Big City turned Small Town Girl

One of the things I found most frustrating when I first moved to Hawera was its small size. After living in Seattle, I was used to stores being open on the weekend, all weekend, and being able to get things whenever I wanted. Luckily, I quickly acclimated to the small size and began to appreciate that I could do all my errands in a short span of time down the center street and only during the week or on a Saturday morning. Okay, there might only be two gifts stores, a few hardware stores, one stationary store, and two clothing stores, but I knew where they were and that I could usually find what I needed. The beauty was that I could accomplish most of it over a lunch hour. When I moved to Hamilton, I was thrilled with the conveniences, variety, and choices I could find. It felt like I was back home. Yet, the twenty minute travel time to get to these new conveniences has soon become tedious. I had forgotten the need to factor this time into finishing my errands. This became very apparent when I came back to Hawera for one final weekend to clean up my flat, turn in my car, and tie up some loose ends. Within the span of two hours, I had my vision checked, ordered new contacts, put some money into a short-term CD, got my hair cut, browsed through a few shops, paid my final rent, and turned in my car. Oh, how I’m going to miss this small town.