Turbo

Day 2 of Megs days off and she booked me a bike with an engine from her work place at Cardrona Corner. She and her dad were heading off to Sticky Woods and I was heading off to find Mary - my Boss and Chief Counsel 2008-2009. I worked for Mary and when my mum took a massive stroke the week after our arrival in NZ and my Dad blew our family out the water I needed counsel. She didn’t know it but she was standing in for long standing friendships on the other side of the world and went from 0-60 in 60 seconds from day 1.
she also knew to bring me coffee as close to 10.30am as possible in order to get the most work out of me. We were the same age with daughters at the same school and had many parallels.
I found her up at the retirement village where she’s Head Gardner. 10 years disappeared in a flash as we sat over coffee trying to catch up in 20 mins. We made a plan for a longer catch up and she said she’d give me a job if I wanted to come back. It’s nice to be here and not to be sad.
I picked up my bike with its engine and cruised down memory lane, before meeting Meg and Spook for lunch in Albert Town. But I had to work a bit harder after lunch.

Not that I’m complaining. It’s phenomenally beautiful. Very hot. But engines are brilliant. It doesn’t mean you do t have to do any work. Getting a big bike around windy paths and berms wasn’t easy and I had to keep it at a pace that was controllable so that I didnt end up shooting off a cliff into the Clutha. But it keeps spirits strong when stamina is less so and I’m really impressed with the e-bike. Especially on Turbo when I was ready for home.

The Clutha

Somewhere in amongst the confusion of hemispheres, I remembered when it was Monday morning. Running Girl and I have gone for an early dip in the loch every Monday for well over 2 years. So I couldn’t let her down.

It may be summer but there’s still snow in them hills and the water is glacial. Spook is a water baby and he confirmed - it was bloody cold! Running Girl goes into the loch in her cozzy all year round. No idea how she does it.

Spook had to take a wee look at HIS old workplace. The reason we came out in the first place. We arrived at the same time as the current worker there who’s only been in the job 4 months. He was really chuffed to see Spook and asked him to come in and explain a few things to him. They are struggling to find a good person to work alongside him and have offered him a Finders fee iof $1000 if he can come up with the right person. He tried to persuade Spook to come back. Spook did love those plains above Wanaka…..