Day 2, Level 2: Shifting sands, a Guest and Barns
The weather today was better than it has been the past few days.
I got busy with a bit of housework - there's never much to be done when it's just one person living simply. But oh that sand - I still can't work out quite how it shifts and spreads so very far and wide when I haven't even been out! I think Indi the cat is traipsing it around the place; she's in and out like a yo-yo.
I was a little aimless today, couldn't get properly focussed on anything - least of all housework!
But I have a guest coming this evening so the place got a bit of a spruce up. Brett is coming for the weekend!
I didn't get to the beach although I should have.
So here's a photo looking back to Omaha in the 70s - the initial Stage One development. Our house is here but the whole place was pretty barren at that stage.
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| Omaha - Stage One |
And talking of sand ... below are a couple of photos of the carnage the big storm of 1978 left behind from an article I researched and wrote for the Omaha newsletter. The sands shifted big-time that day. We were up here. Caravans blew over and carnage raged.
The sand continue to shift daily but the groynes that were put in at the spit have stopped any more terrible erosion like what happened back in the late 1970s - which was largely due to heavy dredging since the 1940s.
Once upon a time there was a wooden wall built along the beachfront with steps down to the beach at various access points. It was smart and sturdy - but an ill-advised structure that got smashed to matchsticks in the storm.
The house you see in the photo above that is right on the beachfront - well that ended up being stranded on its own island. Thankfully it was the only house built on a beachfront section and was subsequently relocated. It's now three doors along from us. All the other beachfront sections were washed away completely.
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| The gap used to be beachfront sections! |
LUNCH: Egg mayo on toast
DINNER: Oysters for entree (oh heaven!), chicken teriyaki stirfry, mini eclairs
I went to Matakana to get a few supplies. There was a constant stream of traffic heading up to Omaha and the adjacent bays and beaches. Matakana was reasonably busy. The traffic out of Auckland was apparently heavy. Life is getting back to normal.
On my way back I was ecstatic to pull into Matakana Oysters Green Shed and pick up a dozen large oysters in the shell. I have missed the glory of the oyster during lockdown. Tonight, they tasted better than ever.
Brett arrived around 5ish.
We scoffed oysters, chatted and then toyed with the idea of going out for dinner. There's a bistro in Warkworth we've been trying to try for ages but every time we try, it's either closed or fully booked. It's small, and it's apparently very good. Tonight it was fully booked. It's even fully booked tomorrow night. Which is great for them but not for us.
So I cooked dinner and we settled in for some tv - but that kept going haywire as it's a Chromecast via the internet. I think the local internet is on overload with everyone up here; it kept crapping out. Nuisance. Hopeless.
SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
Barns Courtney ... singer
So in a post the other day I talked of my ex-fiance Chris, in London, and our holiday in Greece etc. And this leads to a music Share-note ...
Before Chris and I split up (which was on my 26th birthday to be precise), I'd already organised a ski trip for us and a group of our friends to Meribel, France (Trois Vallees). I suggested it was probably best that he didn't come - awkward and all that.
Anyway, I ended up going on another ski trip first, very impromptu, over Xmas/New Year - alone. An absolutely crazy story that one, start to finish! I came home with a man, Rick.
As the Meribel trip loomed, Chris was really keen to come. I had no animosity towards Chris, and many of our friends were coming. It just so happened there was still one place spare that I hadn't managed to fill. I think there were 20 of us. (You see, I was organising and leading tours way back in the 80s! This was just one of them).
So I said sure, come - as long as he was okay that I'd be there with someone else. He came.
We had the most brilliant week's skiing. So many crazy antics and astonishing stories on that holiday - which we still call "Brilliant Week". And I'm still great friends with the ski rep from that trip, who now lives in Surfers Paradise. I'd asked everyone to bring something for a dress-up party for our final night. I was an alien, there were beach bums, sports players, waiters, flappers and even a gay doctor in bondage gear!
The party went on most of the night and when morning came, we thought we'd go skiing in our costumes - adapted with a little bit of extra warmth and coverage. It was a bluebird day and boiling hot so we didn't need any layers. The gay doc wore just his bondage gear! You can imagine the looks we got as we skied about, having beer for breakfast, schnapps for morning tea, wine for lunch, shooters for afternoon tea ... after no sleep! Oh the vagaries of youth!
Anyway, Paul and Andrea were a reasonably newly-together couple on the trip. I hadn't met either of them before, they were friends of friends. All good.
I could see that Chris, who was pretty quiet, had his eye on Andrea.
When we got back to London, Andrea left Paul and got together with Chris.
When we got back to London, Andrea left Paul and got together with Chris.
Paul was devastated, we became firm friends.
Soon afterwards Chris and Andrea got married and had a baby, Barnaby.
Then it all went wrong and they split up, with huge turbulence. Andrea met an American, went off to the US with Barnaby. Had more kids. Battles ensued. Then Barnaby returned to UK to live with his dad during his teens.
All the while Barnaby was finding his feet as a musician. Ups and downs and all arounds, as it is in the music biz.
It took some work and some real low points, but he's now huge. Although not in NZ - yet.
He goes by the name of Barns Courtney. I love his voice and his music.
His quirky videos have a very retro flavour.
His song "Fire" was picked up by Bradley Cooper for his film Burnt - and that set Barns on the road. He's opened for acts like The Who and Ed Sheeran (who he went to school with).
Now he sells out his own shows everywhere he goes. I hope he comes to NZ some time.
Here are some videos - in these, he's about the age Chris was when we were together.
He's a total mini-me of Chris, with a strong hint of Andrea.
It's kind of disconcerting but refreshing at the same time.
This song is "99"
This one is "Golden Dandelions"
BTW Chris met someone else and has two more boys. Seems settled and happy. I'm glad.
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