I've been looking forward to this job- moving the Tasmanian Blackwood I bought back in February to the house. Yeah right. Before it's laid, the wood has to acclimatise to moisture levels in its new environment. I'm hyped and up early to make breakfast for Kahu and Chris. I don't want any hangry people. My thinking is that we'll be done and dusted by early afternoon. How wrong could I be? For starters, it takes ages to strap the wood to the top of the trailer at Kenneally's Lumber Yard. The load is bulky and heavy and needs to be stable. We put half the 130 square metre order on, it's all we can tow. It's 11am already and the yard closes at 12. We rush to dump the first trailer on the verandah so we can make it back in time for the second. There's one or two dings in the verandah post. Lance is not going to be happy. It's a relief to get the second load but not so funny when we get back and see how much we've got to stack. We're putting it in my room which means we have to carry it through the living room or round the side of the house. Carefully.
The planks are tongue and groove, different lengths, and some are stuck together. It's easy to start with but as time wears on we slow down. I buy fish and chips, a calorie reviver, and diet Coke, a caffeine shot. We regroup. By the second load we're starting to wear a path through the house and Kahu's starting to understand the potential of people power. His comment, "We need more people." I did think of that before we started. Lucky for Chris and I, he's young and fit with a good set of biceps. He unloads the second trailer by himself. Chris and I are stack. Four layers of planks, lengths of whatever wood I can find in the reject pile at the front, then four more. And so we go till the trailer is empty. It's a welcome sight. We're all exhausted. I'm still hoping to get to Lighthouse to sort out my order but it's after 4pm. Time to pack it in.
At home I'm not done yet. Trade Me has no fees today. I pull out stuff I've had on Marketplace and list, list, list. I'm not a Trade Me fan so don't really know the pitfalls but I want to declutter. It's all house, house, house. It's been a manic day.
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