WHY do I love where I live?

If ever I needed a reminder of why I love where I live, this weekend  HAS been it.

It’s so easy to miss the obvious because our eyes don’t always see what’s right beneath our noses!  

I love my little bay ... it’s gloriously beautiful ... both in the sunshine and in the rain.  

This little spot in the world makes my pulse race every morning as I head down to the waves.  I have no idea who or what I’m going to be exposed to each day but I know it’ll touch my soul and ignite my fire.

This little village has it all.

It’s not JUST a beautiful spot to live in but it’s filled with beautiful people too.  

Beautiful on the inside as well as the outside.  

Sure, we have GOM and his cronies in our village but every village in the world has it’s fair share of sour-minded individuals.  

It’s  the non-GOMs though that make this village such a special place to live.

It’s a community that cares.  

It’s a community that knows WHO you are.

That can have it's downside too!

They also know what time you usually ramble and are quick to notice when a Saturday morning ramble is later than usual!

The significant other remarked on our way home from rambling that it’s becoming difficult to ramble or even walk through the village WITHOUT one pause or another to pass the time of day with a familiar face. 

That’s what belonging is all about!

I love that so many faces are now recognisable.  

I love that I FEEL this sense of belonging.

For this moment in time, for however long it might last, THIS is my home.

No matter the difficulties we still face, the mountains still to clime ... they’re all made more manageable, more tolerable by the very essence of our surroundings and those that inhabit them.

Let me NEVER take it forgranted.

Whilst throwing the hound’s ball off the rocks at the end of the beach, we were approached by an Asian gentleman.  He told us that he and his wife video their rambles and post them on Vimmeo.  His latest one called “Morning in St. Heliers Bay – Auckland Summer, 2013" includes footage of the hounds retrieving their log.  The video is 11 minutes long but it’s an awesome capture of everything we see on our daily rambles.

If you have the time to watch it you’ll understand why I love this little spot in the world so much!

Loud voices at meetings are NOT enough!

What an exciting evening! I would never have expected a public meeting in an upmarket area like my village to get so heated!

I guess that’s what happens when the words ‘progress’ and ‘development’ are thrown into a discussion about the new Unitary Plan for Auckland City and how to retain the character of this very special village I live in.

St. Heliers Bay is unique in that it’s one of the last remaining seaside villages in the greater Auckland City ... and it really is a village ... in every sense of that word.  There are a lot of folk who’ve lived here all their lives and they don’t want to see change.  Change is necessary though but it has to be implemented in an ethical and acceptable fashion.

Our village High Street is a landmark all on it’s own and to allow it to be dominated by 4-storey buildings even if each level is off-set is totally unacceptable.  I think the Deputy Mayor and the City Planner will have left the meeting with no doubt in their minds as to the villagers views on the maximum height any future building should be, both on the High Street and the seafront.  Locals don’t want any more ugly high rise buildings that block out views and spoil the overall character of the village.

It’s not just the height of the buildings.  Traffic congestion is already a problem and let’s not get started on the parking .... suffice to say it’s atrocious.

Sadly though it could be another 3 or more years before this whole unitary plan is implemented.  It’s only in draft form and a draft plan, as anyone knows, can end up being very different when finalised.  My concern is what might happen in the intervening years BEFORE this plan becomes part of the Statute.

Paddle board reflections

Regardless of that though, feedback from residents is crucial .... written feedback .... and it behoves all of us who love this village we live in to MAKE the time to submit our suggestions to the Feedback Team.  Loud voices at meetings are NOT enough.

I’m the eternal optimist and I believe if enough of us make the effort to document our suggestions and objections, the powers that be will HAVE to listen.

It was certainly an entertaining evening!

Amy .... she's gorgeous!

Daylight saving ended on Sunday so our clocks went back to normal ... Yay!  Those dark mornings are a thing of the past for the next few weeks. My fingerless gloves have made their usual winter appearance as despite the glorious days we’ve been having, there’s a definite nip in that early morning air.

Even Sam has manic moments!

Our ramble yesterday was brief, as I was working, but Sam managed to get Carol ... and her bruised and battered bottom ... to the beach early enough to have playtime with his mate.  Only problem was, when it came to us going home and Sam continuing down the beach with Carol, the hounds wouldn’t swop balls!  We ended up taking the Chiefs ball home and Sam took the Saffer ball down the beach with him.

Serenading Sam

He was hugely confused this morning then when Chocolat came dashing up to him with the Chiefs ball in her mouth and DIDN’T drop it.  It took him a few minutes to work out that he already HAD the Saffer ball and no way was she giving him what she considers to be HER Chiefs ball.  That’s when the dumb Aussie in him comes to the fore ... but only briefly.

Look at Sam's face .... she's kicking sand all over him!

Moments like this are priceless and especially when they happen on a glorious Autumn morning.  We sit on the steps and drink our coffee whilst the hounds dig trenches in the sand for their balls. 

Life just couldn't be better!

Don't know what this little fellow thought I had to eat.

Double trouble!

Nico, fraternising with the ladies .... he does this so well!

They have the WHOLE beach to dig their tenches on, but nope, they have to dig them right in front of the stairs.

We have some real characters in our village ...

Hound and gulls sharing the treats

My rambles make my world brighter ..... they allow me to focus on others and, for that moment in time, forget about the challenges I’m facing. Not everyone has the luxury of starting their day like I do ... and not everyone would want to ... but I consider myself extremely blessed to have these few hours every day to put my world in order.

Golden glows over my world ...

I meet so many people on my daily rambles ... especially later in the morning when I’m with Carol. There are the few early morning souls that I see when I head out to meet Julia .... the elderly lady who pushes her equally elderly hound in the pushchair, the Retriever who lives at the top of our road and the Border Collie who I always see heading towards Glover Park. If I’m a few minutes late, I miss them all!

This is Indy's zinger toy ... that she likes ...

Role reversal ... Indy's now got it.

The regularity with which I see them is what village life is all about. It’s a small community where everyone knows nearly everyone else and, whilst it can be frustrating for some people, I love the camaraderie of it all and the genuine interest people have in one another.

We have some real characters in our village and I hope, that if any of them read my blog, they won’t be offended by me calling them characters ... but they are .... all larger than life and an integral part of my day!

... and he doesn't intend giving it back.

She wants it back ...

There’s good ole Pete ... he of Village Co-op fame .... where would we be if Pete didn’t provide our daily fix and often a mix of humour too. I got told this morning that, compared to Carol, I lower the tone of the place. Carol looks pristine in her walking clothes ... I on the other hand, am often wet - almost as wet as my hound and covered in sand - as is my hound. Anyone would think Pete goes out and sweeps the pavement in front of the Co-op each morning as I got told, tongue-in-cheek today, that my hound and I leave sand everywhere ... yeah right .... isn’t that what happens when you’ve been on the beach!!

... so she tried taking it out of his mouth.

She pulled ....

Pete employs the most delightful young girls in the Co-op ... they always have a smile and a cheerful greeting for us despite the early hour that they start. I get to see them just as they’ve opened when Julia and I grab our addiction fixing caffeine shot ... and again later when I return to the beach with Carol.

..... and Indy pulled back ...

so she pulled EVEN harder!

We often chat to Jenny who lives across the road from the beach. She gets to keep an eye on the village from her little perch and is a mine of information on the goings on in our village. If you want to know who someone is or what they do, Jenny’s the person to ask ... she has a heart of gold and is everyone’s friend. 

... then barked at him till he barked back and dropped it!

Then there’s the regular Humans with Hounds who faithfully tread the boardwalk with their hounds everyday. There’s Moira and Fergus, the West Highland Terrier - Fergus, that is. Apart from Carol, Moira must be one of the fittest ladies of her age in St. Heliers .... Fergus is a lucky lad, he gets walked several times a day. 

Harry, learning to retrieve rugby balls

Denise and Abi - a Springer Spaniel - drive to our neck of the woods to walk most days too. Abi is as besotted with balls as my hound, though her ball of choice is a tennis ball. She was quite disconcerted a few days ago when my hound pinched her ball and buried it in the sand.

Yep ... there it is ... the SQUABBLE of seagulls!

Max, the black Labrador, also gets walked by his human everyday - they always stop to pass the time of day with Carol and I. Max is quite an elderly Labrador and walks at a very slow pace - I do wonder sometimes if he’s ever in his life been able to walk any faster.

Awesome reflections!

We see several Golden Retrievers ... Tim and Amanda walk their two on the beach everyday too. Tim was walking them on his own this morning and had lost Mia’s rubber ball - the expensive one! We couldn’t see it anywhere. Sonny, one of the other Retrievers we see seldom gets to walk on the sand ... his humans live in an apartment just up from the Co-op and I think that’s why he’s not allowed to swim - it would be a bit of a mission washing him down and drying him everyday ... such a long coat! 

A recent arrival to our beach is Harry, another black Lab and only 7 months old. He comes to the beach with Becky and is fast learning that chasing rugby balls into the waves is such fun!

I guess no village would be complete without the trouble-makers and that’s where the GOP’s come in (Grumpy Old People) ... and yes our GOM is one of them ... a grumpy old fart ... who needs to learn how to smile!

Hmmmm .... I wonder if my friend’s blonde moment today would have made him smile! Nothing is sacred when you’re my friend and this particular friend knows that ... she’s not blonde but had a spectacular blonde moment earlier!! 

She phoned me to say she couldn’t get  the “Bubble” car her husband had left for her to drive today into gear ... it was making lots of grating noises but wouldn’t engage. She normally drives an automatic car and this one was manual. I offered to go round and see if I could help, not that I know that much about cars but two heads are generally better than one .... unless they’re both blonde. I arrive there only to find that after speaking to her Dad, she’s resolved the problem. Her father had reminded her that whilst automatic cars only have two pedals, manual cars have a third pedal for a reason!

I guess me rolling on the floor laughing didn’t help her feel any better.