Well, it’s been a pretty good day, all things considered.

I awoke around 7:30 to find a steady rain falling. By the time I had washed and eaten, it was pretty clear that there wasn’t going to be much pruning done today.

Fortunately, I have no job to go to and I already had lunch plans with an old family friend, so I headed over to Mount Maunganui to meet him for lunch at a nice Thai place, followed by a soak in the nearby mineral hot pools.
“It’s the only time it’s great to be up to your neck in hot water”, a friend of mine once quipped, during a visit to the pools a few years ago (the group response was a long “aarrrhhhh” and a demand for the quipper to pay the everyone’s entry fee by way of atonement). But he was right…it’s a very satisfying feeling to be having a good soak.

…especially after a decent Pad Thai / Green curry combo, washed down with a cold Chang beer.

…especially in a warm, mineral, salt-water fed pool, while a light cooling rain falls overhead.

Bliss!

While the heat soothed aching backs and joints, my host and I talked some business, caught up on family news, discussed histories and exchanged ideas. I could almost feel the spirits of Socrates and Plato hovering nearby.

Visiting a mineral hot pool is something that – much like the Scandinavians – Kiwis do on at least a semi-regular basis. We just don’t bother with all the self-flagellation stuff and the jumping into iced-over lakes. Seriously…wtf Sven? Hot pool visits were – and still are – a regular family favourite. Kids of similar ages often grow up dive-bombing each other from ever-greater heights until someone’s Mum spots it and tells them off! At different times of the day, season or year, you will see a pretty reasonable cross-section of society, all using the hot pools. And why not? The health benefits are held to be widespread (even though you will find plenty of visitors who would say that’s not proven, but who enjoy a soak just the same).

Arriving home, relaxed and refreshed, around 3pm, I ducked indoors, out of a squally shower for a cup of freshly brewed coffee and a minor Facebook update. Played a game or two of Warcraft, then a pal phones and suggests a pot luck feed and a DVD at his place. Choice!

A short drive in the pouring rain is followed by a couple of beers, a steaming plate of chops and veges, choco ice cream and a fresh cup of cappuccino, all consumed in front of a real log fire while “Traitors” plays on the box and the rain falls steadily outside. We watch the film, trade jokes, catch up on each others’ news and generally have a laugh or three.

It’s after 1am when I finally head home during a break in the rainfall. By 2am, I’m lying in bed, listening to the rain on the tin roof, letting it lull me off to the land of nod…

Yep – not a bad day at all!

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