I am a 'Coaster'

I am not a native southerner,

I am a 'Coaster'.

That is, I hail from the West Coast of the South Island. 

It is a rugged area with three main towns, 

and a quite a few smaller towns 

(which might be called villages in another land).

I am a small town girl.

Taramakau River on the West Coast

It is quite a beautiful area.

It is also quite a depressed area in that

 there are not a lot of job opportunities. 

Some of us left to get on in life.

The natives are very parochial 

and once a 'coaster', always a 'coaster'.

part of the CBD of my home town

So when I met and married my GKB 

we ended up living in his home town, 

which is a city. Not large by world standards,

 a provincial city, but it was mind boggling to me.

We were also further south 

and it took me a long time to acclimatise. 

But this is a beautiful city, 

and I now love living here. 

I just wish it were a little warmer!!

I'd like to show you a few photo's we took 

a few years ago of some 

of the buildings about the city.

First Church, Presbyterian

Apartments, the front building was a church in another life

Apartments and business premises

Flats and offices

Business premises and flats near the CBD

Back of the Town Hall and clock

Restaurant and apartments

You will see that there are a lot of architectural styles,

we also have more modern concrete and glass structures

and it all adds to the richness, beauty

 and diversity of our lovely city. 

I hope you've enjoyed having a little look around 

where I live. 

No, that's not quite right, this is our city 

but we live in a small town on the edge. 

Just 20 minutes in the car.

We were a borough in our own right when

 I moved here but now we are a suburb

and the boundaries are getting blurred.

I'm going to wish you all a goodnight now and go to bed. 

It is getting late on a Saturday night, yawnnnn.

Have a great week,

Diana

After the rain

Cabbage tree

It's been a bit of a wet couple of days, not too heavy,

 just wet enough to be a nuisance. 

So today once it stopped I went out for a walk.

This site once housed a school with a playground,

 a large hall, a small hall, 

a house and netball courts. 

Before long it will be occupied by a large supermarket.

I wonder what's going to happen to their old one

 or whether they'll run both of them.

That would give us three supermarkets.

can you see the raindrops on the leaves?

We are a small provincial town with a city 

just 20 minutes away by car.

I don't know that we could sustain 3 supermarkets to be honest.

But time will tell, and they may demolish the old building.

raindrops

blossom

My GKB was out for the afternoon playing darts,
he arrived home to say they had won,
and everyone was pleased to see him back.
He had a good day out so that is all good.

sea fog coming over the top of the hill

The fog comes over the hill from the Pacific Ocean
 but luckily not too far down.
But that is not the case on the other side of the hill
where youngest daughter and her family live. 
It rolls over from the coast to the hill 
and their suburb is right in its path.

But they have marvellous weather in the summer,
a real little micro climate,
so I'd say that makes up for it.

Well , this post is a bit piecemeal sorry folks,
 I'll try to do better next time.

***************************
An update for those of you who asked. 
My hubby had a good report when 
he went to the hospital for his check up.
 He's still got a way to go but hopefully
 by Christmas the clot will be gone entirely. 
He is much better now that he's over the initial shock
 of it all and has started doing the things he enjoys again, 
like darts. He still can't get down to the river 
to fish but that'll come. 
Many thanks for your concern.

****************************

Until next time,

Diana

Surely not?

I thought I'd go for a walk around the block tonight

 instead of down the Silverstream, just for a change.

Look at what I found parked outside 

one of the local rest homes.

A portaloo!!

Oh no! Surely not?

But it's okay. Don't panic!

Don't panic Captain Mainwaring!

These pieces of machinery were 

also parked just a little further down the road.

I don't know why this one is so dark.

Along with these rolls of cable.

So I'm guessing the portaloo will be used by the workmen

  who dig up the road and lay the cable

and not by the residents of the rest home. 

Phew!

I'll bet they're relieved.

******************

I have been very good walking this week, I've been out every day apart from when I'm working (2 days). And I didn't tell you last post that my GKB will be our support person. He will have the car and be able to go fishing or whatever he feels like. 

As long as he remembers to keep his cell phone turned on in case we need him.

Until next time, 

take care.

Diana