It was quite surreal. On Sunday night Eric and I went to bed and turned the radio on and heard the man in the radio say that NZ was gripped by a huge storm. We both said 'Duh' and looked outside, not a breath of wind, not even a little breeze. We listened on, on huge low had hit the South Island, they were buried in snow and it was heading north. I got up and got the washing off the line and mentally surveyed the place for what should be battoned down. Woke up in the morning and... still as still as anything. Listened to the news, Yes the North Island was now suffering. Listened to the weather;Waikato - rain, wind and gusts of up to 130km/hr. It was really spooky, like we'd woken up in the wrong place! Well that soon changed. Within half and hour the wind got up and by mid-day it was so bad that I didn't make a meeting I was due at in Tokoroa. It was far too dangerous to drive. Almost all of Auckland had a 5 hour power cut which bought the city to a complete halt. Of course being Auckland it received far more publicity than the power outages in the South Island that are now into their 4th day and some places have been told it will be 2 weeks before their power is restored. I hope they have got generators!
I'm afraid my morning walking has gone to pot - it is just too cold. I manage the weekends when I can go later but in 0.5 degrees C at 7am when it is barely light I'm afraid there's no chance I'm going out.
Here yesterday I got home at lunchtime to find Eric just leaving (he was working all day covering Steve) saying there was no water. He'd be back soon and would sort it. I told him I would walk the paddocks and find the leak. Now, with hindsight, there is very logical way to do this. Needless to say I did it all a##e about face! I walked up to the neighbours (Ian and Shirley are in the States and have housesitters in) to tell them why I would be walking round their paddocks (our water systems are linked). They weren't in so decided to do there's first as I was already there. Now Ian has divided the paddocks up hugely and so I wasn't quite so familiar with were the pipes went. Anyway, no leak there, checked the water pump (nothing technical, just noted it was still running) and started round our paddocks. Got to the orchard near where the cows were when I spied Terry and Colleen by the water pump. Walked back down there, introduced myself and had a chat then carried on. Needless to say the leak was in the paddock where the cows were (if I'd have thought about it I would have known that, it usually is, they kick a connection). Now if I knew then what I know now I would have utilised stop valves to isolate areas and checked systematically, starting where the cows were!!! Oh well I know for next time. Luckily it was a nice afternoon and the rain only came down at the point where I was dashing back to turn the stop valves off.
Eric has had to accept that his bar admission will not happen this month. Despite his pleading letter and overnight post to get his bits of paper to the legal education council last Wednesday, they could not get the bit of paper he needs back by Monday. In fact it's Wednesday today and they still haven't arrived! He has therefore missed the date for filing papers with the High Court so will be admitted next month. A couple of the others are in the same boat so he is not alone.
Oh it was my birthday on Saturday. It was one of my less exciting birthdays. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining, I've had a far few by now and when one is this close to 50 (I still can't believe that, I don't feel any different to when I was 18, OK a bit stiffer and slower but that's all. OK, Thank you Harriette Yes, and a bit(a bit!) heavier!!!) one can forget the odd birthday. The girls had netball from 12 until 2.30pm and Eric was out in the evening. Richard had a spare ticket for the AB's v Ireland at Waikato Stadium and Eric was going with him. He did ask if I minded, being my birthday and all. Under the circumstances you'd have thought he would have offered me his ticket!!! Anyway, H,A and I went up to the Scott's to watch a girlie movie (Rumour Has It) with Robyn and the girls with fish n chips, sickly sweets and chocolate. Robyn, bless her, made me a chocolate cake, with candles even (not nearly 50 I hasten to add!). It was the scrummiest chocolate cake I have ever had and I must get the recipe. I even got to bring a big chunk of it home!! I was desparate to watch the rugby but didn't say anything (Robyn, Katherine and Sarah are not great rugby fans) so was thrilled when Robyn put it on. What a match! I had to yield to my Irish blood and my tendency to support the underdogs, and cheer for Ireland. For 7/8 of the game we were in the lead, then the AB's demonstrated their staying power and pulled a heap of points out of the hat in the last 8 minutes. Gripping stuff. I wasn't too disappointed as I always feel a bit disloyal not supporting the AB's. I think they are the best team in the world at the moment. Thank heavens we don't have TV else we would have had to witness the Wallabies thrash England. The less said about that the better.
Sunday was a lazy day. I called in an hour each from the girls 'I promise of 2 hours gardening without moaning' ticket I got from the girls for Mothers Day last month. We tackled the veg plot but it rather too wet to do anything seriously down there. I did re-pot up lots of things around the house and on the pool deck and cleared leaves from the drive, decks, well everywhere really. Yes, and we know what happened the next day don't we!!!! Our drive is under a foot of tree debris, branches had to be cleared and there is a tree down on the front paddock (one of the ones Ian left in when the shelter belt was reduced).
Well that brings us back full circle I think. I'm going to curl up in bed with my electric blanket, my book (The Blood-Dimmed Tide, gory title, not reflective of the content, by Rennie Airth), and the cat... oh and Eric! Night night.
No comments:
Post a Comment