Dreams of the Antibiotic Fiend

Hello Whomever,

The last few days I’ve been feeling the effects of the antibiotics I was given when I cut my leg- the infection appears to be gone, but I’ve been tired and woozy, feeling like I had the ‘flu. Too tired even to blog. Screw blogging. Just wanted to lie in my little train room, and read the Tom Clancy novel I bought at the charity shop.

Actually, the Tom Clancy book was so aggressively awful, I decided I had to go find a decent used bookstore. That would be in Hamilton, the nearest city to Raglan, about an hour away by bus. Got there, found a bookstore, did a few more errands, and really started to feel rotten. Sorry, no pictures of Hamilton. I wasn’t in the mood.

That was yesterday. Today I woke up to more of the same feeling- bleah. Slept most of the day, just waking up long enough to take more of the pills that were both healing and ailing me, and eat a little. It was very warm, and quiet. Eventually I woke up, and realized why no one was around- the hot, still weather was perfect for surfing. Everyone was at the beach.

Eventually woke up (this is kind of a “gears and cogs story”, sorry!), and decided to hitchhike to town to get food. The view from the top of the driveway shows both the harbor and the Tasman Sea. Can you tell from the photo how warm it is? Also, please try to imagine the rolling buzz of cicadas.



Here’s the view from the turn out just up the road from the place where I’m staying (you can see the switchbacks of the driveway). This is what I see when I’m hitchhiking.



If I turn 30 degrees to my right, I see this:



That’s the first of the three surf spots that make Raglan famous- Manu bay. The waves are small, but the conditions are perfect. No wind, water about 75 degrees. After Friday, when I get my stitches out, I promise you I won’t be standing here taking photos when it’s like this.

Hitchhiker Chronicles: Ride back was nothing interesting, but the ride to town was exciting- the folks that picked me up were a Swedish couple in their sixties, freshly arrived in a rental car. The ride was exciting because they didn’t pull over when they picked me up- they stopped right in the middle of road. For some reason, the fellow, the driver, got out and helped to opened the door for me- unnecessarily and very, very slowly. I kept waiting to get rear-ended.

When I arrived in town, I discovered it was in the midst of an electrical blackout, and had been for hours. The market was open. People shopped and workers stocked shelves in the dim half-light like nothing was wrong. There wasn’t the usual excited tension I associate with blackouts. It was slightly surreal. Here’s two-thirds of downtown Raglan- actually, this is looking back from my hitchhike spot as I try to leave town; it’s what I see when I wait for a ride out.



Halfway home I got dropped off at the local surfboard maker’s shop. He fixed my broken fin. His name is Ray, and he allowed a photo of the view from one of his workspaces. I’ve never seen such a picturesque surfboard factory.



Well, my board is fixed, I had some yogurt, fruit and antibiotic, and it’s still hot, windless and daylight at seven pm. I’d hoped that writing this would lift me out of this muzzy thickheaded antibiotic haze, but apparently not. Hope all of you are well.