Today’s challenge - which I not only accepted, I invented it, too - was to move house and go on holiday on the same day.Now, this isn’t something I would recommend in a hurry, particularly should your method of transport for the house-moving section be a reliably dilapidated motor that skims the road by a centimetre even when there’s nothing in it, never mind when crammed with boxes and bags.
Another tip - should you defy my most sensible advice and take up the challenge yourself - is to drive the car up any nearby volcanoes (aka the drive) first before loading it. And - this is the most important bit - don’t do any of this during rush hour.
I can’t remember if I’ve ever complained about Auckland's rush hour before but, the truth is, I’ve never been in it. I just always thought I was in it at 7am, but in fact, it doesn’t really kick off and get really good till around 8, which was around the time I decided to hit the road (quite literally with the underside of the car) and move house.
I passed a fair chunk of the stationary on road tedium trying to fathom whether the ever increasing headache was from last night’s wine (surely not!) or being awake for at least an hour without having had a coffee… 35 minutes (or 1.2km) later I was still quite sure I had woken up feeling normal, so concluded caffeine deficit. Unless it was some kind of reverse hangover, which increases as the day progresses until your head explodes.
So, one house-move, two coffees, a ferry-ride and an airbus later, I would like to say I arrived at the airport refreshed and alive with the challenges and promise of the day yet to come (please! no more…) but quite frankly it’s as much as I can do to sit here between Taste of Asia and Café Down Under in the Jean Batten Food Court, no less, instructing my fingers to hit the right keys – or even just keys – and wish the nasty smells would go away. At least the headache’s on its way out.
The big question now, is: noodles or coffee, or both?
