When you live in a town of 2,500 people, you expect your shopping options to be limited.
However, I was pleasantly surprised the first time I strolled along Featherston’s main street with Barnard. The town is well-served with the basics, including a good supermarket, bakery, pharmacy and the popular Saturday market.
And that’s before I mention the seven bookstores, C’est Cheese cafe and deli, Op Shop, and a quirky range of other options from crystals and antiques to Harley Davidson gear and wooden furniture.
A quick look round the Op Shop is a compulsory fixture on our schedule whenever we visit the main street. I used to look down my nose at second-hand shops, but after constantly complimenting colleagues on their new outfits, and being told they bought them second-hand, I finally wised up. Second-hand shopping is virtually guilt-free, both financially and environmentally, and you just never know what you’ll find. Over summer we picked up a white canvas hammock for a few bucks at the Masterton SPCA shop, and it’s now tied up between two trees, providing the perfect place to escape with a book on a hot day.
Sometimes, though, you just need a Warehouse. I’m ashamed to admit it, but there it is. And whatever disparaging comments I’ve made about Masterton in the past, it fills the “big box retailer” gap in our lives very nicely. All the usual suspects are there – Briscoes, Kathmandu, Farmers, Shoe Clinic – as well as the red shed itself. And it’s a good excuse for a road trip.
It reminds me of the days when we’d all get dressed up and drive from Ōtaki to Levin for a day’s shopping. We’d do the rounds of the Levin Shopping Mall before stopping at the cafe on the corner for lunch or, if it was a Friday night, we’d eat fish and chips next to the railway station while watching the trains come and go.
The days of getting dressed up to go shopping are long gone, but there’s still a little frisson of excitement in the air as we jump into the car and head along State Highway 2. It takes 30 to 40 minutes to drive to Masterton, depending on traffic, and it’s a pleasant journey through the Wairarapa's stretching farmland. It makes a nice change from Wellington’s Ngauranga Gorge and busy motorway, although I do miss the harbour view on a sparkling blue day.
Our latest trip to Masterton was on Sunday, the main purpose being to get a) a bulk supply of cat food and b) new brake pads for the car. We arrived home with books, stationery, laundry powder, a corkboard for the study, dog food, and a few other items ... but no cat food or brake pads. In our defence, the Warehouse was out of cat food but the brake pads got overlooked as a plethora of other items caught our eye. It’s often the way with shopping.
The other retail option we make copious use of is the internet. We really should employ the local courier driver on a retainer with the number of deliveries he makes to our house. “I don’t think we’ll be getting anything else for a while,” I told him last week. He smiled wryly. Sure enough, a few days later he was back with our latest purchase: a laminator.
Like many households, we have a long shelf of recipe books lined up in the kitchen; however, these days, we’re just as likely to turn to the internet when we need a recipe. I’ll open the fridge door while I’m thinking about what to cook for dinner. “Hmm, what needs using up today?” The last time I did this it was sour cream, resulting in a delicious chicken curry.
So the plan is to laminate all of those printed-out recipes and put them neatly into a folder. Barnard’s also been working on a selection of laminated posters for Arki’s new room. So far he’s got Mum and Dad, his brothers and sisters (both the furry and non-furry variety!), some ball porn, and a couple of lady dog pin-ups. I just hope he appreciates it.
Speaking of Arki, we’re still dealing with the occasional escape, but I must admit we’ve grown pretty casual about keeping tabs on his whereabouts with the GPS tracker. “Look – he’s down at the neighbours again.” (This at 6.30am.) “Oh well, I’m sure he’ll come back eventually.” And the last time we saw a post on the Featherston Facebook page about “the number of dogs that seem to be roaming free these days”, we carefully scrolled past it, least there should be any mention of the black and white terrorist from Bell Street. Perhaps we should buy him a new lead ....
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