA level climbs slowly but inexorably upwards. But, hey, there's planty of croquet seasons to be played so wotthehellarchiewotthehell.