I drive around. My aim, to get a few tidy up jobs out of the way. First drop is Kahu at Riccarton Mall to do Christmas shopping. Fatal. It takes half an hour in traffic to get north of Moorhouse Ave. Something about the wait unhinges my brain and I go backwards from there. I buy a light which turns out to be a lemon- sort of. Alistair at Vintage Wonderland critiques it and tells me it's about 20 years old, even though it's vintage style. The shade is lovely but the metal is thin and rusty. I consider taking it back to the Marketplace seller but I can't return it just cos I don't like it, and he's just been driven into by a doddery old lady and written that off so I decide to suck it up.
It goes on the front porch while I go round the back to tidy up some stones. The never ending south garden job. Kirk peers round the back, having sent me two messages and tried to call. The Christchurch City Council inspector is pulling up. I'm in my filthy work clothes but no-one seems to care. It's hot, nearly Christmas and we just want to get there. I offer the inspector a glass of water and he gets going. He likes the house. I tell him Kirk and the boys have done a good job. He's from England so I distract him with chat about Staffordshire and Margaret Thatcher. It's a relaxing visit. I'm not fretting about what he's going to find missing cos I'm sure it's all been done. Except the fire alarms which I've got three of and we negotiate where to put them. Happy days. Kirk and the inspector chat about the other house Kirk has just built for difficult clients. They bond. Round the back and up the drainpipe, there are a lack of spreaders but he says he'll trust us to get these done. Clearwater Spouting strikes again- my job. Mr Inspector takes some photos, wishes us Merry Christmas and leaves. Kirk's stoked, I'm stoked. We shake hands, a tight builder's clamp.
Fi drops in. She's stoked as well. We chat about the year and our roles as teachers. Fi's got a new job as a Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour. Getting out of the classroom is a constant stream in my head but I like the cut and thrust of the classroom too much. Conflict day by day, lesson by lesson. I send Fi off with a Marketplace mirror which doesn't suit my house but will work in hers. Kahu returns and is unfazed by the news this house is ours now. I'm still taking it in. This house is definitely my house. I've seen it through from conception to skeleton to arrival. Yes, it's been a bit like having a baby, the builder, the midwife. His role to see my vision become material.
At the beach the wind breezes through my dredlocks. Birds wheel and swing, buoyed by currents of air. Water rushes over my skin and massages my limbs. Bliss, freedom, the load has lifted. Memories of the swim I had, February 23nd 2017, flood back. That day I had a meeting a poe-faced representative of my insurance company, NZI, and my quantity surveyor. It didn't go well. The rep stolidly defended NZI's position and I felt like giving in. I knew the settlement wasn't fair. But Nicki said I had to keep going, that I was nearly there. So I did.
When we return Lynley, Keith and Timmy are in the living room. I'm excited, Kahu is tired and grumpy, so these old friends are the right people at the right time because I need to celebrate. We break out Lynley's damson gin, cheese and everything else edible in the fridge. I'm dancing on air and down gin after gin. Time to let loose. I've earned it.
It's only later I realise Kahu is reading a book for the first time since he was 14. His Christmas shopping purchases. I'm stoked.
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