The deck

The bus at the deck.
Wow it is the 25th already!
After installing the supertub I have travelled to Auckland once and Lorna has been down here twice. A couple of weekends ago Phil and Erin brought Zoe down and stayed at the next door motor camp. Not very good. They have decided that next time they will stay in a motel.
The deck is built! Bunnings gave me a good price on the materials and I started construction when the rain let up on Thursday two weeks ago. The framework was put up and some of the floor joists positioned. Then I had to wait for the concrete. It rained again! The concrete truck actually arrived on the day ordered, although some hours late. The driver helped to barrow the mix into place and by nightfall I had everything set in place. This was last Tuesday, and then I spent three days between showers getting the deck finished. I took the weekend off as Lorna was down. On Saturday we visited Ron and Maureen at their new place at Omokoroa, near Tauranga. They have purchased a house in a retirement village, and it is really salubrious.
Now it is the 30th July
Monday was spent building a seat to go on the end of the deck, which will qalso make a step so that I can plug the bus in to power with out needing a ladder.
I then spent some time removing the old TV aerials from the bus and building a cup rack.
On Friday I drove up to Pakuranga to look after Bob Sarney’s house and cats while he is in Rarotonga sailing model yachts.
Dave has also got a few little plumbing jobs I can do while I am here, as well as pruning Bob’s roses. There has been much rain, so it has been very good to be in house.
Lorna has been busy arranging flights so that we can attend Struan’s wedding on the 29th September, which is one week after I start work in Nelson.

Super tub

Sorry non yachties – an Yngling is a three person keel boat which is sailed as the women’s Olympic class. I do not know whether there is a Yng! Thanks or the comment Val we now know that someone is reading the blog.
I spent the whole of that week sitting in the bus and walking to the Pakuranga shops to buy small lots of food. Had my eyes tested and , as expected needed new lenses. My prescription had not changed since 2000, so I guess it was not too bad. On Friday afternoon I picked Lorna up from work and we drove down to Whangamata for the weekend. On the one day that I helped Dave I was able to obtain a used supertub w hich I spent most of the weekend renovating. I also spent hours on the real bloke activity of organising the shed. Bob had also given us a room sized piece of carpet which we put down in the shed. This makes part of the building a bit more comfortable.
We drove back to Auckland on Sunday and I set myself up at Bob’s ready for work. I did not hear from him on the Monday so I decided to head back down to the section to keep organising shed etc. Being alone is much easier when you are in your own property.
Lorna hired a rental car and drove down on Friday afternoon. We spent a wet weekend together and she drove back to Auckland Sunday afternoon. Yesterday I fitted the supertub and this morning I did some washing. This arrangement is so much better than the silly little toilet hand basin that was in the washroom. The next project is the deck which I will commence soon.
Dave rang yesterday and told me that he had decided to put the trip to the Islands off until April for a number of reasons. This is OK by me as timing was a little tight anyway.