Day 65- Slow Saturday

I wake wishing I had one less drink last night. It's a long weekend but the plasterers haven't heard. I drive slowly and carefully to College Ave to catch up with them. I see the stilts in action. A novel way to reach high spots. I shuffle round the garden and pick a salad then head home. It's all I'm capable of.

Kahu comes and goes. I make myself ride up the hill then start dinner for an expanding group. The Thursday drinkers plus Chris's mum, Biff, who hasn't been here since the start of lockdown. Feels like we're moving on. 0 new cases today. Only 1 active in New Zealand.

Day 64- Quiet Friday

Teacher only day. We get time and space to sort ourselves. Always an upbeat day because meetings are squeezed in the beginnings and endings of days when we're waking up or tired. Today there's a lot of revising of programmes to do. Less time than usual for senior assessments. We don't see anyone else from the staff, except staff briefing on zoom. At lunchtime the new level of lockdown 2 is detailed. We can now meet in groups of 100. That should be interesting. 0 new cases of Covid.

I visit Pete to present him with a laundry quote, $17, 500, and he assures me he can do it cheaper, and with more wood. He gives me nothing on paper so I cross my fingers. There's no-one on site. Quiet as. I go looking for kitchen appliances. Kitchen Things then Noel Leeming. It's less confusing that last time but I'm still a way off knowing what actually to look for. I head home with some print outs.

I sort Kahu out then head to quiet but deadly drinks with Chris's workmates. A bike ride up the road.

Day 63- A Real Pearler

My phone isn't charging so I set my clock alarm, forgetting it's still on daylight saving. When it rings I feel groggy but obediently get in the shower and stagger to the kitchen where the radio tells me it's 20 to 6. No wonder I'm half asleep. In fact I've got a crisis to solve and I scramble to get phone numbers off e-mails. I remembered late last night Rene said I need to contact him after the gibbing and before the plastering. Oops. My phone still hasn't charged

My phone still hasn't charged. Feeling stressed. I call Rene, too early, and he doesn't answer. I drive to the house to check with Mark, the plasterer. He says he'd rather the electrician did the work after, then he'll come and tidy up. I wish I knew more about the process, it would be less stressful. So would a phone which charged properly. Mark also tells me the garage door is going in today. These tradies have eyes and ears in their socks. 

I get to school relieved and plug my phone in. There's a hundred jobs to do, on top of teaching. I ask the English department which red they prefer for the front door- Lance has given me a colour chart. Favourites are King of Hearts, Iconic Red, Ace of Hearts, Vengeful, Symphony Red and Wicked. 

I try to add pictures to the blog posts but the site has been updated and I can't figure it out. Putting pictures on has been laborious from the start and this leaves me feeling disempowered. I need to see TC from IT, when I have time.

At College Ave the plasterers have done coat two and left after turning fans on. Mark says the garage door isn't working properly so don't touch it. Lance gives me the low down and takes me through the order of what's coming next. He knows I need to know cos there's a knock on effect if I don't get tradies organised. In short, delay. 

I visit Scoff at Radcliffes on the way home to pick up a wire box for the hall. It's ugly but after I nearly have a melt down I learn it can go in the wardrobe. 

Night comes and I'm too tired to go for a drink but there is reason to celebrate: 0 new cases again, and no active cases in the South Island. Only 8 active in New Zealand. We're officially liberated down here.

Day 62- Out of the Woods Wednesday

It's a day of getting on. Break through at the bank...I've got the correct documentation and they assure me I'll get a loan. I spend some time with Julia, whom I've got to know over the years putting the paper in order. Needs face to face.
I drop the marble basin back at Pete's. He's so hemmed in by road works it's almost impossible to get through the door. He's not there, but I can imagine the frustration. It would kill business in the meantime. Seems unnecessary to physically cripple businesses like that. After picking Kahu up we head to the house. The plasterers have started. They're a cheery pair and definitely know what they're doing. One of them is on stilts which allows him to easily reach the high places. Grant next door is cheerily getting on with his diy. While Lance fills me in on the ins and outs of the paint and the plaster. It's just as well he's there. He's got his finger on the pulse.
One last stop at Designastyle to organise tiles and I'm home for a ride up the hill. Big news for the day is two 20 somethings who have been missing for 19 days in the bush near Nelson, have been found alive and hungry. Lucky. And we're beating Covid: 0 new cases today and only 3 left in the South Island.

Day 61- Gibbed

Red letter day, gibbing done. The house sort of looks more like a house. Comments that keep coming up are, it's big. I'm beginning to think this too but I wonder if the high ceiling I fought so hard for is what creates this impression. I'm also beginning to wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew. Too late now. It definitely didn't look that big when it was a concrete slab. It's grown.

I stop off on the way to school and call Kirk. Question, how straight is the round window. He assures me it's as straight as he can make it. The horizontal lines can't be level if the vertical one is. So the window has to be somewhere in between. Ka pai. My mind is at ease.
The gibbing means the rooms have taken shape. Even some colour. Meanwhile, at school, my two Year 10 classes are reading The Diary of Anne Frank. Once we're past the newness of reading out loud, they love it. It's the participation where they get to be the characters, and the story. Particularly relevant now. I wonder how the Franks and van Daans managed to live in such close proximity, deprived of food and fresh air, so long without killing each other. Eventually the Nazis did it for them.
I drop documents at the bank. It closes early so I can't go in. Lance is in position under the verandah having an animated paint/car chat with Grant over the fence. Since Covid Grant has accelerated his DIY. Lance gives him filling and painting tips. A late call to Nicki and I've chosen bathroom floor tiles. Same as the ensuite. And have the courage to figure out appliances. Progress is sure and steady. Covid cases today, 0. Cases remaining in the South Island, 3.

Kitchen- go Nicky!

Kahu and the Goodlands' cat

Day 60- A Big Day

Today I tackle the extra last last minute pre gibbing items. Acoustic installation in the kitchen, and I've decided, the living room. I don't like asking for more but it's now or never. And there's the curtain fixings. I've sent an e-mail and call in to tell the gibbers not to gib too quickly in the "wrong" places. I wait and wait. Maybe they're dropping their kids at school. I have to rush to get to second period which, on a grey drizzly Monday, is quiet as quiet.
Kirk calls cos he's confused about where to put the curtain fixings. I'm confused too so call Nicky. She puts us straight, so to speak. Kirk's in and out in an hour and a half. Easy. Worth asking. And the round window is well and truly installed. But is it straight? I leave with a niggle.
After school I head to the doctor. Well, I would if I could get in the door. The current procedure is phone then wait in the car park. They're half an hour late and I'm outside and grumpy by the time it's my turn. A sore mouth- the doctor asks me if I'm stressed. No, I lie.
On the way home I stop at Designastyle but call next door first. The men standing around watch me struggle in with the marble basin and then are so disinterested I head straight out. Very uninspiring. I find Frankie at Designa and we locate the right tile within two minutes. I'm so sick of looking at tiles, I'm relieved. This one is a mistake order so a good price and natural looking. Reminds me of Central Otago schist.
We reach home and I'm exhausted. After dinner I drive to my homeopathic friend, Lis, in Lyttleton. Are you stressed she asks. This time I tell the truth. House building is not for sissys. I nearly fall asleep while she's preparing the pillules. Life in the fast lane.
Covid in NZ- 0 cases. World wide 5.5 million cases, 350,000 deaths. US 1.7 million cases, 98,000 deaths.

Day 59- Southerly on the Way

Trees are skeletons, leaves are blowin' in the wind, washing's hanging limply on the line. Kahu arrives home late morning with a hangover. We call Tom and Tammy to check in and catch up. They miss the boys and we have a chat about nose ring piercing. They're taken aback. Life goes on in Arkansas. They're still working but kids are home from school. In fact last Wednesday would have been Kahu's graduation and, to make up for missing it, the community have been putting pictures of the kids around El Dorado.
I pay off a house bill and drop Kahu off with a mate. We're supposed to be spreading the dirt pile but there's a series of drop ins and we're not that motivated anyway. Now the house is painted, the windows and the corbels add character, and the walls are going up, there's something to see. Marie and Mark, James and Cat, finally, a neighbour. It's getting dark when I leave. And drop in to see Nicki's builds. Impressive and so different to mine. In front of TV I get papers organised for the bank.

Mark and Maree

James, Kahu, Cat and Sam

Garage chat

Day 58- Celebratory Drinks

I don't sleep in but don't have to get up so I read in bed. My house job today, looking for floor tiles. The never ending job. There are so many sizes, finishes, colours and tones. I drop into a couple of shops and take a large, 600 x 600, sample with me. I also revisit the William Morris wallpaper, Brook, I like and check the price. $339.00 per square metre. Scary. It's super special with deer in a forest by a brook. Inspired by medieval tapestries. My second choice, Pomegranate, is normal William Morris prices, and in my range as a discretionary buy, ie something I allow myself as a budgeted treat. But not right now with money walking out the door.
I pack up nibbles and bubbles and head to the house with Kahu. He's got his bike and after he's helped unload, he's off. I'm celebrating the lead light windows, postponed from the Friday of lock down. And there's the house as far as it's come, to celebrate and get a sense of. Amana arrives first then Sharyn with her walker. Ellen who had a managed earthquake rebuild and is super excited for me, having lived it herself. Fi who had a cuppa with me on the eve of  lock down. Hasy, who's built his own house and adding to it. Ros, his girlfriend. Bernie, who put me in touch with Sheryl, wonder woman of plumbing supplies. Sherry and Tricia. Kritara who helped plan and put me off installing a sink in the kitchen island. Greg, who was planning to build an extension but was defeated by council regulations on hilly ground. And, last but not least, Nicky, kitchen and all round designer extraordinaire.