Congestion
One could be fooled for thinking they were in the main street of Auckland yesterday as Christmas shoppers flocked to Kaitaia. There were lengthy delays at each intersection, and the place usually used for parking, now boarded off to make way for beautification and housing. One wonders whether that really is a good idea as people need to park somewhere. Kaitaia has a big catchment of shoppers, with people travelling all the way from the Hokianga, Far North and Doubtless Bay to buy their products.
The other big parking area converts to a Saturday market and this was the busiest I have ever seen that too, with stall holders all the way out to the road. It was a shopper’s delight though with a selection of virtually everything one could want, including a tent full of children’s toys. I felt sorry for a young man tucked away selling raffle tickets to raise money for a paddle boarding trip and another lady raising funds for the church. We took a couple of tickets in each. Despite the large number of people at the market, their raffle boards were relatively empty.
There was a stand of knives and stones which drew Stephen and me to it, him to the knives and me to the stones. As I was bending over, I felt a soft hand rub my back, the kind of rub that one’s partner would affectionately do, though I knew Stephen wouldn’t do that in such a public place. I turned around to find my ex’s partner laughing. ‘’I knew that wouldn’t have been Stephen,’’ I joked. She was in town buying for the grandchildren and shopping with her brother. We had long chat before departing ways. The stone I was drawn to was $25, so I opted out of buying it, especially when the man didn’t know what it was. Despite all the people at that market, Jenny was the only person we saw that we knew, apart from a couple of stall holders, quite incredible really.
Our main reason for coming to town had been to deliver my books. An old friend from the Hokianga asked me to drop two off in town for her. That was an experience in itself as it was a shop I hadn’t been into and I was surprised at the array of stock, from farmer’s clothing and products to gift items such as soaps and biscuits. I will definitely go back there. I was disappointed though on leaving and checking my docket to find that biscuits we bought were actually $20 and not $7 as quoted. What a perfect gift we thought, on hearing the boxes were only seven dollars each. We bought three of them. Even the shop assistant didn’t know why they were so cheap. That was because they weren’t.
But anyway, I stopped off at the supermarket to buy a bun for my lunch. These are worth navigating the mobs inside because they are so delicious. As I was leaving, I saw Jenny ahead of me. I pushed through the people to reach her and rubbed my hand on her back, just as she had done to me.
‘’I knew that wouldn’t have been my brother,’’ she said, as she turned around laughing. Snap.
We left the town, pleased we didn’t actually have to do any Christmas shopping ourselves. Now that would have been a nightmare.