2020 - The Year that Became Fairly Quiet (for a time)
At the last communication we were looking forward to a fabulous garden. Well, that has been finished and it is indeed fabulous. Classic Margaret Merril roses at the front, rising above an elegant ground cover of green things with white flowers.
(The above is a still from a music video - more about that later.) Gracie believes we installed them especially for her use.
In late 2019 we said bye bye to the most wondrous tenant, Jin, who relentlessly baked and cooked, and who effortlessly twisted our arms to sample her wares. During harvest season we welcomed the lovely Denise and Nico into the sleep-out, and the lovely Jessee into the spare room. Later in the year we welcomed the lovely Giannis into the sleep-out, and that’s how things are at the time of writing. He periodically helps me to finish off the couple of bottles of one thing or another I might have lying around.
And now a few words from Vicki:
On reading through last years Christmas letter I wrote that I had an amazing year sales wise and hoped to keep on improving in 2020 - well if last year was the best this year has been the worst to say the least. It was very distressing seeing your hard work disappear with concerned clients enquiring and then ultimately cancelling. Leaving work on the 25th March we all thought that by June travel would be back to some form of normality – well that didn’t happen and as I write we are still waiting for a bubble to form with another country. Lockdown for me was difficult work-wise with trying to keep clients updated as best we could, seeking refunds (which are actually ongoing, even now) and interpreting airline/supplier rules which kept changing by the day. Then there was the uncertainness of whether I still had a job. We have lost two dear colleagues which was sad and currently I am working 4 days a week. Whilst I enjoy a day off during the week, I’d rather be doing a job I am passionate about. Who would have thought that a virus would change the world.
On top of all this I had pressure to use my annual leave which had accumulated to 35 days, making me a liability to the company. Alistair has mentioned about our week in the Catlins, and the Alps to Ocean cycle ride and I also did the Wilderness trail on the West Coast, each of which I thoroughly enjoyed. If I have learnt anything about holidays in New Zealand it’s that we really should be a tourist in our own country.
My out-of-work activity of volunteer ushering at the local theatre certainly took it’s toll and it seems that a lot of the touring and local shows had all been rescheduled for November and December. I really do enjoy it seeing amazing talented people and spending time with some other lovely volunteers. I still go to wool spinning - one of these days I will need to make something with all the spun wool.
Back to Alistair:
Er… I invented a jazz festival. In January there was The Great Onamalutu Jazz Festival (the inaugural one). Heather had said, “let’s have a picnic at the Onamalutu domain - it’s lovely there. Bring your instruments and we’ll have a bit of a play. Invite anyone you like - the more the merrier!” So I created a Facebook event and published it and made it public. Over the next few weeks the event gained a bit of traction until it had become quite the talk of the town! One person we met had said the event had been shared with him by six separate people. Then on the day, when we were setting up the generator and sound gear, someone turned up with a large trailer carrying tables and chairs. Another person claimed they had heard it advertised on Brian FM (not our doing). I think in the end approximately 150 people attended. There was a strong desire to repeat the event in 2021, so on Sunday 17 Jan 2021 there will be a repeat. But this will be bigger for sure. In time we might have to think about funding, but for now it’s just a free fun day out for all the family.
Lockdown was for some. It turns out that wine is an essential commodity, under the Food and Beverages category, as well as being a significant export for NZ. So I had to go to work as normal, except it was a bit abnormal during alert level 4 and 3 when we had to keep a distance from each other, take breaks in small groups, sanitise surfaces and all that stuff. The traffic was marvellous, owing to the many who were either working from home or at home not working.
There was one week when my bottling line did not operate so we all took that week off. I started working on a music video. But first I had to record a song except something on my old laptop was no longer supported so I upgraded its operating system, which caused other software to run very slowly. In the end I bit the bullet and upgraded to a new computer. Long story short, there are significant delays in the release of this video. There is also a steep and high mountain of learning for me before I get the hang of the newer recording software, and the video software. But it should be quite entertaining when it’s finished, in a B-grade, hammed up kind of way.
Gracie managed to reach 16 years, though she is a bit of a lightweight, having lost quite a bit of weight about a year ago. No matter how much her mother encourages her to put on a few kilos, she remains Ms skinny-malink. She’s still happy though, and has moments of kitten-like behaviour so she’s likely to hang on for a while yet. Apparently she’s got good teeth.
We went on a couple of NZ holidays. First we went to the Catlins because we’ve been hearing good things about that area for years. So that was a Winter road trip in which we stationed ourselves at Owaka for three nights and drove around the region from there. And it’s true - it’s beautiful part of the country for sure.
The next trip was the Alps to Ocean cycle trail. This was a multi-day cycling tour for which we would need to train. But since time was limited we thought it would be a good idea to bike over the Taylor pass (33km) AND Redwood pass (29km) in one trip and on one charge and on a windy day whereby 80% of the time was spent cycling into the wind. All I remember is asking myself ‘why’ a lot. Vicki’s battery did actually run completely out and e-bikes are pretty heavy going if you’re running on muscle power alone. So that was the training.
The Alps to Ocean is from Aoraki/Mt Cook village (though we - a gang of nine - started at the alternative starting point, near Lake Tekapo). Nights were spent at Ohau, Omarama, Kurow, Duntroon, then finally Oamaru. Daily distance varied between 24km and 70km and the landscape, food and company were all sensational.
After that trip I came home and Vicki did another cycle trip on the West Coast with Sally. Both these gals had accumulated too much annual leave and this was a good way of reducing it.
The music scene has been pretty quiet this year. To begin with, all the planned shows and concerts got postponed a little bit, then postponed a lot (like one or two years), some actually cancelled. Things are now gradually picking up but I expect it will still be a while before we’re really busy with it again. Having said that, I was asked to play a gig in the Wellington Jazz Festival in November because this band’s regular bass player couldn’t make it, and all the other bass players in town were busy with other gigs. So I was imported all the way from the exotic South Island.
Pizazz gets to play on New Year’s Eve at a nice eating establishment, then it’ll be time to prepare for the Great Onamalutu Jazz Festival. Remember this! You heard it here first!
We would like to befall a great amount of peace and happiness upon you, yours, theirs, friends, family, colleagues, passers by, your home and all who sail in her.
Alistair, Vicki
& Gracie
