Adam’s morning and part
of the afternoon were taken up with Safiya’s ballet class and a friend of her’s
birthday party. That fitted quite well with us as there was still things we
needed to do before heading over to Europe next week.
Before we went our
separate ways Safiya skyped Eleanor to get a master class in the art of making
jewelry using the large variety of circular elastic bands in the box of ‘Trendy
Loom Bandz’ Jenny and Stephen had given Safiya for her birthday. They are all
the rage in New Zealand and Eleanor is right into them. It was very
entertaining watching the six year old instructor showing her seven year old
student how to make bracelets. Safiya (and Adam) latched on very quickly and
Safiya was soon in production mode.
Our first stop was at
Staples (similar to Warehouse Stationery) to get an A2 collage of family
photographs given us by Adam laminated. Adam is very imaginative when it comes
to presents, he also gave us a glass chopping board embodying his idea for a
replacement New Zealand Flag – a blue background with long white cloud and the
stars of the Southern Cross in red.
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| Adam's Chopping Board |
While not on the ‘must do
list’ the buttons on Smarty’s spare key are held in place with cellotape. Near
to Staples was a Mercedes and Smart dealer and I went in to enquire about a
replacement key. They have to be supplied from Germany and cost approximately
£180. I decided the cellotape would have to do. In the showroom was a new Smart
Car in black with a similar specification to Smarty, although it wouldn’t have
her tuned engine and Smart Tow system. I asked a salesman the price, it was
approximately £10,500. That clinched it, Smarty would be going back to New Zealand
with Mabel.
I checked Mabel’s
handbook for the engine oil specification – 5W/30. At Halfords there were about
half a dozen different 5W/30 blends designed to meet engine manufacturer’s
specifications. None of them listed Fiat Ducato. I would have to check the
manual again and get the specification reference for Mabel.
We drove into the centre
of Portsmouth to do some grocery shopping at Tesco. It wasn’t where our
satnav took us and we settled for a Sainsbury nearby. Jane was still intent
on finding a scarf for the wedding tomorrow and to buy the guide and phrase
books our collection was short of. I dropped her at the railway station
arranging to meet her back there in 2 hours. When I returned after doing
a partial clean of Smarty’s grubby interior there was no sign of Jane. I parked
Smarty and got out to stretch my legs. A woman sitting with a young girl on a
wall nearby told me she was taking part in a treasure hunt. Could I help, did I
have anything sticky, like chewing gum? I didn’t, but did have a piece of
self-adhesive Velcro that had come unstuck. She was pleased with that. Next on
her list was a car park ticket, I had plenty of those, but was unable to supply
anything else on her list.
Jane arrived back with
the books we needed, but had been unsuccessful in her hunt for a scarf.
Back at Mabel we had a
late lunch of muffins, cheese and dips. Afterwards, I returned to Halfords with
the detailed specification reference for Mabel’s engine oil and bought 5 litres
of the right stuff. When I got back, Jane, Adam and Safiya were sitting in
Mabel hard at work making bracelets from the ‘Trendy Loom Bandz’ kit. The nerd
in Adam was making one that denoted ‘pi’ in binary! While they were doing that,
I put Adam’s collage on our bedroom wall.
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| Bracelets In The Making (Mabel's Blinds Are All Drawn - We Were Parked In A Suburban Street) |
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| Adam's Collage On Our Bedroom Wall |
Dinner was a very good
mild chicken curry cooked by Adam.
As last night we slept in
Mabel parked out in the street.
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