Sunday, April 5: Sunny throughout & warm

Beki’s

The eclipse last night went off perfectly well, except for a bit of cloud in the run up. By the time the penumbral eclipse was well into happening the skies were clear and then, of course, as the light of the moon dimmed the stars became much brighter and there was a grand view of the Milky Way from the south side of the house which rivalled that on the Whanganui River Journey. I was occupied with my two cameras and a number of sequences were achieved. Set up the A470 to do a last hour of the moon reappearing and then shut down when the batteries ran out while I had a beer. Beki’s house alarm went off at some point and then became silent but she had been awoken by it, and got up and asked me to go to bed.

Winter time, and the opportunity to drag the day out a bit longer. Breakfast was the last of the cereal, a toasted ham sandwich and some coffee & the last of the fruit juice. Spent most of the morning chatting with Beki about this & that. There is an outdoor shower here (for removing sand from beachcombers) so I used it to wash my rucksack and hung it up on the clothes line to dry. Beki was rather early for lunch and set off to the beach with her dog. I started backing up the pictures to the additional external hard drive, then had my own lunch of toasted ham & salami sandwiches before taking off to the heads. Stopped at the bowling club but their visitor’s policy seemed rather restrictive, then to see the shops and found a pharmacy, but the very first thing they offered me for the cramps was homeopathic. Must say the indications the woman was reading off the label were a little off-putting, and I had requested an acute remedy or treatment, not something that “supports recovery” or whatever. And then the rationale that people “bought it”. Well, they sometimes buy horse shit. Another example of a lack of thinking: I told the assistant that she’d just lost a customer and she was taken aback. But think of it this way: You’ve been offered something that has a marginal effect at best for a debilitating condition. How can you believe anything that person subsequently offers? Anyway, my day was had.

Tried going to the heads themselves for some photography, but all the parking spots were taken; drove back to the village and had a look at around for eateries, and at the chocolate factory which is all very French (olive trees and lavender). The real estate agent had a sign up saying, “Ham and eggs: a day’s work for a chicken, a life for a pig.” Had a look at the historic tavern/bar a little way out of town. Looked for some jewellery but didn’t find anything and back here started sorting out the clothes I will throw away. End of a business trip.

Beki appeared briefly and then left with Pebbles again; a neighbour’s dog stuck his nose in the door (& in my room) before I shoved him off. I think I’ll take to the beach for one last time before sundown and then get one last fish’n’chips.

Where does all the time go?

Dinner was hoki and one scoop of chips for $6.5 from Stingray Matts (Wood St, Mangawhai Heads). Too many chips, but only just. Had finally found a parking spot at the surf beach and shot a couple of brackets and one panorama (all with pol filter).