Another project
We just have to watch
We have an urgent need to get some pots made, but will we have time?
Our next project has begun.
Over the weekend we tied up all the loose ends related to Captain Cook’s Caper and turned our attention to the Great Tirimoana Garage Construction.
I know this isn’t very interesting, but writing has always been a way for me to debrief and clear my head, so here goes.
Sunday was a whirlwind.
We drove back to Nelson, where the kayaks from our swim trip were waiting on board the good ship Fidelis. With some difficulty, we extricated them, loaded them on to our new second-hand trailer and drove them back to their home with our friends Ralph and Sally.
Then we had a cup of tea. It’s been a while since we sat down for a good chat with some of my oldest friends. We all started making pots in Nelson nearly 50 years ago and it was Ralph who was responsible for giving me a wheel and telling me to get back to work three years ago.
Feeling better for the chat, we had a whirlwind tour around Nelson, dropping off pots for the next art society exhibition and ticking off a heap of tasks that could only be done in the big city. A major job was buying a new stove to replace the tragic relic we’ve been burning food on for the last year. That was very exciting. When the electrician comes to wire the garage we’ll get it installed.
As part of the garage project, we’re moving the laundry out of our tiny bach to make a bit of space.
We’d been planning on buying an expensive but flimsy laundry tub on this trip, but Cathie found a large and sturdy second-hand one on sale for $40 at nearby Duncan Bay.
Its longest dimension was listed as 900mm, so we knew it would fit in the car.
Duncan Bay isn’t exactly nearby. Turns out it’s 90 minutes from Nelson and then another 90 minutes on to Tirimoana.
From Nelson, you drive 45 minutes and then turn off State Highway Six at Rai Valley and drive through very green and pleasant farmland before undertaking a tortuous drive across a mountain.
It’s beautiful native bush and with the windy road you drive slowly enough to take in how nice it is.
They even left this forest giant in the middle of the road.
The bay itself is enticing - and user-friendly.
We found the home of the laundry tub.
“Didn’t you bring a trailer?”
It turned out that although we had the dimensions of the cupboard below the tub, the owners hadn’t bothered to mention that the bench top was 2.2m long. Not only that, but they were leaving later that afternoon and everything had to be moved out by then.
What a conundrum.
We managed to get the bench and its attached tub into the car by sliding it right up to the front windscreen between the seats, but there was no way we could fit in the cupboard.
Fortunately, the owners decided that they could put it on their trailer and meet me with it at Rai Valley at about 5pm.
So off we went. About four hours after leaving Nelson, we arrived at Tirimoana.
Some time later I made the round trip from there to Rai Valley, arriving back at about 6pm, victorious.
Now it’s Monday.
One of my new tasks is a newsletter for the art society and I spent the morning finishing and dispatching the first. Here it is.
By the time I’d done that, we had a man up a tree with a chainsaw.
His offsider was managing the chipper.
By the end of the day we’ll have a clear space for the earthworks to begin.
Glad I have all that off my chest - I feel much better now.