Something I forgot for yesterday. We popped in to PaknSave to get some petrol before going to Wellington, we also had a 6cents per litre fuel voucher to use. As the funds were running low in the bank account (rent was due out today), Louise had mentioned that there was a “”use cash for fuel”” machine at one end of the petrol station – no helpful PaknSaver people on duty at any time of the day, just the fuel pumps. Anyway, we pulled up to the garage and the “”use cash for fuel”” machine at the head of all the pumps, where you’d expect the shop to be normally. There was only 1 other car in the garage, and he was getting air in his tyres at the other end. The machine appeared to give you a credit to use on one of the pumps, and you slipped in the cash (and voucher code) to get the credit. I turned around, checked the garage again and put in the pump number furthest away from either entrance and turned around to get in the car and drive the 10-15ft to the pump. Well, b****r me if a car hadn’t just pulled in, taken the most circuitous route of all to get to the pump I’d chosen and the guy was pressing all sorts of buttons on the pump!! Aarrgghh!!
I rushed over and in my best Kiwi accent, questioned the elderly pakeha (Maori term for a New Zealand White Man) as to his state of mind………..well, ok, inside my head I wasn’t quite so polite! He had done things so fast that he’d cancelled the credit for the pump and even got a receipt. It could have been worse I suppose, he could just have used it as a freebie! I thanked him for the receipt which stated that no fuel had been taken and popped into the store to try to get a refund – it was only $40, but it was MY $40!
Luckily, the girls behind the counter were more than happy to help a dashing, tanned man with a cute smile – or more likely, took pity on the stupid Pom who obviously didn’t know how to use their simple fuel pumps and the dashing, tanned man with a cute smile could wait a bit longer! And I got my $40 back and even the 6cents per litre voucher!!
Note to self and a lesson learned that Louise didn’t have to go through! Park in front of the pump first next time ……… DOH!!
Ok, back to today………….
Louise had a bad night last night. She’s come to the conclusion that the box jellyfish recently stalking our Deck were out in force in Wellington too. Either that or the South Island sandflies have hitched a lift on the Cook Strait ferries and migrated in the heat! There were only about half a dozen bites, but they were doozies! Kept her awake most of the night. I trotted off to the pharmacy and bought some insect repellant for her, and making sure that the pharmacist knew that Louise was allergic to paraffin some itch removal cream.
I also bought some chocs, Cadburys Roses and a bottle of wine to help take the edge of the itching. Margaret, you’ll be saddened to know that they don’t do the big purple ones in NZ! Here’s a photo of the assortment they do have though.
When I got back, I had a quick look at the job market sites. It looks like someone was working over Christmas! There were quite a few vacancies advertised on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day…… I’ll have a look at them tomorrow.