Day Thirtythree.

Nic went off to work at 7.00am and I made breakfast and pottered about the flat for a while. Outside the weather was cold and damp with intermittent showers. I set out to explore the area around Nic's flat. There some very big houses, often with big verandas, and lots of apartment buildings. It very quickly became apparent that, at least in Portland, the pedestrian is king. Many intersections are controlled of course and pedestrians cross on a signal but at uncontrolled intersections if you step out into the road a car will stop and let you cross. Coming from NZ it was sometimes a little disconcerting and certainly surprising to have cars pull up and invite you to cross the road. I found a coffee bar recommended by Nic which sold the most scrumptious macaroons. Clearly the area round Nic's place was the posh end of town if the shops were any guide.
I walked down into the city and quickly reached the river. Cities with rivers running through them have a great advantage in that the river bank is an obvious place to put a walkway and Portland had certainly done that. Even on a cold winter's day there were walkers, some with dogs, runners and cyclists wandering down the river bank. I came upon a section dedicated to and by way of apology to those of Japanese descent who were interned during the second world war. It was a small garden with large standing rocks on some of which were carved Japanese characters and on others were examples of Haiku.
It was getting colder and was still wet so I headed home calling in on a magnificent bookshop and then an equally good music shop. I called in to the supermarket for dinner stuff. At the checkout they asked what sort of bag I wanted, paper or plastic. Perhaps something we should consider.
Nic arrived home about eight and we spent a pleasant evening over dinner and then simply chatting about this and that.