Saturday
Up at 6, on the road at 7 driving through sun & mist to pick up a couple of customers from Auckland. Stop at Mercer & look out over the misty Waikato river. I can hear commentary on a boat race somewhere down the river but I can't see anything. A great chat with our latest guests as I drive them back to Raglan. Scottish & just graduated, a materials scientist & a biologist.
Once I've sent them on their way the carpenter who fitted our new house steps came over with a couple of his friends who want a van next week. They seem impressed & will take a van on Monday.
Next, our Italian couple who have been out in a van for nearly two months turn up. They want to arrange exactly when they are bringing the van back & being taken back up to Auckland airport. They tell me the van is, 'perfect' & if they could find one in Italy they'd buy it. Happy people are fantastic & its great that we are meeting so many!
Finally I get on to my bike-rack project (it needs to be finished by Monday week). The brackets I designed work like they should but I need to get a spacer made up too. Ah well, that'll have to wait 'till Monday now so its time for a surf :)
Back home & on the sofa. Settled down with a cup of tea, Beowulf (the book) & the local radio station, Tractor FM playing some fine beats. The DJ asks for people to get in touch with what crazy & amazing stuff they're doing this Friday night. Ironically I text in to let him know of my rock'n'roll time on the sofa. He gets back in touch & suggests I come over. So Saturday ends & Sunday begins with me mixing live on air! No great f-ups & some great guidance by 'Les', the cool & talented music maker who's risked his reputation, makes it a fantastic experience.
Sunday morning & for the first time in a long time I don't need to be up early. So a lie-in until 9 then up for a surf & afterwards a relaxed coffee & mooch around town is just the ticket.
I avoid the heat through the middle of the day by installing an Apache server, php & MySQL database onto this computer so that I can set up a test 'mirror' site of piwiwiwi.co.nz. This is important because I can test major changes without buggering up our actual website.
Next I trot on down to the 'Sunday Sessions' to catch up with a few friends & get some of Antonio's fantastic Chilaquiles Mexican food. Neil & a few others look like they're 'on it' & in for the night but I head out to the beach for a sunset surf.
Wow! This was worth it! No wind, absolutely wonderful waves. Not perfectly clean nor that big but on the longboard close enough as makes no odds. The crowd's gone home for the weekend & the few of us that are surfing have an absolute treat. I manage to do a bit more 'hang 5' practise & stay surfing until its pretty much pitch black.
Having written this I may go back to town & see how Neil & co. are doing or I may do some more website work. Either way, this weekend's been great!
