It feels like home, now that we’ve got a fire lit in the fireplace, and the fridge is full of kai. We’ve unpacked the magnetic poetry, and discovered that we have two copies of the queer edition. There are only so many sentences you can string together with two sets of rainbow community diversity queen butch bottom dildo fag. Luckily I also have the Shakespeare edition, and a few kiwi-ism magnets from the $2 Shop. So we have thou lavender dyke wench rattle-your-dags henceforth thy hokey-pokey trans commitment-ceremony”. Hmmmm...
I’m so glad to have my own place. It’s been four and a half months since I slept in my own bed. Or enjoyed the full extend of my collections of clothes, CDs, and books. And all my other stuff. I’m so very grateful to the friend who let me stay in her house while I looked for my own place... but I’m not sorry to leave all the quirks of her home. Like the telephone, with the buttons that wouldn’t work unless you warmed it up, cupped in your hand for ten minutes, or held it in front of the heater, and even then I could never get the 3 to work, which was annoying because my parents’ number has a 3 in it.
I never thought I’d end up living in Naenae though. It seems so far away. I think it’s more of a mental distance though. It’s quite a quick train trip. And within a block or two from our house there’s a swimming pool, library, supermarket, the train station, police station (not sure if it’s a good thing or bad thing that they’re just across the road but it seems very quiet so I guess that’s a good thing) video shop, Pacific Island food shop, health food / organic shop that does a decent espresso.
My flatmates have a dog, which is a new experience for me. I was bitten by one when I was little, and we never had dogs in my family or among my close friends, so I never got used to them. This one is a sweetie though, her name is Chance. She’s very enthusiastically bouncy. She seems very quiet, which is good because her kennel is going to be right outside my bedroom window. I don’t know anything about dogs so don’t ask me what sort she is. Medium, brown.
We also have lots of ants. And bora.
But no doors. I mean, there’s a front door, and a back door. But nothing in between. Just holes in the frames where once upon a time there must have been hinges and latches. Even my bedroom has no door. Weird. Luckily I have a flatmate who’s really good at practical things like hanging doors.
Oh, and did I mention we have a church? Building I mean. A disused church. Mostly that’s going to be where my flatmates hang out, but we can have parties there, and open mic nights, poetry performances, the possibilities are endless...
So really, I think it’s worth coming all the way out here. I hope so.
I have vague childhood memories of visiting my aunt out at Naenae, and swimming in the swimming pool there.
Also of making her take me to the secondhand bookshop we saw on the way, and spending my holiday money on copious amounts of books.
Posted by: Grant at May 24, 2006 07:32 PMCongrats on a successful flathunt! Clare Bear and her partner Brendan (or Bunji), her CU partner, recently bought a house in Naenae. Do you remember her? Happy settling in.
Posted by: Pamela at May 28, 2006 01:03 PMHi there, I was very interested in the bit you wrote about the Ger warming party. I am trying to build a Ger and wonder if you could point me to the person (or give him my email address) so I can make contact and learn some more.
thank you so much.
Kath