Airini

My friend Airini has died.

Over the two years I knew her she was always popping by with magazines for me to read. We'd have a chat with her sitting on her motorbike wrapped up in wet weather gear, woollen gloves, scarves and a cap perched on top even in the heat of summer. She'd pull an old hessian sack over her knees to keep the chill off and carry a stick to wave at Lil if she got up to mischief. She took a great interest in my cats, especially Kit who she called the most beautiful cat she'd ever seen (Kit was forever rolling over showing her tummy and generally behaving like a tart). Often Airini would bring photos to show me of the cats her family owned when she was young, then more recent pictures of the middle aged version of herself with kid goats climbing over her farmbike back in the 80s. Often she'd cut the conversation short before rushing home to watch a rugby match or else the cricket on Sky while she did crosswords to keep her mind sharp as a tack.

Earlier this year she began driving down to the farm dump with bags of photos and memorabilia to burn. She said she was having a clear out so her niece wouldn't have to do it after she was gone. It was only weeks later that I heard she'd been diagnosed with Leukaemia. She no longer rode her four wheeler motorbike but instead drove her car down to do her few farm chores with her dog Lil still running beside her. There were no more conversations at the front fence but she'd always hold her hand up in greeting as she drove by.

I never got to say goodbye before I left the farm but two weeks ago when I heard she'd had an accident I rang the farm manager's wife who told me that Airini had gone to open a gate and fainted. Turned out she was dehyrdated and her family, fearing she wasn't looking after herself, put her in a home. I sent her a card over a week ago never expecting that she'd die suddenly a few days later. Her heart must have broken from having to leave the land. She was in her 89th year.

The Big Shift- Again.

I thought it would never happen but I've finally shifted. After being surrounded by boxes for months I am in a new home- surrounded by boxes.
The day before I was due to move on the 24th March I felt I was running out of stream. Gay arrived late morning and took a carload of breakables to the new place while I schlepped from room to room putting the last bits and pieces into whatever I could find. In the afternoon Gine arrived for a couple of hours and we packed my winter clothes, the last of the ornaments from the dining room and the remainder of the office stuff. Diane and Richard were also busy taking my old henhouse and reassembling it on the front lawn plus trailer loads of cages, plants and outside dross.

Tuesday dawned grey and drizzly but later turned sunny which was an immense relief. The truck driver wasn't due until 4pm which meant it would be a late night for us all. Rich and Di arrived early to take more stuff down and at 3pm my new helper and friend Rose as well as Marie and Gay turned up with cars to transport fragiles. However the truck didn't arrive until 4.30pm with only one man instead of two so everyone had to help take things outside, even Charlotte with daughters Georgia and Ella. Finally we had it all loaded at 6.30 so I piled into Rose's car with Mishka on my knee and we drove to the new house.

It took another two hours to unload the truck but fortunately this time the driver's son had arrived to help. In the end we just piled things into the sitting room so that I couldn't even get in there. Marie, Gay and Rose left while the truck was finally being cleared. Another problem was that I had no water so Betty next door rang her son and he turned it on when he arrived home an hour later. Then we discovered that the telephone didn't work but by then it was getting really late so Diane and Richard said they would return the next day and we would sort everything else out then.

When I released the cats they all disappeared beneath the spare bed. After a while though they began exploring which ended in a crash and Gypsy racing out of the sitting room. I then discovered she'd upended a box of china so carefully transported by Gay and broken three pieces of antique china. I was too tired to even cry. By this time the water was back on so I ran a bath but someone had turned the hot water cylinder off so it was more of a hurried wash as the cold water was combined with the bathroom window being open as it was broken and couldn't be closed.

I clambered into bed about 10.30pm but began to freeze as there was a broken window in my bedroom. At 2am I got up and stuffed a rubbish bag in the cracks before crawling back to bed. Demelza had a particularly rough night becoming so stressed that she ripped holes in my sheets. Peaches was forever jumping up on my knee and Kit decided to spend the night sleeping on my head for comfort. Gypsy was being ignored due to the china breaking incident.

I slept in until 7am the next morning. I managed to persuade the dog to go outside although he wanted to come back in immediately. I made a cup of tea and fed the cats but later forgot to feed myself. My cousin Elaine arrived just after 9am followed by Rose and Gay and we began getting the kitchen organised. Then Rose left to clean the other house while the three of us began to shift boxes out of the sitting room so that we could change the furniture around. By midday you could actually sit down on a comfortable chair.

By then Lorraine (one of my brother's friends) turned up followed shortly afterwards by Diane and Rich who began covering in the carport with tarps and wirenetting to make a secure shelter for the rabbits. Mid afternoon the others had left so we decided to head down to the old house to collect the bunnies. Diane was going with Rich's friend and myself with Rich but Lorraine's car wouldn't start as the battery was flat. This had to be only time Richard didn't have his jump leads in the car so we had to drive into Tikokino village to collect a pair from his sister in law. By the time we arrived back and managed to get Lorraine's car started it was 5.30pm and the sun was beginning to set.

At the old house the others went around the back with Lorraine's two dogs while I put the rabbit's in carry cages and put them in Rich's car. While he took down their cages Diane and I rolled up the polythene with its wet sawdust and manure and bundled it into bags. While Rich and I drove back Lorraine and Di sluiced out the garage with hot water.

By the time we returned it was dark so with the aid of Rich's torch I got into the hen house and managed to catch all the bantams. As I caught each one Rich would bundle it into a bank of cages which were strapped to the trailer. After I finished we covered this with a tarp and drove home where I put them into their original hen house Rich had erected on the front lawn.

In the middle of all this a ute drove over to the fence and someone jumped out. This was my first meeting with my new landlord who wrote down the name of the electricity company he had the cottage with and which I needed to shift over to. What he must have thought with three dogs running around I don't like to think but we were too tired to explain what was happening.

Everyone left soon after that so I fed the rabbits in their carry cages as we hadn't had time to hang their own ones and then went inside to feed the cats, have a cup of tea, a hot bath and then crawl to bed by midnight.

Thursday Richard arrived early morning saying that he was going to collect my firewood. He did this in two loads and I helped him to unload the wood into the small shed at the back. In the middle of this Gay rang to say that Gareth and Gine had found a horse float and she'd be down at 4.30 to collect me so I could help load Briar and bring her back. Mid morning Telecom arrived to fix something on the roadside so I could finally get my phone working. Mid afternoon Rich arrived back with Diane and we had to decide where to hang the cages which wasn't easy as the roof was over 12 feet high. Finally deciding on where a couple should go I was able to leave with Gay thinking I would only be half an hour away. Instead of which another adventure was in store.

We stopped to collect Gareth and the trailer before heading back down the road for the last time. Briar was excited to see us as she must have been lonely for company. I got the halter on her easily but soon as she was walked towards the ramp of the horse float she put her brakes on. We pulled, I pushed her bottom, I tried to place one hoof at a time on the ramp and by this manner we actually got her to the top before she'd had enough and jumped off sideways scratching just above her eye in the process.

Next I got inside the horse float and tried to pull her in while Gay and Gareth pushed from the other end. I suggested Gay head over to the manager's house and ask if Andrew could lend up a hand and a rope but Charlotte said he wasn't there. However Gay waved down two men who were heading home after working on the cow shed. One bearded guy with a paunch stuck his head round the door and said "Gidday. Is she a kicker?" I assured him she was an angel with anything but floats. By this time his opposite (a tall skinny man) arrived. They sized up the situation, grabbed a synthetic rope from their truck, stood on either side behind her with the rope between them and told us to pull. The shock of having a yellow donkey thong up her rear end was enough to startle Briar into rushing up the ramp which meant to had to move smartly out of the way while Gareth tied her up before she could back up again. Our two hairy angels were very bemused by the whole situation "When anyone asks what I did today I can say I installed a ***** and got a donkey into a float" the skinny one said with a grin.

By 6.30pm we were home. Gareth backed the float into the driveway and opened the door. Briar backed out, covered with sweat and stressed. I walked her round the back and put her out into the paddock. Gay and Gareth left shortly afterwards, no doubt wondering what they'd done to deserve such an experience!

I went inside to check the cats only to hear Diane yell out. By the time I got outside they were racing across the paddock in the car. Briar apparently had seen some cattle and trotted over braying hello. Next thing the cattle all chased her back. She led them a merry chase around two paddocks before doubling behind them and following Rich's car back over to the gate. We were all a bit shaken by this time. Rich finished hanging most of the cages by 8 pm and they both left soon afterwards. I transferred the buns back into their cages, fed and watered them. On heading back inside I had my first evening meal for three days consisting of two Cruskitts and chocolate icecream to follow before falling asleep on the sofa for two hours.

Friday morning the 27th was my first day on my own. I woke at 7am again but got out and checked that everyone was ok including Briar who came over to say hello. However she disappeared during the day and later Betty arrived on her pushbike to say that Briar had been over by the other farm cottage and become convinced I was inside and brayed all day for me to come out. She had chased her back but suggested that I call out to her to let her know where I was. I did this over the next day and Briar soon became accustomed to her new home. Now just to get the goats back!