Small Steps

 It’s been a week of small steps, little satisfaction for the man who wants everything yesterday.

Jon viewing the scenery at Taylor's Mistake

On the good news front, our ship has come in.  Literally.  The container with all our worldly belongings from Columbus has made it’s way to Lyttleton via Norfolk and Singapore.  Geography lesson, Lyttleton is the major port for Christchurch, 20 kliometers southeast of the city.  We were very fortunate that our ship didn’t go to Auckland first.  There’s been a labor dispute with port management and the dock workers up there that has tied up shipments there.

Having said that, it will be another two weeks before the contents of our container are delivered to the house, May 2 for those who are counting.  In the continuing realm of paperwork, the contents need to be inspected by the NZ MAF (New Zealand’s equivalent of the US Department of Agriculture) to make sure that we’re not bringing in illicit animals or insects, or even worse, non-Kiwi soil.

The week before the ship was due to arrive, I received an e-mail asking for further description of items listed in our container’s inventory from the MAF.  Never mind that this was the third inventory and after three different forms describing the state of pertinent items to the MAF.  In the forms, you’re asked to identify goods that may have soil on them or if you’re bringing plants or animal-based products.  Yes, I left my coon-skin hat at home and have diligently scrubbed anything that remotely had contact with soil, patio furniture, garden tools, bike and the soles of all my shoes.

The latest queries were about boxes labeled House Items by the movers in our inventory.  Now there are two problems, one, these boxes were re-packed by the movers out of our eyesight and two, have a hard time remembering the contents of my pockets from last week, forget about two and a half months ago.  Using my best Sherlock Holmes skills I deduced the range of items from the rooms the goods were packed.  Forget about the specifics of each box, my nightmare was that if I misidentified the contents of one box, I’d encourage a thorough search of every one of our 231 items.  And what are the items that draw red flags, tennis balls and the prospect that I might have “football” shoes because I listed footballs in the inventory of items. 

We’ll just keep answering questions and hope that our belongings get here eventually.  At this point I’ve forgotten what non-cardboard nightstands and coffee tables are like and rather enjoy our sawed off plastic bottle sugar bowl and pencil holder.  I have to laugh, we were told that our container has already cleared NZ Customs before it even got to Lyttleton.  Ask no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.

My adventures in the world of Sports Medicine and plantar faciatis continue.  A week after the cortisone shot and the pain killer has worn off and I’m down to a mild ache.  I’ve now been introduced to the world of podiatry and have video proof that I walk on my toes and rotate my ankles in.  Twenty-five years of goalkeeping will do that.  I now have orthotics and am hoping to get released to start activity again on Thursday.  Get ready for the heart attack.

My “employment” endeavor continues to be enjoyable and therapeutic.  Thank you Selwyn Ladies.  While we’re still winless, we’ve come a long way from week one.  We got absolutely drilled in our first game by Hornby 9-0 and after a 3-0 loss to Avon we broke the drought and scored a goal last week to lose 5-1.  This past Saturday was a game with High School Old Boys, league leaders who had beaten Hornby 13-0.  The potential for disaster was ripe, but the girls did well.  We lost 7-2, but in the realm of positives we were the first side to score two goals off them and managed to not allow a goal after our goalkeeper got sent off.

Where's Jon?

Thanks Beth for a brilliant afternoon at Taylor’s Mistake and it was literally a mistake for us.   Slug man was ready for a Sunday at home and my wife, Dora the Explorer, wanted to go for a drive to Lyttleton.  After a morning contemplating an afternoon in my reclining chair and Beth insisting she wanted to get out for a drive, regardless of whether I came, persistence beat resistance.  A map would have been a good thing to bring, but then again we never would have found Taylor’s Mistake.  Apparently Taylor’s Mistake was named for the sailing equivalent of our trip, ships thinking they were sailing into Lyttleton pulled into the harbor there.  The beach is amazing there and it’s a big spot for surfers.  Hills and cliffs surround the harbor and there’s a great trail that goes around the perimeter.

Jon on the trail

Life continues to surprise me in amazing ways if I just slow down to see what’s there.  As I’m writing this, I just got an e-mail that our goods will be inspected by MAF on Thursday.  The world doesn’t revolve around my schedule and that’s probably a good thing.  The journey is good.

Wild Allysum (guess who snuck in these photos? :)