Packing, unpacking and repacking

It falls to me to organise the packing when we travel. I suppose I am quite good at it ..or maybe the others realise that it gets them out of the tedium of getting the stuff ready and also means that they can blame me if something does not come with us that is vital.

 I am writing this in a lovely old guest house in Auckland. This morning started in a camper van. If you want a sense of how challenging our logistics were think about packing for 4 people in a space roughly the size of a bathroom…

I should not complain though. Last week when we were in Santa Monica we saw loads of people pulling the sort of roll on luggage we have with us. But they were actually homeless and sleeping on the benches in the street and on the beach. I was struck by how many were well dressed – but clearly they just did not have anywhere to call home. Our tour guide told us that the Santa Monicans are quite kind to them and I guess the very warm dry weather means that sleeping outdoors is a different proposition from doing it in Edinburgh – but it must be an awful way to live.

Ironically I caught up with an Oprah Winfrey show earlier this week. She is a regular on NZ TV. She was doing a piece about how people working full time in the US on the minimum wage often find that they cannot afford anywhere to live and she wants things to change. She interviewed people from all sorts of backgrounds and doing important jobs in medical services and schools for example who find themselves in this situation.

I count my blessings that our luggage is full of holiday clothes.