We'd allowed a spell of 5 nights so we'd have time to help Rhonda with repainting part of her house. It was getting on for a decade since last time, and the colours and style needed a good refresh.
As we often do when we stay with family, we had a renovation programme in mind. The next four days were pretty intense, starting with waterblasting, thankfully virtually no sanding because the paintwork was in good condition, then two or three coats of paint to cover the existing yellow and purple. Unfortunately John became very unwell on Day 3, with a moderate fever. He spent much of that day and the following, lying on the bed. Rhonda and I soldiered on and managed to get the main face of the house finished, except for painting the front door and a final coat on the verandah decking. It's looking so much smarter, with the rich blue paint adding a great highlight. Rhonda painted all the fencing as well.
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The yellow and purple is on the way out. |
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| Looking good. |
We put all the paints away on Thursday night, ready for another round when we return to Auckland in April, on our way back from Japan. Unfortunately I was seriously under-the-weather that night, coming down with what we think was a coffee withdrawal headache. Although I'd kept well hydrated during the day, the very hot temperatures, very hard work and missing my normal coffee, conspired to give me the worst headache of my life at around midnight. After being sick I felt better and gradually the headache dulled. It was not a happy lesson to learn that I am potentially susceptible to getting ill this way, though John seems to have his more-or-less under control.
Thankfully, I felt mostly fine by the morning, and John was also now functioning at about 80%. We packed our bags and had a quiet few hours, before Rhonda took us to the airport in the early afternoon. To be honest, we haven't really thought about our onward trip to Japan at all. We have been so focussed on our babysitting and painting. Our exercise regime has suffered in the last few weeks, but then we figure running after children and climbing up and down ladders must account for something. Each time we Skype with our son he reminds us to keep doing our wall-sits and squats to get in as good as shape as possible for skiing. Yeah right.