Wellington City

A couple of appointments today in the Capital city meant a reasonably early morning drive of 90km each way.  Luckily most of the commuters had driven to work several hours earlier, so our traffic consisted of vans, trucks, buses and shoppers.  “We won’t need our coats”, I glibly asserted before we set out.  Was I wrong – the rain was bucketing down by the time we had reached Wellington.  So much for our plans of parking the car up somewhere or other, and travelling through the city by bus, we would get drenched while we waited for a bus to arrive.  On to Plan B and drive through the city to both places, hoping to get a handy park each time.

Wellington in the rain

One appointment down, and another to go, but we had plenty of time for a long lunch.  The Bordeaux French Bakery is so handy to the Eye Specialist, so there was no choice really but climb the steps and be transported into a place packed with Parisian delights.

Now, what shall we chose for lunch?

Choices are never easy, and after I walked up and down the counter, peering at all those goodies, and reading the descriptive cards, I finally chose a toasted bagel with salmon and cream cheese.  Robin had no trouble making up his mind, and his choice was one of the spicy Barvarian barbecued sausages which we could see slowly turning over on a bed of rollers, served in a bread roll with mustard and plum sauce.  And you could hardly expect us to eat at a French Bakery without ordering one of those delicious pastries for dessert, would you?

.

The eye specialist had a new fangled machine only days old and the technician was having “learner driver” troubles with it.  She called in a staff member to help, then another, so there were three of them leaning over the controls.  All the while I sitting up straight with my chin on the chin rest trying hard not to move position, while concentrating on the blue flashing light.  Finally they got the hang of the new contraption and the photos of my eyes were sent through to the specialist’s computer for him to view.  Then it was his turn to shine bright lights at me as he gazed into my eyes.  After previous problems with cataracts and a detached retina, my eye health is now very good, I’ll come for another check-up in 12 months.  The only painful part of the appointment was paying the bill!

Leaving wet and windy Wellington City behind us, it was another 90km drive home.  Must admit I had a bit of a senior moment when I was expecting the car to turn off at Ngauranga and up along the Hutt Motorway.  Just as well I wasn’t driving, I’d momentarily forgotten we now live in Levin.  But Robin had his wits about him, and continued homewards bound along the correct route.