Hans en Nienke: May 2021

We'll start with a bit of newly discovered music. Well, that is, newly discovered by me. An ambient group called Haevn, from Amsterdam. This song is called 'The sea'. Quite nice to listen to.

That's me, hiding behind that tree stump there. Well, in fact I am using the chain saw to cut it down. It had lost a few limbs and was leaning over, threatening to damage the fence. Apart from that it was pretty ugly with those dead branches, not appealing in case we want to sell the house. It appeared our German woofers from a few years back had hammered all the staples in so deep into the battens that the wires did not have any room to move anymore. So I could not lower the wires, just had to cut them in order to save the posts and battens. I guess what is logical for one person is a mystery for another.

It's not that we needed the firewood, but I had offered it to a few people several times and although they were interested in the wood, apparently not in the work. Well, we'll just use it for the hot tub then.

The Seagulls have arrived. I made a nice pedestal for it and it has now a prominent place in our hallway. This way we pass it multiple times a day.

BBQ time again, probably the last time this year. I know, you can see two pans on the right. That is because the meatballs are not doing so well on the BBQ.

Nienke came up with the idea of throwing a last summer party in the Easter weekend.

Although lots of friends already had plans (travelling with or to the family) there were about 20 people who made it to a lovely afternoon.

We'll miss these afternoons in the sun. Because we are moving towards winter and also because of our possible move. We are still looking for a nice property to move to and a smaller house with a few hectares less to look after. As we still do not want to live in suburbia, do want some peace and quietness around us (so not being able to hear the highway) this is not very easy. Most properties for sale do either not meet our requirements or require even more work. Well, we're not in a hurry.

It was one of the many different conversation subjects late night around the fire.

Mushrooms. We have about 7 to 8 different species on our property. Apparently one of them is edible. Not sure what Kiwi's do with the other ones. Smoke them? We decided to leave them where they are and avoid hospitalisation that way.

My colleague Kars (has just handed his baby over to his wife) is ready to get tested. 18 months after covid-19 started spreading over the world our District Health Board has decided it is time to get individually fitted facemasks for health personnel. I know, this is not exactly the fastest reaction. That maybe one of the reasons our government is overhauling the health system in New Zealand. When I arrived in NZ 14 years ago and learned there were 20 District health boards I said 'that sounds like 19 too many'. They are all meant to do the same, but they never learn from each other and keep trying to re-invent the wheel. Executives of all those boards rake up 65 million dollars a year. For that they have to meet 30 days a year. Now the shake up will hopefully save some money and make things more efficient, but it is not going to change the outcomes. As long as we keep Coca Cola, KFC, Burger King, MacDonalds, V, etc. things won't change. And we need to overthrow the private and public health system. One step too far for even our Labour party who of course all have private insurance themselves.

Part of our roof is Butynol, a rubbery black roof topping, mainly used on flat roofs. When I was painting the house I noticed my shoes turned black quickly. Looks like that part of the roof is deteriorating a bit (sun, salt and wind). The company that put it down said it does that on purpose, to create a better layer of protection. 😱😝😖😡. Of course we do believe that. Anyway, we do not want to drink that stuff (we collect rainwater from the roof), so I have started diverting that section of the roof into our garden. Here are the new down pipes. I will paint them grey so they look better for the pilots when they fly over.

Too often we have families asking the doctors to let dad fail for his drivers license test. Usually because of multiple small car accidents and them being terrified when he is driving them somewhere. Well, today it was my turn. I had been playing golf when I got a message saying there was a package for me at the practice. Since that was 'en route' on my way home I thought I'll just pick it up. Did a U-turn in front of the practice and boom.

Did not see the girl that came from behind. She had been speeding (but I can't proof that), did not have the correct license (a learners), no L-plates, a child in the car, but no adult, etc. Nothing of that matters as it was my fault, I did not indicate and did not see her coming. My car had minor cosmetic damage and a bend suspension. My insurance will cover her parents damage, but the excess and the repair on my own car are for me. Bloody expensive package (a new cheap; mouse for the laptop).

Our garage at the moment. This is just a well organised chaos, representing the many jobs around the property I am currently working on.

Still painting the house. The sea side is now all done, except for that little corner up there on the left.

In between the jobs there is time for relaxation. This is (part of) my tennis team. There should be 3 more of them, but they could not make it. Of course when something like this is planned way ahead something else could pop up 😕. Kiwi's.... Anyway, we had a great game of tennis before the food 7-6, 6-7 and 7.5. Enough energy spend for the amount of Mexican food I had prepared.

Bought some new clubs, basically for the drivers. A lot of men have these blocks of concrete at the end of their club. That gives them a range of about 200 meters. Not that that helps them a lot as often they can't find their ball back. I was still playing with Nienke's no. 1 wood, a bit dented and at least one of us was not completely accurate. Now I have 2 new nr. 1's and I must say, it makes a difference. Haven't lost a ball in weeks!

This is the year a lot of us turn 60. Jane was the first, this time it was Derene's turn. Nice party with our FDC friends. Later this year it will be my turn. Still thinking of how to celebrate it.

Nienke dressed up here for the 60th birthday party of another friend of us. Kiwi's like theme parties. Since Blair was his name the theme was 'come like something starting with a B'. Blue was what came to mind. As expected there were many bees, butchers, bakers, bishops, Bob the builders, balloons, bacon and eggs, boxed jellyfish, ballet dancers, banana's, butlers, brides, basketballers, etc. The best was a 'bloody mess', a guy with an axe through his head, knifes in his upper chest and an arrow through his leg.

After all those nights of taking in too many calories Nienke thought it was a good idea to test our fitness level again.

So we did the Escarpment track once more, a nice walk from Paekakeriki to Pukerua bay. A local track. Pretty steep as you can see. We had done it once before when it had just opened. Just like the first time there were quite a few people who kept leaning into the mountain side or even holding on to branches and leaves, too afraid to look down.

Nothing wrong with our fitness level. Took us only 2 1/2 hour and we passed many young people. We are ready for a nice multiple day walk again. I am thinking of the Aotea track, a 3 day track on the Great barrier island. Several other nice tracks there as well. Something for a week of soon. International travel is still far away I am afraid.

Right, the post was way too late again, I know, but we got there. We'll close with another piece of music, this is Jonathan Roy with Keeping me alive.