Relaxing

We have just farewelled two of Stephen's South Island friends, who incidentally, weren't that impressed with our weather up here.

We knew they were coming, but we're not exactly sure of the day.

It is Stephen's birthday tomorrow and for the first year since meeting him, I didn't have a present organised for his birthday. Generally, I buy his presents when I buy the Christmas presents.

I had decided to buy a pair shoes, as I knew that was something Stephen wanted. Only problem was, unlike other present choices, I couldn't just nip into town to buy them, he would have to come too. And to compound matters, we would need to travel to the more distant town that had the type of shoe we were after.

So, on Saturday, New Year's Eve, I suggested we make the trip for these shoes, as not being sure when his friends would come and go, I didn't want Wednesday to arrive and me have nothing to give him.

There was a lot of traffic to contend with and one idiot who suddenly appeared on our side of the road as we came around a corner. He was overtaking and hadn’t quite reached his lane. We were following a camper and could have been involved in a nasty accident had we not both applied our brakes to give him time to manoeuvre back to his side of the road. I reached over to the horn but must have banged the wrong place as no sound came out. This guy was putting everyone's lives at risk with his impatience. A good honking wouldn't have gone amiss.

Once we got home, I was exhausted. We had been out the night before to the Food and Wine Festival so I was happy to stay home on this night. I have never really been a fan of New Year's Eve celebrations, preferring instead to wake up fresh on New Year's Day.

Stephen's friends turned up later that day, so I was pleased that we hadn't done anything that evening.

I would have had time to shop this afternoon but I didn't know that then. I am pleased that I have got the present-buying out of the way.

It is nice to be able to spend the day relaxing today. It has been a busy time since Christmas. We are expecting visitors to share Stephen’s day with him tomorrow, so I shall just make the most of today, put my feet up and relax.