19/3/2026 St Heliers village living

The first night in the new gaff was lovely, it's very quiet, homely and comforting. Like a warm hug from a good friend. I love it. My first job was to do the washing, I did have to locate usage instructions on the washing machine as I couldn't find where to put the washing powder. Now I know it goes into the agitator tube in the middle of the machine and if I'm using fabric conditioner which I'm not, that goes on the top. Who doesn't love Google? The machine is a quicksmart one so even a long wash is done very quickly. There is a wall mounted washing line around the corner so I pegged out the now clean clothes and walked down to Kohi beach for my morning swim. There were a few of the same people as the last few days there and they were all very welcoming. I managed 45 minutes swimming today and the warm water was very soothing on my aching body. 

After the swim I laid out my towel on the beach and laid there for a few hours. I did think about continuing the walk down to mission bay once I dried off but I decided I was too achy for that and even my innate stubbornness couldn't muster up the energy or inclination to do so.  I stayed put and it was blissful. 

I packed up around 1500hours and started the walk back to St Heliers because I'd had enough by then, and thought I'd treat myself to an iced coffee at the coffee shop. I missed the favourite one by 10 minutes for coffee but I did get Morg, a custard filled hot cross bun because it was the last one left and looked really lonely. Josh kindly put it in a box for me so it wouldn't get squashed. While he was packing it up, he asked a question I hadn't even considered about my flight home. A lot of people are having difficulties with their return flights as some of the preferred routes are through the Middle East, Dubai Doha etc, and with what's going on there a lot of flights are being cancelled. Thankfully mine is with Singapore Airlines and as yet that route isn't affected. Also the issue they're having is that the flights are being cancelled and they are having to pay a lot more for new ones. I don’t know if that is covered by travel insurance, I’d hope so, but even if it is, the upfront payment is still significant. One of his customers has flown his mother out ( no, not Morgan) and she was supposed to fly home on Thursday, the earliest she can get a flight out now is in two weeks at a massively inflated cost. I am now very grateful that I have prebooked my flight, and I'm keeping all things crossed that there are no changes. However it is not the end of the world if it's cancelled, it just means a while longer with Morgan which isn't all bad.

New Zealand apparently has got 51 days left of petrol reserves, which is impacting the price at the pump, but like most places it seems, is inducing panic buying. When i was on the beach a random bloke told me i needed to fill up my car on the way home, I’m not sure that Singapore airlines will allow that amount of fuel in my hold luggage, there will likely be issues with it being highly flammable I suspect. The comment did make me chuckle though. No prizes for guessing what he was going to be doing on his way home from the beach…

I didn't see Morgan tonight. He'd had a long day working on the North Shore and I know I am really hard work so I couldn't blame him for wanting some down time to himself. He’d let me know earlier in the day, and once I packed his hot cross bun safely into my bag I went around the corner and had my legs waxed, losing half a stone in one rip of the wax, bloody marvelous.    

Feeling a lot lighter and considerably less fluffy, I decided to get my nails done while I was at it. I'm on holiday after all!  I don't really like the colour but it will do for a bit, its pink but not a particularly nice pink. I didn't even know there was a shade of pink I wouldn't like, but I found it and it's adorning my finger nails for the next two weeks. Suck it up buttercup. 

While I was sitting there a lady came in on crutches wearing a boot on one leg. She asked the girls if they minded if she shaved her leg while she had her feet done, and that she'd bought her own razor with her to do it. I wasn't sure I'd heard her right, but she proceeded to fish about in her handbag for the aforementioned razor and did her legs as she sat in the massaging chair. Bizarre. She explained she had struggled to do it in her shower because she couldn't balance, which I understand, but I don't think I would dream of taking a razor to a salon and scraping the hair off while they attended to my toe nails. The foot basins are all lined in plastic, so it was only ever going to be her dead foot skin and leg hair floating around in it, but the thought of it was a bit grim. Loud lady too, and everyone in the salon heard how she’d just been for a hair blow out and then booked in a dermabrasion appointment for tomorrow and demanded they not use any oil or greasy substances as she'd just had her hair blow dried. I think you should have done that the other way around my love, mush first then the locks. And people think I'm dull!! 

I left there and walked back to the apartment. The walk is nearly all flat apart from the short bit of hill to the door, which is manageable slowly. When I left this morning I locked the door key back into the key safe to save worrying about losing it when I was out and about. I let myself in and opened all the windows to get the breeze flowing through, it was lovely and cool thanks to the large leafy hedge surrounding the property, and then made myself a cup of tea. I picked up a book from the huge selection on the book shelf and took it outside to read in the early evening sunshine, which the apartment gets . As I sat there a man came up the drive and said hello, it was the man who owns the apartment and his name was Steve. He'd just been down to the village and said it was really busy along the front. The bars and restaurants were filling up as I walked by and its always a hive of activity early evening before closing down around 2100. Steve said they had been letting the apartment out for  15 years and it is something they enjoy doing. I put him late sixties, he shouted up to his wife who was sitting on their balcony upstairs and she waved down. He did tell me her name but I've forgotten it. 

I sat outside reading until the sunset and I couldn't see anymore. The sunset, although a very pretty pink, was not one of the better ones, nevertheless it was duly admired.

Once it had got really dark I went in, and made myself some dinner, just a cheese salad followed by a peanut butter and jam sandwich to use up the last of the bread and peanut butter. Plenty of jam left. I have been clearly going very heavy on the peanut butter. I washed up the bits i’d used to stop the ants feeding off the left overs and then made myself  another brew. Note to self get more teabags.  Another day of not a lot, but the sun is still shining, the ocean is warm, the apartment is comfortable and it's just a few minutes walk down the road from Morg. Not too shabby in the grand scheme of things.  Best of all it isnt cold and it isnt raining, and that is something Si would have greatly appreciated. Its also not as humid as it was in January and February, although i wasnt in New Zealand for much of those months, but Autumn is apparently turning out to be much nicer than the summer. No complaints from me in that department, when Si and I were here last, it was this time of year and it is definitely warmer this time than it was then but is cooler in the evenings which is no bad thing for sleeping! Or lacktherof.

Much Love 

Mrs leonard

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