Another New Home

In 1992 I decide to sell my lovely home and look for a smaller place, one near amenities I would need.  Diana went with me but nothing took our fancy till we saw this place in Hillstone Ave.  It was in the centre of a row of three, secluded enough, compact and neat and tidy, but it was set for auction.  Joe came and did the bidding for me, and then attended to the necessary legalities, and it was mine.  My Ohauiti home had not been on the market very long when it sold.  The folk had confided in me that they both had cancer, but were in remission- however on returning home and visiting their doctor found it was again active, so they withdrew from the sale.  The next couple bought the place unseen and I was given a moving date- the 19th of December.   

Because of a death in the family they decided they would shift in on the 17th and then return to Whangarei for the funeral.  They notified my lawyer, but he failed to contact me, so it was that I attended the A.P.W. Christmas luncheon on the 17th, only to find on returning, a big truck in my drive and their goods being unloaded onto the verandah.  Panic stations, and an SOS to Doug and Ian, who both arrived very quickly with their trailers.  Some things were ready and soon loaded, but my own bedroom was still a shambles.  However, my good helpers very soon had my things at my new home and put into place, eventually fitting everything from the bigger house into the smaller place. Next day, another friend with a trailer, and my car piled up, shifted my plants and pot plants to my new place.  It had once been owned by a man in a wheelchair, so although the garden was defined, there was nothing in it, except a camellia bush, so I was able to spend the next few days giving my plants a home.  Christmas Day was spent at Waiwauki.  During the holidays Doug and Ian built a shelter for my plants, and poured concrete strips to keep the cymbidium orchids.  Later on I had a conservatory built, and though at the time I said it was for me, and not the plants, there are now many at home in there.  I thought at first, the two storey house next door kept most of the sun off my place, but this year I have enjoyed the sun there much of the day- I must have been out a lot of the time before.