Welcome

The entry to the beach house with the lights on in the porch (on the left) and the entry and stairs up to the main living area. 

We arrived in the dark, having left later than I had wanted and quite possibly got here not much later than we would have, had we left a half hour earlier. The traffic flowed smoothly and at motorway speeds almost the whole way. Quite an unusual experience for a trip up here after work.

We left late because I had to see a man who is in custody in the Auckland City Prison, awaiting sentencing. I arrived at the appointed time of 1430 and it took me ten minutes to negotiate the security arrangements and reach the interview rooms. I was seated in the room and locked in to await him. And I waited. So I got a piece of paper and started to write (from memory) the case history I want to turn into a presentation. And continued to wait. Then I waited some more. After 40 minutes, the door behind me opened and I was informed that the staff of the unit where my man is held had brought the wrong man down. AND it took them over HALF AN HOUR to realise that? Anyway, my man was now on his way. It took another 15 minutes for him to arrive. 

Total institutions have their own rules, and in fact their own time. It does not recognise that any one has any purpose except to ensure the functioning of the institution. 

I wanted to say to him that I could only see him briefly. But I knew that it wasn't his fault and as it would be two weeks before I could return, I started the assessment. Started, because it is complex, I will need collateral, and then come back to see him again. If my report doesn't shorten the sentence he gets, then the delay will be meaningless. And if it does, that will be ideal from his perspective. So he was very accepting of the delays. The system has successfully institutionalised him.

Happy to be back at the beach. Will see mother-in-law tomorrow. She appears to have got over her whoopsy at the start of the week, and is coping in her own home again with the assistance of the home care women, who are such stalwarts of care. That they get paid an even smaller pittance than before the DHB contracted the service out to an Aussie based company, has not reduced their determination to do what they can.The demand of their new employer that they see twice as many old people strains them, and does impact on what they are able to do. The Chairman of the Board of the DHB is a darling of the Government for "saving money"; to hell with decent care for the elderly, and looking after the workers who provide that care. Those women (almost all of them) are trojans, saints, nurturers, .....

The tiler who created the 'designs' in the two recesses worked with Hundertwasser here in New Zealand before he died, and learned from him how to let his creative urge flow when tiling something like this. We are always delighted every time we see it.