Chores, Clyde & Kitties

Wednesday 12 March

Just enjoying some catch up time in the Lucky Red House - catching up with Jonny & Debs but also some vital chores.

But first - exercise! Louis dropped me off at the Otago Central Rail Trail as it crossed Coates Road just outside Alexandra so I could walk up to Clyde while he did some more swim training. It was a nice flat track and not too busy with cyclists.

I met some horses along the way - in fields, but it turns out the Otago Central Rail Trail is designated for walkers, cyclists and horse riders and we saw someone trotting along it the next day. This area is really popular with lifestyle block protagonists - there were lots of smallish plots with sheep, horses, fruit trees, grapes and even goats.

There was a fair amount of history too - the original railway was constructed in the early 1900s - linking Central Otago to Dunedin. The bulk of it closed in 1990 and in 2000 the 152km stretch from Middlemarch to Clyde opened as a cycleway. The Muttontown Viaduct constructed on wooden trestles, which you can still cross today was built in 1907.

Up at the Clyde Railhead was a fabulous old engine turntable which reminded me of Thomas the Tank Engine stories. Not only a feat of engineering, this turntable is quite a work of art. Speaking of which, as you leave the Railhead and walk through the tunnel there is a fabulous mural depicting the rail trail past and present painted by the artist Bruce Potter.

I couldn’t help but notice signs of autumn along the way - the leaves were turning and the trees all bore fruits, berries or seeds. I tasted the damson in the centre of the montage below after immortalising it digitally - it was delicious!

Walking through Clyde to the Old Post Office there were more autumnal fruits and nuts along the way - definite signs of seasonal change. There was also a darling Lilliput Library (free book swap) and I had to giggle at how cute Clyde's St Dunstan's catholic church was - growing up in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire the local catholic church was built in the 1970s to great outcry from the local population as it was really rather ugly, a monstrous carbuncle!

Along with about 50 cyclists, Louis joined me for lunch at the Old Post Office, eggs bene for him and chicken poke bowl for me.

Then we did a whistlestop tour of Alexandra’s useful shops (some more useful than others) then headed back to do Banjo chores - washing the solar panels, washing the MukMats, washing our clothes, mending clothes, fixing the latest new TV etc. Jonny also did a good fix on my bike’s dodgy gears but we need to get a mechanic to sort the brakes.

Spent the evening trying to lure one of the feral kittens up to the house - it was pretty brave but will take a few more days of bacon bribery I reckon.

Chicken pie for dinner and then it was time for a rewatch of Mission Impossible : Dead Reckoning Pt1… so much fun! Kitty still prowling back & forth past the window until it was too dark to see it!