Monday 21st September.
Meandered around a bit first thing this morning; primarily looking for a set of side-cutters (me, toe and fingernail clippers,) and a car phone charger. (Rick.) But at the same time taking in the scenery if the opportunity presented.
Had a good look at some of the eastern beaches…a pretty wild and exposed coastline.
Finally found a hardware store, and asked for side-cutters.
And got a blank look in response.
“Side-cutters; wee snippy things for wire and stuff.”
A light came on…”Go over there where the paint aisle is, down the far end are all the gardening tools.”
Sheesh.
I finally found them at the exact opposite side and end of the store.
Couldn’t find a charger for Rick though.
So headed off, ultimately for Acushnet, but initially for lunch at Centreville, where someone has set up a pie shop making real pies the way Kiwis do, with meat in them, not fruit; but bacon and egg, liver and bacon, steak and kidney, mince…yum!
Only to find when we got there that the restaurant that served portion sized pieces was closed after their summer season, and the shop sold only family sized pies…enough for ten or twelve people.
Which would be A) too big, B) would need a micro-wave to heat, and C) would need a large fridge to save the excess.
So we crossed the road and ate Chinese.
While we were waiting for it to be served I wandered outside for a ciggy, and got talking to a woman who’d come out of a nearby office for the same thing.
She asked me for my thoughts as an outsider what I thought of the state of America.
“Quite frankly; it’s in the doldrums.”
She agreed.
Turns out she’s a land agent, and went on to say that the shonky financial dealings of the banks and sub-prime markets four or so years ago had hit the middle and lower classes of America really hard.
“But there is recovery,” she said,:it may not yet be too obvious; but as a land agent I’m seeing it.”
She also said that the people (bankers etc,) who instigated the whole sorry mess should never be allowed to breed…and she had a quick and simple way of ensuring that…
So on to Acushnet.
And saw one of the funniest things ever.
A gaggle of forty – fifty geese decided to cross the main road through the village,
So they did.
Solemnly.
And in single file.
Totally oblivious to the absolute chaos they were creating to traffic, which was brought to a complete standstill.
It just looked so very, very funny.
And so on to find Mike (34_40) and Chris…and couldn’t. The street address we had didn’t make sense to us or Lucy.
“There’s a local cop refuelling his car, quick; pull in and I’ll ask him!”
So we did and I did.
Had him confused for a bit; but he finally worked it out, told us to follow him, and he’d point us in the right direction.
Which he proceeded to do; thank you Acushnet constabulary!
And so, eventually, we got to meet Mike and Chris, Mr and Mrs 34_40, along with Fiona and Meowmeow.
Also got to meet the car Mike calls ‘Citation’; ‘cos that’s what he gets virtually every time he takes it out!
A beautiful machine and a credit to him and his attitude and philosophy, which is much the same as ours; cars are built to be driven, and if they get stone-chipped, so be it. Those aren’t imperfections, they’re mile medals; medals for being driven, not trailered.
Driving around here over the last couple of days I had noticed some paddocks that had me confused as to why they were contoured as they were, dead flat and border-dyked.
Today it was explained; they’re contoured for cranberries. But there’s no money to be made out of them at the moment. The big corporations are controlling the market to the detriment of the little guy.
It’s the same the whole world over ain’t it?
Thanks for a great afternoon people, meeting with great people, gawking at great machinery…what else could ya want?
And so headed back to our motel, a beer, and bed.
A good day.
