10th Dec day 56 holidaying and turkeys.

So far I haven't been to Ocean Spa by myself and as it was a hot, sunny morning I decided today was the day. Ria the lady I had met in the park had invited me to a coffee morning at her church scheduled for 10am, so I decided to pop in because it was on the way. I didn't think it would matter if I was a few minutes late, after all it was only coffee. But it wasn't just that, it was obviously a Bible study. I tiptoed in as I was late but decided I wouldn't interrupt and made my way quietly out and on to Napier. The coast road is stunning, here is a taster for you of the views you encounter as you come into the city from Hastings.

The plants in the foreground below are Agapanthus which grow wild everywhere here and in Australia, they are just starting to flower and are spectacular. The statue is known as the Spirit of Napier designed by an Hungarian Sculptor, it depicts the city rising from the ashes of the 1931 earthquake, which destroyed the entire city. It's in the Art Deco style as Napier is the Art Deco capital of the world, because the whole city centre was rebuilt in that era.

When I arrived at the pool the young attendant advised me a party of 120 school children were there, he was surprised and delighted when I said "how lovely". He said most people my age would have grumbled and said they would come back. Goodness how grumpy have my generation become if that's true? For me it was so entertaining to relax on my sunbed and see the kids having such a good time. I love that buzz of a pool when you are only half awake and you can hear people around you having fun. I have been undecided about showing this next picture - should I, shouldn't I, should I ..... 

But then I thought this is primarily a diary for me of my world trip, so not to include this one when the cool water was keeping my whole body temperature down, just by dipping my toes in the water, would have been wrong. Sorry if it's put you off your cornflakes!

This is a view below is of where the Ngaruroro River joins the Pacific.

Having sunbathed and cooled off by swimming lengths in one of the pools it was time to get Nicholas from school. He and I were going shopping for Philippa's 40th birthday present, its her birthday on Sunday. He liked a few things in the shop but particularly an attractive candle holder and a glass pig! As he said "the pig is was very cute Nan" but I am not sure she would have been thrilled to tell her friends that's what she had received on this auspicious occasion. I didn't want to make the decision for him so I asked him to think which would be most useful - that did it phew and here he is paying for it.

He was just finishing making her card when Simon got home and they started chatting and laughing about their latest craze. Before I arrived neither of them knew about messages on the iPad - fancy that me showing them something techy - unheard of, anyway they are now writing short stories back and forward to each other. Nicholas takes pictures of his Lego figures sometimes and they both find google images for their illustrations. It's a bit like the old game of consequences where you have to add on a bit to the story and the next person adds to it, they are loving it.

Once Nicholas was in bed Simon and I began the mammoth task of preparing the felt for me to help his class make Christmas turkeys, it took hours. Thankfully we did manage to watch a programme whilst doing the last bit of prep. Here is the picture we were copying. I will show you the actuals when they are finished.