2021 Begins

Sunshine for a hangover. My head is full of cotton wool and my feet shuffle along the hall, automatically stopping at the pantry. I'm on autopilot for coffee. Today's odd jobs are on the back burner till I recover, but I manage to pull weeds. A major achievement, and the half of my brain still working ponders how much alcohol the body can absorb and still function. 

Mark arrives at lunchtime. Here to pick up Kahu who is still asleep. Kahu woke me for the second night in a row to get in so we collectively organise a spare key stash. If he forgets his key while I'm away, he'll be stuck outside. Breaking in will be like trying to get into Fort Knox. I drop in at Merivale Mall which is ghostly silent with enough space to swing a cat.  Same as Christchurch. Everyone who can has left to make the most of the statutory holidays. As one of a small minority, I'm enjoying the space and  peace of empty streets. My day ends with Susie Q, high as a kite after socialising with her neighbours, and Sharyn who spends all evening looking for the leash of her mum's dog. She's concerned about handing him back in one piece. My hangover improves enough to share a bottle of bubbly with Sue. As she leaves I walk round the neighbourhood getting rid of the huge heap of noxious, seeding weeds Kahu and I have collected over the week. If I put them in my compost bin, I'll be pulling them out of the garden for the next 7 years. Houses take time and effort to build, so do gardens.

2020 Ends

Listening to the radio, many state they're happy 2020 is ending. I've been so busy this year, I haven't clocked the ups and downs of Covid. I enjoyed lockdown- life was quieter, slower, and I got a breather from building decisions. I collected my wits, did some digging, filled nail holes, and generally tidied up. After 7 weeks, we started again. At the end of the build, some products couldn't get here...first world problem. Life in New Zealand is much the same as usual. 

So I celebrate the end of 2020, much as any other year, except I'm at the Old Government Building bar with Chris and a dedicated group of OGB'ers, one of whom buys drinks all night. I haven't drunk on New Year's Eve for probably 7 years because I've been at Convergence. Tonight, I party hard in my Norwegian Blue Fox coat and pirate hat. The Eastern and Adam Mc Grath bring in the new year, then I stumble into a taxi with Gloria, losing a possum sock but otherwise in one piece. I roll up the steps and fumble the key into the lock of my new whare drunk as a lord. I've been sober as a judge most of the year to keep my powder dry and build my house. It's been a massive challenge, now it's done. I can relax. Viva 2020, roll on 2021.

 

Yet More Gardening

My departure to go south to help sort out Lionel's house is impending and so I pick up the gardening implements yet again. I plant more of the trees I've bought and which are well overdue to put in the ground, move a few shrubs I've plonked in the back garden during the build, to the front, and tidy up random stones from the foundations and the concrete path. I feel I've been doing this forever and I'd like more variety in my life. But needs must. I sell the drawers and the light purchase failure... putting things in order. 

Stuff

House stuff = tidying up the garage, putting things on Marketplace, retrieving random large furniture articles from Chris's, finding a place for them in the house. It's all about possessions. Like it or hate it, we need stuff but I've got way more than I need. And I got rid of a lot when I packed up. During the acts of packing and unpacking, I've handled everything, made decisions about whether to keep or throw away everything, and where to put all the stuff I'm keeping. My brain is working overtime. Stuff is beginning to do my head in. A responsibility and a liability. Full stop.

We go to Taylor's to cool off then share a pavlova with Chris and Biff. They've been busy doing normal things. The pav is my first in the new oven- soft, spicy from the pickled onion vinegar I added, melts in the mouth.

Gardening and Shopping

Another domestic day. We're making progress but it's never ending. Today's gems, buying jeans for Kahu and digging down to the insects and worms in the compost. 

Another Day of Gardening

Digging, scraping, procrastinating planting the trees sitting in a row by the fence. I've got a few. Wherever I put them, they will need space when they grow. But I can't picture what they'll look like in 20 years. There are natives, an apple and a Japanese maple. I make a start. Kahu and I go to the beach. He reads his book, again, while I brave the wind. The water is not as cold as the air. I bump into Alex and the girls in the changing room. And we eat Christmas leftovers at theirs after Kahu has climbed a huge macrocarpa. I sit down finally and cat nap. It's been an exhausting month, the jobs are never ending, but the end is in sight. One more job for today, Pete's 60th. He's proud as punch.