Fifty Shades of Purple

There's been so much rain a pond has filled the cavity of the building site out by the school field and ducks are swimming on it. Friday nite and the first big party Anjie and Greig have had in years. We're breaking out of lock down mentality- it's Greig's birthday party from July and a catch up 40th party for Anjie's brother, Ryan. Eat My Shorts are playing and it goes off....there's ponchos, super hot chilli tequila and chilli beans. It goes off. 

Unfortunate coincidence of two big parties in one weekennd....I don't party too hard so I can get on the road at a respectable time. It's Deb's 60th down at Earnscleugh: Fifty Shades of Purple. Takes a while to get out of town as Bertie detours to pick up a spare tire. The sky is iron grey and there's water everywhere still, damage to the road through the Lindis. We drop our stuff at Lynette's, put on purple and head to Strode Rd, in the middle of orchards and vineyards set back from the Clutha. The start was 4pm and people are well lubricated and talking loudly by the time we get there. The party is in Deb's husbands work shed. Deer skulls hanging up high and loads of tools. We're out of the city. There's a vocalist, a very purple cake and we settle in. I meet up with a woman from my deep distant high school past. It takes a while for memories of the 1970's to resurface but M's face becomes increasingly familiar and the stories come flooding back. The fires burn brightly outside, the stars twinkle in the sky. 

It's a late morning. I shout lunch at the Dunstan in Clyde and as we sit by the open fire, snow flakes fall. It's early August, winter, road closures, Christchurch is a long way away. Monday and the roads are still closed so Bertie and I go round to Enterprise Street to do some maintenance. Trainspotter Bertie finds gaps in the fixings on the roof and sets about hammering them back in place. I clear the drains of tile grit again. Feels like there's a lot coming off and I'm wondering whether the tiles need replacing. They're 1973 originals. Yvonne next door tells me I should come down to live and relieve at the high school next door. Definitely not ready for that. 

It's a late start home. There's lots of snow and we encounter falling snow at Dansey's Pass till Kimball. There's been so little in the past few years, it's reassuring to feel it on my face again. Global warming may make this a rare occurance for our kids. 

Back to school- masks are compulsorily optional. We're supposed to wear them but few do. More staff than students but I don't see the point. Either we all do or not. I'm one of the only staff who don't to staff briefing. I feel exposed but want to be consistant. I don't like them anyway and the rates of Covid are falling. More important in my world is Kahu's driving test coming up on Thursday. Bertie gives him a lesson and I've got fingers and toes crossed. On Wednesday I get an e-mail from EV City to say my car is ready, come pick it up. I'm so excited but need Kahu to take the Toyota as there's no room for an extra car on College Ave because of parking restrictions to deter STAC student driver stayers. I don't want to hand the car over before he gets his licence cos he'll drive it illegally and have no insurance. Too risky from a mother's point of view. After a big build up, Kahu's Thursday test is put off till Friday. 

Rain, the Driving Lesson and the Rugby Final

There's more rain...Bertie helps me put the plaster cast of Michaelangelo's ear in the cavity of my walk in robe, and finish pruing the plum tree. Greg puts a ring on the back of my earthquake Portuguese plate, and I pick up shelf brackets for the garage from Neil who is now based against the hill in Halswell. I've had a sick day, feeling crap, and used it to mark and get new tires for the Toyota. Kahu drives Bertie and I to Neil's workshop then on a Marketplace pick up run. He drives to a back section down a long, narrow driveway and nearly hits the fence on the way out. Swears and calls Bertie and I some rude names then walks off. But comes back. Too stressful. Bertie has been giving him lessons without me. It works better. The driving test is only a couple of weeks away.

The electrics not done properly are revealed. Hudson shows me the switch board and tests the connections. That's why the lights in Tina and Jorge's rooms have been going off and on when they shouldn't. Probably lucky I didn't have a house fire. Because he can't buy the part he needs, he persuades a friend who is installing fuse boxes to take the tiny piece of metal from a box he's got then say it's missing. And get a refund for the now unusable box. Oops. 

Kahu's rugby team is playing their final at Hagley. I pick him up and drop him off then go back for the game with Bertie. Sherry and Chris arrive to watch. It's a nail biter and the Shirley boys crash over the line a number of times but the Marist team holds them up and they don't score. The game could go either way but when the final whistle blows, Shirley are in second place. The boys, one and all, are exhausted and soaked. I take Kahu home and feed him before he goes off to work 11 hours at Original Sin. He's got strength.

There's more rain...Bertie helps me put the plaster cast of Michaelangelo's ear in the cavity of my walk in robe, and finish pruing the plum tree. Greg puts a ring on the back of my earthquake Portuguese plate, and I pick up shelf brackets for the garage from Neil who is now based against the hill in Halswell. I've had a sick day, feeling crap, and used it to mark and get new tires for the Toyota. Kahu drives Bertie and I to Neil's workshop then on a Marketplace pick up run. He drives to a back section down a long, narrow driveway and nearly hits the fence on the way out. Swears and calls Bertie and I some effing c's again, the lesson started with this, then storms off. I'm driving away when we spot him walking back. Too stressful. Bertie has been giving him lessons without me. It works better. The driving test is only a couple of weeks away.