Tuesday 2^nd

Had a morning walk round the neighbourhood, we are literally 150m from the beach,but it is a cool beach if the Easterly is blowing, you would (&we did) avoid it. I needed to sort out showers & vanities today, which I was dreading for the reason I would need to quarter all the big shops (Placemakers, Bunnings &Mega M10).Predictably, I spent 3 hours finding and investigating but am getting the lay of the land now, will be trying to avoid heading out on a whimsy to get stuff it eats into your time & petrol.(This town is bigger than Nelson) I arrived home just before Sheryl so crockpot wasn’t on early, will be eating late tonight. L

Monday 1^st September Spring!

A day of firsts. First day of spring, Sheryl’s first day of work at SuperTyre, Bill’s first day of renovations at the rental. A fine start to the first day of spring, even a little bit of sunshine, but like I say – little. My first day at SuperTyre didn’t get off to a great start, with it taking one hour and 5 minutes compared to the half hour on Sunday. This is peak time traffic with a hundred traffic lights on the way L. Luckily I have a great boss who said I can start at 10 from now on, phew! The day went much better once I arrived, took a bit for the brain to recall instructions, then we were on a roll. Wages went smoothly, hopefully the money has gone into the right accounts J Bill got straight into the bathroom and removed the mouldy shower, bath and vanity. I came home to a more spacious room that once a new shower and vanity are installed, should modernise it. Great start.

30^th / 31^st August – our first weekend in Christchurch.

I was up and on the road at 5.45 am Saturday to take our hosts to the Airport, while Bill slept on. Sue & Peter are off to Hawaii for a lovely two week break. I came home and fed the animals (1 sheep and 2 goats – isn’t little Billy cute?  Bill & I then vacated Irwell Village for an evening at the Woodhams, on the Cashmere Hills after having the afternoon at Sumner. There is still a lot of damage evident in the Sumner area, sadly some will never be able to return to their homes.

After a great catch up with Helen & Ralph on Saturday night, we headed off Sunday morning to spend a couple of hours organising our vehicles to get all three to North Brighton at our rental ( Bus, work van, & Sue’s car on loan while she is away). Our tenant of 10 years had done a great job of looking after the property, it is more wear and tear of 27 years of living done in it, that it looks so dated and sad. The plan is a new bathroom, kitchen and paint job throughout and it should look modern once again. We had a couple of hours walk around our new neighbourhood, and found a great walkway / cycleway that we will do one day. Lovely newer area of North Beach boarders North Brighton, but again earthquake damage not avoided here either. Really strange how a house either side of a property has been completely removed and the one in the middle looking untouched. Well outside at least.