Today I’ve been thinking about how much I appreciate where we live. But first a quick update on the water fast.
I last ate about 9pm last night. It’s currently 6.20pm, and by the time I post this, I’ll be 24 hours on just water. I’ve had nearly 2.5 litres of water and aiming to make it up to 3.5 litres by bedtime. It hasn’t been too hard so far but since @sift666 isn’t fasting, that may make it a bit more difficult by the end of 3.5 days. But so far, all good, and still enough energy. And @kiwiscanfly is water fasting only 180 km north of here, so I have good company.
So, what do I like about where we live?
Grateful to be living in New Zealand
NZ isn’t entirely the clean, green paradise it’s made out to be. Our last prime minister sold off as much of the country as he could, our health stats are almost as bad as the USA, house prices are outrageous and there’s a lot more poverty than you’d expect in a welfare state.
But I still wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the world. I like it that we’re a small Antipodean island at the arse end of the world. I like that we are (mostly) a peaceful nation. We are fairly laid back and casual, with a DIY attitude that tends to make us early adopters. The scenery is stunning in many places. We have a moderate climate and have access to a lot of outdoor activities. Despite our remoteness, we have our fair share of overseas entertainers and shows.
It’s a bit of a kiwi rite of passage for our young people to travel to London, for eg, for our OE (overseas experience). But I never felt the need. Maybe that goes with being an introvert?
Grateful to be living in Wellington
Most of the country’s population is crammed into Auckland, our northernmost city. With all due respect to our Steemian Aucklanders, this perplexes me.
It’s Wellington for me every time. I was born in the Wellington region, have lived here all my life and have no desire to ever live anywhere else. It’s our capital city, with all the cultural and other advantages that brings, but it’s a compact city. You can walk from one end of the CBD / shopping area to the other.
It’s renowned for being a windy city, and yes, there are days when I feel like yelling “enough already!” But the air is fresh and clean, and it keeps Aucklanders away. On a nice day, there isn’t anywhere as beautiful as Wellington harbour.
Grateful to be living in Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie is a suburb about 10 minutes drive from the city centre, though longer in rush hour. It’s a hub, being on the way to all the eastern suburbs and the airport. It has an excellent bus service with five major bus routes going through it, and a handful of smaller ones. From here, I can get on a bus to a variety of places on the other side of the city centre, all going through the city.
The regional aquatic centre is here, with an Olympic sized pool, and a nice little gym. We also have a large indoor sports stadium, library, organics store, two supermarkets, a compact but fairly comprehensive shopping centre, a mosque, the Indian cultural centre and a good selection of schools and eateries.
From Kilbirnie, you can walk to beaches both north (Evans Bay) and south (Lyall Bay). Right by the beach in Lyall Bay is a retail complex with a lot of big stores – I think this might be what is called a strip mall in the US. There are a few restaurants and cafes in the area, and we love to watch the dogs playing on the beach.
Because it’s very close to the water, the climate is moderate even for New Zealand. We’ve considered it hot here the last few days, with the temperature getting up to 32C (90F) on our deck in the shade. That is pretty much as hot as it gets. In the winter, we don’t get the frost that other parts of Wellington might get. On the coldest of winter nights, I’ve never seen our outdoor thermometer go under 2C (36F). We occasionally get hail, but very rarely see snow. Even then, it melts very quickly.
Grateful for our house
It’s not a large house, but over the years we’ve found ways to maximise the usability of every bit of space, and have managed to fit in our two businesses, along with stock, computers and a massage table. An added bonus is the large shed at the back of the property, which @sift666 used to use as a bike workshop, but doubles as our home gym. We can see the sea in two directions by craning out of our office window, but the view from the shed is better.
When I bought this house, not long before I met @sift666, I didn’t have a car. And funny how life turns out, once again we don’t have a car. So one of my important criteria when choosing a house was that it be close to the bus stop. In being close to the bus stop, it’s also close to the shopping centre, and all the amenities that have sprung up in the years I’ve been here. I can walk to the shopping centre and bus stop in 5 minutes or less; to the library, pool or the discount supermarket in 10, and to the beach or retail park in 15 to 20 minutes.
Wellington is a hilly city, which is one of the things we like about it, and our house is on a hillside. Other people sometimes complain when they come puffing up to our front door, but we appreciate the daily work out. We also like that we are comparatively private, and can look out over the poor saps, I mean neighbours, living down on the flat.
Being an earthquake prone city, the city council occasionally freak about the dangers of tsunamis, and go around painting lines on the footpath showing safe zones. @sift666 has a degree in urban geography and he assures me that even the neighbours on the flat would be in no danger, but I know some of them have our shed lined up as their safe place if the need arises.
I’m sure that there are other reasons to appreciate where we live, but that’s enough to be going on with. Thanks for reading.
Photos by myself, @sift666 or from Pixabay, unless otherwise stated.
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