There you go, and baby, here am I (Buddy Holly)

Photo by Roberto Martinez on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

You find me alone again naturally in a Gisborne motel room. I wasn't intending to come back to Gisborne until Term 1 next year but needs must.

I always like it when I get here but it's such a mission - four hours drive with a stop off in Wairoa for a coffee and a few muffins for the crew at the Gisborne campus (today's carrot ones were amazing).

I'm not used to my own company these days and a day at the Gisborne campus after a long drive (thank goodness for Greg's WTWMC* Spotify playlist), with dinner alone followed by writing this in a motel room - is all a slight shock to my system.

I'm okay doing this a couple of times a term but neither Jacky nor I would cope with any more than that.

Love and peace - Wozza

* Stands for Wander To Wozza's Music Club - with exclusive membership limited to three amigos. The world can enjoy our superb taste in music though by checking it out here.

I'll find the constant flow of all the harmony. Everybody needs a helpin' hand (Santana)

Wie geht's?

Back in the bib and tucker this week, with two days in Gisborne and two in Hastings. Travelling early in the week tends to zap my brain cells a bit and my routines get all out of whack.

The blog regimes definitely get disrupted, and so I haven't found the space to eek out anything for a few days.

Oh me oh my.

The drive to Gisborne from Takapau takes me about 4 hours. I usually stop off in Wairoa but the cafe I like isn't open on Mondays so this time I drove straight through on both days. That means roughly three and a half hours of driving the testing up and down and twisting road to Wairoa and then onwards to Gisborne. Not a lot of fun.

Gisborne is lovely when you actually get there, but like many places in Nu Zild you need a compelling reason to go (I'm thinking of places like New Plymouth, northland, and the whole of the east coast of the North Island).

When you think about it, vast tracts of both islands are very isolated - makes covid-19 inoculations extremely challenging because the vaccination needs to go to the people, not the people to the vaccination for a large percentage of Kiwis.

Anyway. I'm back at Maple Grove. Ready for an extra long weekend (Hawke's Bay anniversary and Labour Day) and more vegetable garden planting. 

Keep it real (and please - get the jab).

Love and peace - Wozza

The driving of the year nail (Leo Kottke)

Alex Jones on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Each week, this is the blogpost that is hardest to write. Because life is mostly the mundane stuff that happens every day: feeding pets; making the bed (which we've just done with fresh sheets - that's a weekly routine); feeding ourselves; buying food; travelling to work; working; stacking firewood (Saturday's job); picking up horse poo...

As John Lennon knew, life is what's happening when you're busy making other plans.

So when Sunday afternoon family zoom time rolls around we often don't have any news as such - we talk about the daily lives we all live and someone (usually Adam these days) asks a penetrating question and we mull over things for a spell.

This is all weirdly life affirming (without being earth shattering). Thankfully, it seems we (our children and us) are coping pretty well in their day to day tos and fros.

Last week I travelled a lot and that included a couple of days in Gisborne. My visits there have taken on a routine of their own and while I still dislike being away from home, I can take comfort in those routines.

I aim to visit The Spellbound Wax Company record shop each time I'm in Gisborne. It's handily placed by the hotel I'm usually staying at, and the gentleman who runs it is chatty, friendly and knowledgeable. I found a David Sanborn album for $5 and he helpfully asked me if I'd found the other Sanborn record in the racks - I hadn't so he found it for me. Helpful!

He's on the move because the beautiful old building he's in needs earthquake strengthening. Hopefully he manages to find a suitable location close by. If you're in Gisborne stop by - it's a fun place to visit.

Love and peace - Wozza

Yeah it's a mad hurricane (Deep Purple)

Photo by Alessio Lin on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Highlights from the last few days since that last post: 

• The trip to Gisborne to visit my campus there took up two days and meant a fair amount of driving - four hours there, four hours back, so plenty of time to listen to Radio Wozza!
• Apart from the fact I struggle with my own company, and have to go through Wairoa, the trip was fine. Oh and being passed at speed on the left by some idiot! I saw him coming in my rear view - a big black car with multiple dings in it, I was doing 103kph, there were cars in the oncoming lane so what did he do? Well this brainac decided he'd move onto the hard shoulder and speed past me on the left - triffic. Reckless and idiotic!
• Barrelling along the motorway on my way back home singing  along with Ian Gillan on Highway Star! My air drumming on the steering wheel and air guitaring is coming along, to say nothing of my Jon Lord keyboard skills!
• Reading David Copperfield has continued apace and I'm now over 100 pages into it, into the rhythm of the language, laughing at bits, depressed at others, agreeing with Nick Hornby's enthusiasm, and hoping young Davy finds some happiness eventually.
• We're up to date on The Blacklist (as far as Netflix goes which means waiting impatiently for the next episode to drop) and now having an arm wrestle over various shows and movies I want to watch but Jacky doesn't. I'm losing.
• Jade and Asher came to stay for a couple of days midweek - the little guy is now crawling and motoring around the house with gay abandon. Time to put up screens, barriers,  and remove items that produce a gleam in his eye like the poker for the fire! Go Asher!

Love and peace - Wozza

Looking over from my hotel window, blue dots and red dots skating away in the park (Yoko Ono)

Photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Me? Okay. Ish. Sitting in a hotel room in Gisborne. 

Trying hard to find something worth watching on TV. 

I'm not a fan of my own company. Never have been.

Dinner was at a place called The Works. Reviews were encouraging so I went. The fish dish I wanted was off the menu. A bad sign. But I was sitting down and committed by that stage, wasn't I. 

The alternative, Risotto, was average. Just.

Eating alone isn't a whole bunch of fun at any time, it must be said.

I didn't bother with dessert.

So here I am. Writing this and projecting forward to tomorrow: back to Hawke's Bay and dinner with Jacky. I have a hankering for something simple. Maybe a nice omelette.

Love and peace - WNP

It's a long way to where I'm going (The Little River Band)

Eastend cafe's entrance, Wairoa

Wie geht's?

Currently, I'm sitting, typing this, in a hotel in Gisborne, New Zealand. The Emerald Hotel. It's opposite the police station. And Burger Wisconsin. I had dinner there about an hour ago. A Great American with fries and a Cola. Tasted great! I'm here in Gisborne on school business. I've never been to Gisborne before. Ever. It's pretty big. It has an airport, apparently. The main shopping street reminds me of Keri Keri or Whanganui. The drive was loooooong from Waipukurau. And twisty turny. Low on traffic volume. High on road work delays. There's always a price to pay. I stopped off at Wairoa for a caffè mocha and a muffin along the way. The Eastend Cafe. The muffin was outrageously good. All sticky topping and berry insides. Mocha and service were spot on too (thanks Terese for the heads up). The road to Wairoa and then Gisborne has some spectacular scenery. In England there would be thousands of people. Shops. Tour buses. Souvenir stands. Fun palaces. But this is Wairoa. It looks depressed. Gisborne is a long way away when you're in Wairoa. So is Napier. But Eastend Cafe is well worth a visit! Turn right before the bridge.

Love and peace - Asher Purdy-Hodge's g-dad