6/1/2026 Sylvia Park with Morgan

Morg rang early this morning and asked if I fancied going with him to Sylvia Park for some brunch and some shopping. He is going out tomorrow with the boys he works with to a drum and bass gig in Auckland and wants a new shirt. Now those of you who know him know that my Morgi has a very particular style.  It’s not exactly what you would call conventional. He wore a long brown fur coat to our wedding and the same one to Si’s celebration.  He wears crochet t shirts in lilac and yellow and big fluffy coats in the winter. He’s one on his own . As such he also has difficulty in finding clothes that he really likes and because of that he owns just 5 ‘going out’ tops. He’s now recycled them on several occasions when he’s been out with his work mates and wants a new one.  

Sylvia Park is the biggest Mall in Auckland and the one he refused to go to before we went to Fiji.  It’s bloody enormous. He picked me up in his work truck. Mildred in the back because it was going to be too much to walk around. When we got there we got a space right outside the entrance which was really lucky.  Our first port of call was the toilet! The disabled toilets are automatic closing doors. For a while I waited for it to close. It would start then as soon as my hand hovered over the button on the wall to lock the door it would open again. This went on for several minutes until I worked out I was parked right under the sensor which was preventing the door closing. Frankly I’m a bloody idiot. Having finally worked out how to get the door to close I was able to carry on with my business, safe in the knowledge I wouldn’t be disturbed! 

Next stop was coffee, and the coffee shops were the other end to where we had parked which was fine as we had Mildred.  Coffee is seriously good in New Zealand, Especially in the independent Coffee Shops and Morg has been to them all it would seem, and if he hasn’t he has certainly found his favourites. 

Now he’d mentioned brunch, and I was very much looking forward to it, so we decided rather than having a separate coffee we’d have it with our brunch instead. Again so many places to choose from to eat and massively multicultural. We decided on Casablanca. A Mediterranean restaurant and oh my goodness it was the best decision by a country mile. 

I loved everything about it, the decor was pretty simple but effective, but it was the energy in there that was really good. The menu was impressive and there was so much choice.

In the end Morgan had the full breakfast with added beef sausage and I had the chilli scrambled eggs and we ordered a latte. The coffee came quickly in glasses, but it was the sugar bowl that grabbed our attention. A really heavy square silver hinged lidded one with a tiny little sugar spoon. Now I don’t generally have sugar in my coffee, unless it’s a bad day…. Or. There’s a really cute sugar bowl and matching spoon to use, because as we know I’m childish ! 

Morg reminded me not to stir the coffee with the sugar spoon which was really heavy silver with a  mother of pearl circle set into the handle.  It was also really small so you’d need a good half dozen spoonfuls of that size to get a decent amount of sugar in your coffee. I just had two and sprinkled it in the top! 

The rest of the cutlery was then bought out to the table with the napkins, and that too was really heavy and ornate silver. Our water glasses were filled up from a beautiful pitcher and we waited for our meals to come out. We could see the kitchen from where we were sitting, which I always like!  When it was cooked and brought out to us, I was once again stunned by the portion sizes that were presented. It was huge! Fresh made focaccia bread, chilli scrambled eggs, sweet potatoes, tiny boiled new potatoes, pumpkin,  courgette and tzatziki all piled up on the plate. Morgan’s breakfast was the same size, probably a little bigger. I failed to finish mine but they very kindly gave me a box so I could take the half I hadn’t managed to eat home with me. That’s dinner sorted for tonight! I was supremely grateful to be in Mildred because I could feel myself slipping into a food coma, which is no bad thing but when you’re already having difficulty placing one foot in front of the other, you don’t need the added pressure trust me!  

Before I left home I met up with some of my lovely friends and they very kindly gave me a birthday card containing New Zealand dollars so Morgan and I could have a meal to celebrate my birthday. As we were in Fiji for that we waited until we got back and this was most definitely the place to celebrate the day of my birth. The day satan dropped me in my mother’s lap and said good luck with this one!  

The food was delicious, all freshly cooked with the best ingredients, and as Si was a massive fan of the Mediterranean diet, it felt appropriate to eat there. I have got into the habit of choosing dishes from menus that Si would have chosen when I’m out. To start with it wasn’t a conscious decision but now I have realised what I’m doing I order what I know he would have chosen because he can’t. Yes I’m a weirdo but it keeps him close and part of everything in my warped broken little mind.  That said, I will not eat calamari, that shit is vomit inducing and frankly I’d rather peel a piece of chewed bubblegum off the street and eat that. I tried it once when we were in Port Isaac.  As  he was enjoying it so much I assumed it must be good. It has never appealed to me but I figured how bad could it be as he really loved it. Ugh it was disappointingly Gross, utterly tasteless and chewy like an old elastic band. Nope I’m not letting any of that shit pass my lips ever again.  It’s right up there with liver and lamb. 

So many thanks for my lovely birthday meal, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

With full bellies,we began our mission to find Morgan a new top. Well that turned out to be much harder than expected.  I thought I was fussy when it came to clothes shopping, but this kid is a whole other Level. To say he’s fussy is actually really unfair, he just knows what he likes, but because it’s a bit different it makes it difficult to find what he wants. It’s the surfer vibe he likes and you would think that that style in this neck of the woods would be easy enough to find. Apparently the surf shops have all gone over to skater style  and that’s a whole different ball game.  This is why I love making my own clothes. I have suggested to him that he starts doing the same because at least then he’ll be totally original. I think I would seriously be considering it if I were him because every shop he went into he came out empty handed. Everything is a little too conventional or the quality was poor or it just wasn’t him. He’s like the fashion version of Goldilocks and the three bears porridge! Which is just perfect. 

I found a very nice white linen shirt for myself in surf city , which I tried on and got the nod of approval from Morg. I’ve learnt the hard way to try shit on before I buy it!  I am glad I tried it on because I automatically picked up the XL which was massive, so I put it back. Skipped the large because it didn’t look much smaller on the hanger. Tried the medium one on, that was too big, and finally the small which was just right. Now who is Goldilocks? The sales assistant was really helpful and very complimentary which was sweet. She offered to take the shirt over to the counter for me which I gladly accepted as we were still looking for a top for Morgan. He was unlucky again and said there was one other shop he wanted to try, so he left me to it and strode off. When I got to the counter the young girl who had helped me said there was a problem with the shirt in that someone had tried it on and had left a load of orange makeup on the inside of it. The manager had taken it to see if it would come out and bought it back apologising because she couldn’t remove it. They had already checked to see if there was another small one but it was the last one so I was offered a further 10% off. Happy days, I'll take it thank you very much. I know exactly how to get that makeup mark out of there. Highly delighted with my bargain I paid for it and just as I was putting it in my bag Morg came back. Empty handed bless him. 

We tried one more shop that had a chance of having what he wanted but again there was nothing suitable. Disappointed, we decided to knock it on the head. Personally I am amazed as to how often I have been shopping since arriving in New Zealand, generally I am not a fan, too many people, and the clothing stores at home don’t really inspire me. Here, possibly because everything is so bright and colourful it’s more enjoyable to be in the shops. It’s also helpful in a way towards me finding my identity again, what I love and what I don’t.  Etc etc. It has to be said my packing for this trip is eclectic at best, and truly mirrors the state of my state of mind before leaving. Forgetting to pack a tidy pair of sandals that were also practical was a big boo-boo, and the ones I bought in a hurry because I was going to Mamma Kay’s brother's birthday party are another! The scattergun approach best describes it. Nothing really goes with anything else and I’ve practically lived in my one pair of denim shorts, strapless tops, tee shirts and swimming costume. I’ve still packed very light and my bag weighed in at less than Mildred, even with the industrial sized shampoo and conditioner I bought out for Morgan!  I think what also threw me was the amount of space I had in the Sturdy one and I felt obliged to fill it! I’m hoping that during the three weeks in the Cook Islands at a resort I will get some wear out of the nice maxi dresses I packed, I have worn the one a few times. I did however forget about the mosquitos and prickly heat and should have packed more long trousers and loose tops for the evenings! Never mind, I'm putting it all down to experience and keeping a note of what works and what doesn’t ready for next time! I’m currently trying to practice a “no buying shit you don’t need’ habit although I am eyeing up several things I want to buy to bring home, purely because they are really different and it’s summer wear. Also jarmies! I will be bringing back another large laundry bag full of stuff like we did the last time I can tell! 

As we were leaving the shopping centre his boss rang , they chatted about Christmas and new year and I heard Morgan tell him I was off to the Cook Islands, whatever his boss said in response to that, Morg replied “as long as she comes back with all her teeth” which bemused me as  you can imagine. I was trying very hard not to listen!! I did get the other side of the conversation when Morgan hung up and the comment then made sense. But it’s not for the blog!

Morgs is back in work on Monday and has to go and pick his laser cutter up tomorrow in readiness, so I’ll have another road trip to go on.  Over to the North shore. 

He dropped me back to the motel and came in for a brew before heading home. We have struck a good balance I think. We both have our own space, but have a couple of hours in each other's company every few days which is perfect. Even knowing Morgan as well as I do and being as close as we are, it’s still very difficult sometimes to keep the mask firmly in place, not to mention exhausting. For us both.

I had a nice cool shower and contemplated the rest of my day. The prickly heat is still playing up and I’m out of the hydrocortisone cream I bought with me. They sell it in the chemist warehouse but only the 0.5% which isn’t strong enough. I decided to take a bumble down and see if they would sell me stronger stuff from the pharmacy.  They had a look at it and supplied me with 1% which should do the trick, and said if it doesn't improve to see the doctor. Well I won’t bother with that but, as long as I keep just cotton clothes and only wear the rash best for snorkelling I’ll be ok.  Happy with my purchase which came in at $14 (about £6) I went back to my motel  to do some more research on the Cook Islands and find trips I might like to do.  A productive day for me, not so much for Morgan!  Still no shirt.  

Much Love 

Mrs Leonard 

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