Batteries, Buses, Birthdays and Ballunatix!

Batteries:

To the right is the last known sighting of the troublesome former 'house' battery... the bad news was that it tested as "Bad-Replace" after just four years of thrashing... the good news was that a direct like-for-like replacement was slightly cheaper than the purchase price in 2011.

It was nice to know that I wouldn't have to run the engine to keep the lights working after 9pm!

Buses:

So it was that midday on Saturday I shouldered my backpack and climbed the Opua hill to meet the Naked Bus once more. Destination was Whangaparaoa and a reunion with three of my old mates from Youth Group days.  The view from the bus stop is well worth the climb and even the 3.5 hr trip south didn't seem too bad.

Lorraine met me at the Albany terminus and we headed further down the highway to pick up Mike from his veterans soccer game (which, btw, they managed to let slip by conceding two goals in the last two minutes!)

Back to Whangaparaoa and down to Tindalls beach for an early evening dip - more than a little bracing in mid-April with, somewhat surprisingly,  no other partakers of the waters. It was, as they say, nice once you were 'in.'

Back to the Enrights for a feed and a relaxed evening of rugby-watching.

Busman's holiday:

Up early Sunday as Pastor Mike, bless his cotton socks, had dobbed me to speak at his local place of work(See below)




So I ended up attending two services and delivering two electives between the hours of 0830 and 1230 - spoke about the experiences of working as a Sports Chaplain with the Storm and it seemed to be appreciated. Bit tiring though!

Birthdays and Ballunatix:

Thirty nine years ago, four young lads formed a slightly silly and infinitely crazy musical/satire/fun quartet known as the Ballunatix.  Notorious at Easter Camps and even appearing on radio and TV at one stage we formed a lifelong bond as mates.  

Sunday lunchtime  Steve, Paul, Mike and I gathered to celebrate the 39th anniversary of our founding, and managed to incorporate Mike's 59th birthday with cake, ice cream and boysenberries to boot!

It was great to see each other again - we'd all had our share of ups and downs, health and family-wise but we laughed long and hard, reminisced and even lit some ancient fire-crackers Mike found in the pockets of one of our signature gabardine coats.

We resolved to not wait another 20 years to meet again and the invitation is for Melbourne in February for the next one of us to attain 59 years - c'est moi!  These are special friends and we seemed to be able just to pick up where we had left off years previous...

Back on the night bus and strolling down Opua hill late that night I thought - WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND!

PS - Below is Karuna with new seat extension... which works well! Just need to fit some inspection hatches - I don't like having 'sealed' compartments that may leak and fill up...