I get up early and do some detective work. Sharyn's builder says he starts at 7:15. Yeah right. When I leave at 7:45 he's still not there. I also volunteer to help with front of house at the school production of Grease. Takes me back to 1978, my AFS year in Escondido, and teen drinking back in Invercargill. A night of drinking cask sherry and smoking cigarettes before going to a Southland Girls'/ Southland Boys' High dance. Back in 2021 at Papanui High, this musical is a mammoth effort from all involved, but awesomely good. Teens playing teens and I love seeing kids I've taught onstage as stars. First Friday night of the month- Eat My Shorts at 12 Bar. We're all mates down there. Half the band are too.
I've volunteered to host Thursday drinkers' Christmas dinner. The living area is so perfect for a group dinner and we've known each other for years.... pre kids, post break ups, to and from London. Never more than a pub away. We're whanau. Chris tries to light the Christmas pudding but doesn't have much luck.
Sunday is usually garden time and today I begin moving plants I plonked at the back while waiting for cold weather at the end of the build. The sap is rising and I can't delay any longer and dig a garden strip along the front. As I'm not going to build a fence and need some privacy, I'm going to try middle-sized shrubs. I dig up the rhododendrons I bought at the Oderings Labour weekend sale in 2019 when the demolition didn't happen but had the day off. They've been waiting patiently. Chris arrives and I move indoors for Christmas leftovers and a beer.
After 7 months with nude windows, the curtains are on their way. I tidy up so Greg, the expert installer, can see himself think. Looks better already. Tuesday starts at 6am with a trip to the beach to look for Matariki, the Pleidies, Seven Sister star constellation. But it's overcast and a nor wester and we don't see anything. I'm back at my beach, though, my summer home away from home. Such an early rise knocks me for six and I feel like I've got a hangover all day. Nobody notices.
End of term is coming up so everything is possible. And there's curtain enhancement in my private life. Anjie comes round to help me choose a colour for Sharyn's bedroom and gets to see the result of her curtain coaching. My room looks markedly different. The room feels smaller. I get some ribbons to tie these wads of fabric back. I think I like them. Then I stop thinking.
Thursday is Matariki tree planting. As I'm going over the railway bridge so are a crowd of excited Waimairi primary school kids on their way to a bonfire in the back field. More exciting than our gathering at Papanui where I'm too late for stars and but it's too dark to see the trees we're planting on the school boundary. After karakia we have kai in the staffroom. It's been a week of voluntary early starts and, by Friday, I'm knackered. Roll on end of Term Two. I survived.
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