Week Nine
SURVIVING IN THE BUBBLE
A CHANGE OF SCENERY AT LAST!!!
The last eight weeks really have passed by in a bit of a blur. A strangely intense time on one hand and a rather pleasant interlude on the other. But joy oh joy, how wonderful it feels to get out and about now we are in Lockdown Level 2. There is nothing like a little freedom to make you really appreciate life.
As a result it has been rather an eventful and social week and I have valued every minute of it.
As a result it has been rather an eventful and social week and I have valued every minute of it.
Yet again I have been blown away by the sheer kindness and generosity of the people I know, especially from those who I class as friends. These “gifts” are not usually monetary but tend to run along the line of goods, services or time. For example an offer of a bed and a meal for the night, a healing or a treatment, a piece of furniture, an odd job done here and there.
I have always enjoyed operating in this manner, almost like the bartering system of old and I like to think that I “pay my way” by being courteous, doing little things for them or contributing something in return. There is a lot of truth to that old saying “what goes around comes around”.
And it all kicked off when Mark came to town.
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| Waiting to board the ferry with Mark and Amanda |
So, one of my dear friends, who prefers to remain anonymous, offered me a bed at her palatial pad for a couple of nights. Compared to my recent confined quarters, it was a luxury that included my own bathroom. She had an extra guest for dinner, served a yummy chicken korma and some scintillating conversation was had by all.
The following day, my friend had very kindly arranged for me to have a session with her healer, Tania Smith of Essential Wellbeing. She is a gifted Reiki Master who works with the Angelic Realms. All I can say is WOW, go see her (and her totally zen dog Minty) It was a truly lovely experience that served to reaffirm that I am following the right path. This is the link to her website:
It was a rare grey day for Nelson, but after my session I managed to squeeze in a wee walk around my friends neighbourhood before making what I thought would be my final batch of feijoa chutney (a gift for my friend along with a peony), I then treated her to Thai takeaways for our evening meal.
The house in Stoke was transformed in my absence, there was now a couch in the lounge and a rug on the floor, with a proper table in the dining space. Amanda's mattress was off the ground and on it's slat base plus I found a spare chest of drawers in my room.
After returning the “loan” car to Jolie in the morning (and gifting her with a peony); Mark, Amanda and I hit the road in the noisy rental truck. Finally I was homeward bound to Wellington via Picton and the Bluebridge Ferry with my suitcase, chiller bag and a box of peonies.
In the many sailings I have had across the Cooks Strait over the years, this was probably the first time the Bluebridge has run to time, even departing at a surprising 12 mins early, to be precise.
It was a strange sombre sailing, lots of seating areas had been cordoned off or had round notes slapped on the seats reminding us to sit with only the people in your bubble and to curtail movement on board. We also had to record the location of our seats (Port 15) for contact tracing purposes.
We had been led to believe that it might be a rough ride, due to the weather bomb about to hit Wellington, but luckily for us it was a smooth sailing. I don’t mind the rough weather, but Mark and Amanda are not so keen so were prepared with sea sick tablets.
Anyway, by 5:30pm we were rolling down the gangplank and I was on way to meet Judy at our rendevouz point in Petone. Judy, was my previous flatmate/landlady whom I lived with in Normandale for eighteen months, until Jan of last year; when the plans to subdivide her property to build her dream retirement home kicked in and I was subsequently kicked out. (That sounds worse than it was, LOL).
Everything fell into place. Judy had no trouble selling her place then spent the last year house-sitting while her new house was constructed on the neighbouring property. She was fortunate to move in just before the lockdown commenced.
I was delighted to finally visit her and check out her new abode and came bearing feijoa chutney (for her recent birthday) and a peony (as a housewarming gift). It was a wet and wild Wellington night but the new house was cosy, warm and quiet (double glazed windows are the way to go) compared to the draughty, old cold one she had vacated next door. It was crazy to think that her new living space was where my sitting room and bedroom used to be.
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| Judy at home in her new house |
Judy had made us a delicious Potato and Leek soup for dinner but she recommended this Lentil Burger recipe which I am eager to try:
I seem to have a thing for lentils at the moment and came across this delicious sounding recipe too:
I was shaken awake the following morning by a strong 5.8 earthquake. Plus the inclement weather had not abated. What a welcome Wellington was putting on. It only reinforced that staying in Nelson for the winter was going to be a winner in my book.
Later that morning my dear old dad collected me to kindly loan me a car. He wanted to stop at a supermarket, so it was a good opportunity for me to stock up on some food supplies. It was interesting to note that this store was definitely more lax with regards to sanitising compared to its Nelson counterpart.
Pip and Greig had invited me to pop in for lunch on my way to my caravan in Te Marua, so we had a nice catch up over Tomato soup. It was definitely soup weather. Pip was very naughty and did not let on that it was going to be her birthday the following day.
By this stage, due to the nasty cold weather, I had received yet another invitation to stay. This one from Ken and Jude, friends from the club, which I gladly accepted. I dropped everything at my caravan before escaping to their lovely warm home in Kaitoke. Their fire was roaring away with a roast chicken in the oven.
It was a very pleasant evening. Jude and I quaffed a bottle of my cousin’s wine, a very fine drop by the name of Harwood Hall Rose. I had purchased Ken some of his favourite beer, as a thank you, as it was he who had responded to my call for help and installed not just the broken one, but all six of my new curtain tracks. Jude is also very sweet and tends to the garden pots at my caravan, so of the two remaining peonies, one was for her and one was for me. Fingers crossed they will grow.
On the Tuesday, the sun came out once more and I was happy to return to my tiny home and after commandeering some more feijoas and jars, I set about making one more batch of feijoa chutney. Hopefully now I will have enough to go around?!
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| An unexpected visit from Ellie the camp cat |
Aside from this, I have been pottering; catching up on chores, paperwork and emails, unpacking, repacking and cleaning. My caravan is parked up in a lovely spot and backs onto bush. There are a lot of native birds, especially Piwakawaka’s or Fantails which are my favourite. I love their curious and cheeky nature as they flutter around.
Kereru’s, our large, fat, native wood pigeons also abound, they swoop loudly from tree to tree, sometimes drunk on berries. Last week, one kamikaze bird had an untimely end when it flew through a window into the upstairs lounge of our club rooms. It left a bit of a mess and must have been quite distraught. I did my bit to clean the poop off the furniture and the blood smeared on the ceiling. Too sad.
Anyway, it’s been an interesting week in politics with Simple Simon (Bridges) now gone as leader of the National party and Todd Muller his replacement, bumbling in his wake. Their new “ranks” are not very diverse and I can see already that they will do their best to undermine Jacinda Ardern’s leadership in the lead up to the September elections.
Thanks for your insights here Damian Reid:
The following article is also well written:
Plus, I am super happy that Labour is planning to do this:
Compared to the Australian government who is getting rid of their Federal Arts department:
You only have to look at how people entertain themselves (this recent global crisis is a good example) to make you realise just how important the arts is to society.
I've also decided that conspiracy theorists should be called truth seekers!
Once again, here are is my choice of funnies for the week:
Along with a few pics from my neighbourhood wanderings:
I hope people aren’t getting bored with reading about the “mundane-ness” of life in my bubble, but I am thinking that moving forward I will write a fortnightly post instead of a weekly one, unless I hear great outcries for the latter.
Thanks for tuning in to surviving in the bubble.
onepurplefish
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