Staying With Maxine and Sousa

I take my stuff to Max's. She's got her shop, her worry about her daughter, her house and land which needs work. Her philosophy is laid back but she gets things done. Keeps her brain occupied and she's got to earn a living. I spend time at the shop, raking up leaves and walnuts from her mother of a tree, and hanging out. Max has grown up and spent her life in the community and is a mother figure, relaxed and open. We have a party night on the verandah. You never know who's going to turn up at the house and people do. We have another party night with Russell, Lionel's old mechanic, and others. Lionel, neighbour, drops in of an evening while he's walking the dog, with a can of bourbon in one hand. I go for bike rides in the autumn colours. After an Anzac service we almost miss due to Covid rearrangments, Max and I go for a tandem ride by the Clutha. It's a magic river: strong with a sustaning wairua. Its history, gold, fruit orchards, electricity. Daunting- I've never swum in it.

I cook for Max and do what I can to look after her but I've got to go. In the end I stay two nights in Wanaka- biking and visiting friends I had forgotten living there. It's a million miles away from Christchurch and my life. Just what I need. The brakes on my bike are weak and I tip over on a tree root  going too slowly. The fall is slow but the bike with me below it slides down a bank grazing my left shin. I manage to keep my very swollen finger out of the way but freeze for ten minutes breathing my way through serious pain. I don't look down. I'm contemplating how to get back up to the track when a biker stops to help. A welcome rescue. The track back winds and winds and takes forever to get back to Albertown. I'm well over it byt the time I see houses. 

Back at Sousa's I can't find antiseptic so make do with a red solution which stings. Sousa talks me into another day. No rush. I'll be going home just in time for Tina to be out of her 7 day Covid isolation. So lucky she tested positive after I left so I didn't have to isolate in Christchurch. Phew.