A Quiet Day

The heading would seem to imply that most of my days here are not quiet which is far from the truth. Croquet and Petanque could hardly be described as riotous passtimes, nor could cycling, visiting friends (the sort I have anyway) or any of the other things I do. All in all it's a busy life but a quiet one - generally speaking!

Today I had no commitments other than having the car serviced so I decided, as it was a beautiful but not too warm morning, I would go for a cycle. I would take the car to the garage just over 5 k away at Puketapu and cycle from there to Taradale via the Ototara Pa (about which I will blog one day) and back home. Only about 18k but exercise my heart would appreciate because of all the hills. It hasn't had too much challenging exercise since I came back to N Z. This afternoon I cycled to get the car so managed another few fairly good hill cycle climbs to exercise the heart some more.

Near the Pa is the Napier Golf Club. In its grounds adjacent to the road are two statues carved from solid trees which had had to be felled.
I had coffee and did a crossword at The Café Gecko (a lizard which will be the subject of yet another blog) in Taradale. I hadn't noticed it before. The service was very friendly and the coffee good so I'll be back.

Arrived home for lunch, finished my book sitting in the sun and then cycled for the car. On the way I saw a Skylark which I managed to photograph and heard yet another Yellowhammer which I didn't manage to see despite his obvious close proximity to me
and saw a baby Song Thrush whose Mum was nearby.

After I'd collected the car I went to Napier. This evening I started by watching the News: news that will donimate TVOne for the rest of the evening.

A Sore Bum? and a Birthday Party

A quiet day. A lovely day. A hot day. Pottered into town this morning and did my emails etc at Esquires Cafe where purchasing a coffee (and excellent coffee it is too) also purchases an hour on the Wi fi Internet. I take the Laptop. I'm becoming an hourly fixture there each day. Went home for lunch. Put the bike on the back of the car and went to Ahuriri. Rode round the coastal cycleway for nearly 6 kilometres past the centre of Napier. Turned round and rode back again. My first cycle since my return. I wasn't puffed and I had no sore bum. OK so it was only 12 k but that's a pretty good start and I can't wait to get back onto the saddle.


It was Wendy's Birthday. Wendy and the children came down whilst Martin cooked dinner. Then Martin came down. Then we all went up to the Big House and had dinner. Afterwards until well after the children's bedtime (I wonder what they are like this morning!) we partied. I shall not be so cruel as to put anyone else's photo on the Blog. Suffice to say that the photo of me was representative of the mood of the evening!

We thought that the 'phone problem had been sorted but life is never that simple. The ground is so hard that digging the trench manually is nigh on impossible (100 metres with a pickaxe - I don't think so). It's made more difficult because the electricity supply is there too and there has to be a separation of at least 300mm. The verge isn't wide enough. A solution has yet to be found. In the meantime......

Pot Pourri

So far my bike has remained in the garage because cycling with a bad cough is perhaps not advisable. Yesterday I brought it down to the Cottage where, over the next few days, I will give it a bit of a service and have a few trial runs. All I then have to do is decide on a strategy for getting my daily cycles in.

When I was coming out of the Library one day I passed the display of newly acquired titles. One leapt out at me. "The Rainhill Trials" The story of the "Greatest Contest of Industrial Britain" and the birth of commercial rail . Of course I had to read a book which dealt with events so close to my birthplace. I'm glad, so far, that I picked it up. And with Mark's and CJ's Blogs both mentioning locomotives recently I thought that I, too, would give them a mention.

We seem to be no nearer having the trench dug so that the phoneline can be laid and the phone connected.

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.