The daily entries grow ever more shorter, you notice. One day I’ll just write “ditto”, I think. It would solve many problems. I only worked till 1 today – I’m getting worse + worse – + then in the afternoon Val + I hitched into Kerikeri. Hitch-hiking has become far more difficult round here ever since the tourists arrived, + we very nearly gave up entirely, but a bloke took us 2 or 3 miles along the road, which pretty well committed us, + then Joe’s wife + son came along, + gave us a ride all the way. Quite a lot of chores to get done, but first of all we treated ourselves to hamburger + chips. Then on to have Val’s ears pierced – it took no time at all, +, she says, didn’t hurt too much. They look all right too, tho’ are hardly fancy – just plain, stainless steel studs. Then various other purchases of the kind one can’t get, or can’t afford, in Paihia. In the last store we visited, an electrical shop, I happened to glance thro’ their cassettes, + spotted the new Peter Gabriel album. Val had tried everywhere (except, it seems, this shop) to buy it for me for Christmas, but without success. I didn’t expect her to offer it now, but she did, so that was another purchase, leaving us very short of money. Still, we bought all we needed, + then were lucky enough to bump into Joe’s wife again, so got ourselves a ride home to boot.
Cascade work much as usual, tho’ for some reason I didn’t get a meal tonight. And I’ve just about come to expect them. Which probably proves something.
It shows that we have been reduced to very little cultural input, that a shopping trip to Kerikeri represents a real highlight. Hamburger and chips, and a Peter Gabriel album. Bliss!
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