Day 5
I have to fess up and admit that I neglected to post a photo from Day 4, that being the view from the Waihi Beach RSA Club, so that is 1st cab of the rank in todays post...
Now to Day 5. In keeping with the current events happening in other parts of the world, today was a "search & destroy mission". Triona & Liam's place is a nice little 2 bedroom place but "struggles for space" in the kitchen area. So off to Tauranga we trundled (again) to "attack" the local KMart and Spotlight store. 1st port of call was KMart, where pantry storage gear was the priority. This included various size canisters and storage units, a spice rack that could be attached to the inside of the pantry door and anything else that provided space saving within a kitchen...
Then we headed to Spotlight. And what an "exciting" drive that was. One street before we were supposed to turn into the Spotlight carpark, a young lady in a red Toyota Yaris, decided she wanted to turn left, from the right hand lane. No indicators BUT, I saw her coming and slammed on the brakes, which resulted in her "kissing" our rental car, ever so slightly. She then turned the corner, just, and came to a stop. I followed her but went a little more down the street and pulled over. Di, Triona and I were fine, so I got out of the car and approached her. Poor thing, she was visibly shaken and all she could do was apologise, saying she didn't look. I asked if she was OK, to which she replied yes. I then suggested she pull her car up behind mine, a little bit further away from the corner and put on her hazard lights. I looked at both vehicles and to be brutally honest, mine was worse off but really only minor repairs (although, I'm not a panel beater). She did this and then I explained that as it was a rental car, I needed to call the police.
I must say that process was quick and efficient. After using the equivalent of our 000, which is 111 in NZ, and explaining the situation, I was put through to the police. The lady on the other end was very good, most calming and extremely helpful. After a number of questions, including rego numbers, my details, was anyone injured, were there witnesses (I had Di & Triona) & were the cars still serviceable, she provided me with reference number to give to the rental company. She then asked me whether the other driver was co-operative, of which she was, so I should inform her she had 24 hours to lodge her report on the NZ police website, using the reference number she had provided me.
Whilst I was on the phone, Di approached the young lady, who broke into tears but she has that affect on me!!! Seriously though, she could see she was distraught and just wanted to make sure she was OK. At that time, a lady turned up who was her "mother in law", whom worked a few minutes down the road and it was then we discovered the driver was on her way to visit her boyfriend, who was in the cancer hospital just there. Not a great day for her!
Anyhoo, Spotlight was visited and after, a hand towel rack for the bathroom, a tea towel rack for the kitchen, various curtains and blinds, we headed back to Waihi for an afternoon of further DIY fun... So, the photos show (after the RSA view), various kitchen space saving thingamabobs and the pictures/paintings mounted!
Day 6
Today is best described as a "family" day. Liam's parents are in the process of down-sizing. They currently live in a rather large house on a double block which is becoming a little difficult to keep up with. A concept I totally understand. As part of that process, they have engaged a real estate agency to both sell their current Casa and find them their new "forever home".
So, we were invited to join the group inspecting 2 prospective houses. Both had their pros & cons and we were asked our opinions, which we were happy to give but Di stated the most obvious, that being, they need to choose the one that they feel comfortable with.
After looking at both open houses, we were invited back to their current address to have a cuppa and we were shown around. A lot of land and to be brutally frank, a lot of work for any purchaser given the amount of land and trees/plants. Here's hoping they can find a buyer/developer (as there is a lot of land across the 2 blocks) that will give them the $'s they are hoping for and therefore make the changeover to the new place , financially easy.
We then headed back to the younger Lynch's place in Evans St for a little more reno work before heading out to lunch at a nice little cafe in downtown Waihi, where we were joined by Wendy and Arthur (Liam's Mum & Dad). Very pleasant. Then back to Evans St, before heading back to our accomodation for a little R&R before heading out to a nice little Italian Trattoria in Waihi Beach for a very tasty dinner.
Now, I have to say that the past few days has cemented 2 things firmly in my mind. The 1st of these is that there is no doubt whatsoever that Di has a ginormous amount of love for her daughter, son-in-law and grand-puppies (Triona, Liam, Chester & Bella)... A fact that is shared equally for her other daughter & son-in-law ( Nic & Anto), her son (Andrew) and the collective grandbabies (Astrid, Soren, Bob, Zinnia & Audrey).
The 2nd thing is that, whilst the mind is still active and working perfectly, the body is starting to show its near on 70 years of activities. I have muscles that I didn't even know existed and others that are refusing to work...