Summer loving – Fun times

The fabulous weather made my holiday break really enjoyable and, as it was too hot to do a lot, I managed to read a lot of books – great!

We had our first Christmas in our new house and also our first New Year’s eve; we enjoyed both but, for the first year, we did not have one daughter and her husband with us as they are now living in Dubai, so that was strange.

Our annual petanque tournament was held as usual and this year it was Brian who won the cup. Yes, we actually have a cup which is presented to the winner. Very serious. Not sure how Brian won but on the day he was the best of a pretty bad bunch.

Christmas Day was a long one for us old people with the family arriving at 11am but it was 11pm before eight of those staying finally decided it was time to go to bed. It has always been our tradition to have the Christmas lunch at our place and it sure is a fun day.

My real holiday started on Boxing Day when all the family left and it was just Brian and I. Day after day of just being at home was a real luxury for me. I could start a small job and know that there would be tomorrow to finish it.

Since we have been in this new property I haven’t had a long period of time to be just at home and I must say I did really enjoy the luxury of not getting into my car.

Our Pukekohe daughter, who is planning to sell her house, is also thinking of moving to Thames so one day we headed down there to take a look. Traffic-wise it was not the best timing as this was the day weather experts were telling people to leave the Coromandel to avoid an on-coming storm.

Luckily, it wasn’t all that bad driving down and we arrived in Thames at lunch time. I haven’t been down there for years and I was blown away by how busy it was. There were a number of really trendy eating places but best of all were the fabulous old buildings, many of which are being repurposed but are keeping all the old character.

There were no shiny stainless steel and glass buildings to be seen; the history of the town just oozed. I really liked the town and the houses were fabulous.

We spoke to a few people and it seems that Thames is now on a property boom as Aucklanders look to escape the city and see what they can buy in Thames for a reasonable price compared to city prices and even those here in Franklin.

And, so it is, the year has really begun and on a wonderfully ‘fine’ note. Let’s hope the golden weather continues.