School assemblies banned during
covid19 restrictions. The principal
hands out certificates of achievement
for the week to each class.
The ten year old has three
more months at primary school.
She received and achievement
certificate last week for constant
perseverance always putting
100% effort into her work.
Her meltdowns at school are now
in the past but her exhaustion
meltdowns cans still happen late
in the day. She puts so much
energy into moving past her
dyslexia unco-ordination barriers.
For three years the grown-ups in her
life have told her they see her always
doing her best, working hard. She can
do anything. Help is arranged for her.
Her teacher of these two years gives
much praise, encouragement. The
ten year old no longer says
“I am dumb at maths.”
Her mother and I still see her
freeze in panic occasionally when
faced with something new.
I hope she continues to get
encouragement to persevere at
hurdles in school, in life.
Falling Off
The twelve year old now takes
herself to her Intermediate
school on her scooter with two
other girls from the cul de sac,
no longer driven to school by Mum.
She does older work to stretch her
busy brain and older kid subjects
like the drama elective this term.
The girls wear safety helmets
which so far have worked well
except for the day she hit a tree
root burrowing under the foot
path, flew over the scooter
handle bars, made a one point
landing on her chin …… heavily.
She rang Mum with the phone in
her school bag. That nasty headache
lasted a fortnight, diagnosed by
registered nurse Mum as mild
concussion. A few days off school
prescribed, then going to school in
the car …… she handled it.
No horse riding classes until the
headache vanished …… she does
fall off horses from time to time.
…… Disaster !
But registered nurse Mum will not
be swayed.
Separation
As the family’s elderly dog
slowed down in her later years
they brought home a puppy, for
company once she was gone for good.
The new arrival was a friendly
young fellow, from a branch of
shaggy old Hairy MacLary’s line.
He adored his family, even more
adored the old dog. his adoration
lifted her spirits so that she lived
another three unexpected years
before passing quietly in her sleep.
Thus I met him soon after, as I
left the massage therapist one
afternoon. The family’s Mum
brought him in his carry cage
to be near during her massage.
“No one is home,” she said.
“He is anxiety on four legs.”
He stayed calm while close to her.
Supermarket Shopping
Supermarket shopping when
living ten minutes walk away
was so easy I shopped often
taking home a light trundler load.
My new home is twenty five
minutes walk from the supermarket.
I walked there easily but my bulky
purchases were too heavy to pull
………. taxi !!
I organised myself to go with the
village’s weekly minibus group
to the supermarket. Easy peasy !
Until the nationwide lockdown came .
More taxis home.
The village minibus starts up
again next week …… Phew !!
Confusion
So ably she created art
painting, photography,
sewing machine patterns on cloth,
playing her flute so brilliantly.
When we told her of our lives
she fired unrelated unexpected
questions in to our conversations.
We wondered that she had eaten
so little for so long. Now she
suffered chronic fatigue, spent
days on her bed, exhausted,
refusing to play her flute.
Doctors did not accept her self
diagnosis of an obscure medical
condition much to her fury.
Nor do we. We see long time
starvation as her problem.
I rang to confirm my email
with my new address. Said she
could visit after lockdown ended.
“What’s so serious about Covid 19 ?”
she asked. I thought. “It kills
more people more often than
other illnesses. It spreads fast.”
“Ooooh !” she said, baffled.
Her sparse family is scattered,
estranged.
She is terrified of rest homes.
Falling Meteor
AUSAPOCPAH
his keenly politically aware
group called themselves, active in
1960’s protests, demonstrations.
University students alongside him
in university lectures, tutorials.
Auckland University Students’
Association for Prevention of
Cruelty to Politically
Apathetic Humans.
Many moved on from their
studies to new life phases after
the 1960’s. Yet he and his close
core continued to highlight
Vietnam, Cambodia, nuclear
disarmament, and other
global issues.
His strong personality often
shone the spotlight on him
in his subsequent ventures as
he dared over new boundaries.
Until now. We are both 74.
I never met him. Yet I am
stunned at publicity of him
stumbling through meeting
procedures in his long term
high profile position.
His wife with no experience of
his work tries to support him.
Successive deputies carried, still
carry a heavy double work load.
He will not leave.
No one can move him.
Internet Connection
After several calls to Telecom
in my first two weeks here to
connect me to the internet,
they emailed me …… No !
Internet connection d e l a y e d.
That day the nation went into
full scale Delta lock down.
The wireless wi-fi of my old
address was refused at my
new address. Only expensive
fibre broadband here – only
partially installed at that.
Shut inside my Delta “bubble”
three weeks with no internet.
I mulled it over …… plotted.
That first morning of level 2
alert’s partial freedom I was at
the private telco shop with my
mobile broadband “dongle”
bought in March 2012. Asked
for a 2021 version. they stared
wide eyed, but were polite.
After an hour’s due process
i walked out with their wireless
wi-fi modem like I had had
from Telecom before.
It has connected me to
the internet every since.
One day, maybe, Telecom
will accept me back as an
internet customer.
Downsizing
Downsized my little home
of nine years to afford
necessary medical treatment
our national health system
will never deliver on time.
Fell asleep over restful cups
of tea and evenings after dinner.
Cleared out half my possessions
over several months preparing.
Fell asleep over restful cups
of tea and evenings after dinner.
Dealt with new property sales laws,
retirement village requirements.
Fell asleep over restful cups
of tea and evenings after dinner.
Moved into my retirement village
spent weeks unpacking.
Still falling asleep over restful cups
of tea and evenings after dinner.
Stranded !
Finally established
in this new home after
several months due processes
of shedding bulk worldly
goods to welcoming charities.
Disconnected at my old
address by Telecom who
refused to reconnect me
at the new address even
after several phone calls
from the new address.
Restored internet access with
free wi-fi at the library so
the morning of Tuesday 17th
August, I caught up on emails,
blogs followed on WordPress.
Delay of internet connection
admitted in telecom’s email.
Paying for internet on my
computer I refused to spend
pension money on cell phone data.
All sorted on the library internet.
Lightning !! Thunderbolts !!
Afternoon of Tuesday 17th
August came nationwide
lock down for the Delta variant
arrival on our remote islands !!
Stay home or risk prosecution !!
STRANDED !!
O M G
So the big move is having ongoing upheavals roaring through most of my life.
One of those upheavals is moving into the retirement village just as it is getting set up for fibre internet. This takes a while to to do anyway. And it takes even longer for our residential complex. Today after my six phone calls over the last fourteen days I got an email from my internet provider to say my installation has been delayed. The office administrator here assures me that they are having problems with all the internet providers. I prefer to do my emails and blogging on my computer and have never bothered working out how to do it on my phone.
Family members have been making stupid suggestions so I have promised them to chop off various limbs if they tell my to ring my ISP with various stupid suggestions. Insistence on my doing computer stuff on my phone will bring instant execution – ie head chopped off. Everything is too hard at the moment.
It all seemed simple to start with. Parents lived all their lives in our largest city – the megalopolis. Left us a very ordinary house at a great price.
Siblings and I ended up in much smaller regional cities. With inheritance share we each managed to buy ordinary homes in our regional cities. I managed to buy into a small place in this village. Great idea when we have one middle aged couple of relatives living in the same city as five elderly relatives in their seventies in various states of decrepitude.
Ultimately we all think I did the right thing – as long as I do not chop them up in pieces.
I miss pottering through the blogs I follow in the evenings in between doing this and that. I am expecting to get to the library at least three days a week and use their wi-fi. The village does not have wi-fi in public areas !!! I never thought to ask, or that it would be necessary.
Miss you all and will do what I can to keep in contact.
lifecameos 