December at the beach

Saturday 16 December 2006

6:30am

I have been so full of the changes in our lives that I haven’t written about the changes in the weather. As I write this on Saturday morning, in a sleeping house, the sky is grey and the winds are whistling through the windows. I’m in sweatshirt and long pants and wishing I had a blanket. This is a change in the weather. Last week when we arrived, it was an early-springish kind of weather pattern—chilly and sometimes fine, sometimes wet. This week, summer arrived. It turns out that there are many changes in the weather on an island.

Although I’ve just had about three days of it, I’m beginning to imagine what summer is like when you live at the beach. Each of the children has had at least one school field trip to the beach—Naomi will go again on Tuesday, and I think Aidan goes again on Monday. They tramp up the hills, learn about the history and the flora, and they build creatures or castles out of the black sand and copious shells. I took them down to the beach after school the other day, where they saw children they knew from school, splashed in the chilly water with Keith, and then settled down to make sand castles while I lazed on a beach towel, warm out of the wind with jeans and a sweatshirt. I lay on the beach, contemplating the beautiful way the children were building and working together, and watched for Michael’s train from Wellington which snakes along the foreshore before arriving in the village. I ran the dark powdery hot sand through my hands and thought, “I live in New Zealand. I live on the beach. I live on the beach in New Zealand. I live in a tiny village by the beach in New Zealand.” I think these things bear repeating.

And the New Zealanders, who are having less culture shock about the coming of beach weather here just before Hanukkah and Christmas, are delighted. By yesterday they were arriving at school in sun dresses and shorts (me still in jeans and a fleece), their skin pink from too much of this un-ozone-protected sun. They surf and boogie board in the waves just outside our new house, and they walk their dogs and their friends and their children up the nearly-endless expanse of beach and over brilliantly green hills.

And now it’s cold and blustery again today, and we’ll find out whether our new house really is much more sheltered from the winds (as Trish and Keith have predicted it is). And we’ll go into Paraparaumu and buy groceries and a new dishwasher and washer/dryer, outdoor tables and chairs, and perhaps even presents to send overseas.

Love to all,

j

ps Here is a link about Paekakriki, and has a link for a map so you can see the village. Our house is right where Ocean Rd meets The Parade; Keith and Trish live at the very last house on Aperahama St where it hits Queen Elizabeth Park. The school is the big brown square on Wellington St

http://www.enterprisecoastnz.com/our_region/kapiti_coast/paekakariki/index.htm