Napier, New Zealand (2020-03-16)

"Should I stay or should I go now?"

These words from The Clash's 1982 hit song echo in my head, as we try and figure out the best plan for returning to Canada.  There are still only nine covid 19 cases in New Zealand, so it certainly seems like a safe place to weather the storm, if our travel plans for March 28th get thwarted by governments or airlines.  The Canadian Government says get home as soon as possible, but we only want to fly on direct flights to Vancouver (to limit our exposure to other people on planes and in airports).  The earliest flight that we can get, as of a few minutes ago, is March 25th, if we manage to get through to the airline.  We have heard horror stories of people being on hold for 15 hours trying to change flights.  But this morning Air New Zealand announced that they are suspending all flights to Vancouver as of March 30th, so we have a very small window of opportunity, to actually get home.  Otherwise we will be here for several more months.

In other news....

My sister Tricia left on the bus to Wellington early this morning, after 8 days of fun.  While Tricia was here we did a lot of walking and biking and went to one movie, "Military Wives", which I would heartily recommend.  But we also managed to help my cousins with preparing for the house move this week - Marlene and Tricia did a day's gardening while I lugged garbage up to the street, onto a trailer, and took it to the dump.  When we got to the dump, Maureen asked me if I would reverse the trailer up to "the pit".  I laughed and told her that I have never reversed a trailer in my life, so probably not a good idea.  Maureen did a fine job herself.

A few days later, we returned to help move potted plants and bricks from the old house to the new house....three trailer loads of plants and five trailer loads of bricks to be precise.  This presented another requirement to reverse the trailer, and given a lack of available candidates, I had to take care of it, which I executed well.  So I have lost my trailer reversing virginity!  We all slept well that night.

The Napier Library has a simple way of getting feedback on which books are good, and which ones are not so good - two return slots.  It might be a bit challenging for some.

Napier Library Return Slots

In our wanderings through Ahuriri I came across some words of wisdom, especially applicable during a covid 19 pandemic.  Thanks to Hair 2 Go!

Words of Wisdom

With this covid 19 outbreak, New Zealand has closed her ports to cruise ships, so the Ruby Princess  (which was also here last week) was probably the last cruise ship that we will see on this visit to New Zealand.  She departed Napier yesterday.

Ruby Princess leaving Napier

 This morning, after Tricia left for home, we decided to bike the 16 km to Clive for a coffee.  It was a good ride, but when we got to Clive the cafe was closed, so we had to bike back to Napier before we got our coffee.  While walking along Dalton Street, another sign caught my eye, and gave us a chuckle in these somewhat humourless times.

All Too True

Once fortified with a drink and a scoffin (a cross between a scone and a muffin), we headed to Countdown and stocked up on groceries before biking home, so we will be all prepared for the upcoming visit of my other sister, Margaret, on Wednesday.