After the storms of the weekend, a perfect summer’s day arrived. I drove to St Heliers, along Auckland’s waterfront, for some dental work. While a crown was being made I sat on the beach under the shade of a pohutukawa tree, resting my eyes on the soothing shape of Rangitoto and recovering from the drilling and jolting in my jaw.

Meanwhile, a man from the Council started making piles of the debris that had been washed up over the weekend. In the end, he had a small truck-load to cart away. So it goes: nature tosses everything hither and thither, we clean up, and the sun shines again. Here the damage was minor, but I’m still remembering Australia and the devastating floods, and thinking how lucky we were, this time.