Venturing Forth

 The husband person of this quirky household decided he needed to buy a battery for his newest toy, his VW Golf GTI. Although it already had a battery in it, he questioned its strength to provide adequate power to this very high performance engine that takes off like a bat out of you know where at several roundabouts, terrifying the driver momentarily.

But he persisted with his desire to give it an appropriate battery. So we ventured forth on Monday, the last of the awful weather days that was forecast, after the four miserable days that preceded it. Yikes.

I’d had the choice of staying home doing my domestic duties dutifully or accompanying him. There was no question in my mind which option was the most preferable. Either staying home on that grim day without the fire lighter, the dependable man that maintained the heating of the cottage, and doing what I was supposed to do in a cold cottage, or having a day off with my irascible mate. No contest there.

He had a list of errands that took some time but I busied myself taking shots of the animals we passed and the mercurial skies that so captivate me here in New Zealand. The day turned out to have many breaks in the rain and had many bright spots of piercing sun. The cloud formations had me glued to the car window, so I wouldn’t miss any. I’d suggested to him that we finally go for a Chinese meal in Christchurch on the way back from buying the battery, since that was nearby. Excitedly, I looked forward to the exact meal I always order, with some left over for dinner. I always over order at that place, which is about the only restaurant we go to now, and one that we’ve patronized for two decades. It had been relocated and completely rebuilt after the great Christchurch earthquake and we had to wait two years for the new one to open. To say that we’ve never had a bad meal there is an understatement. We’ve had the most wonderful food there every time.

A couple of months ago we also tried to get in there for a late lunch. But it was just after they’d closed a few minutes earlier at 3 p.m. and all we got that day were whiffs of garlic as we passed their kitchen off the parking lot. We’d stayed away while we were in lockdown and hadn’t been back for well over a year. So yesterday’s trip was filled with anticipation of the fabulous food that awaited us.

Making sure that we arrived with plenty of time to gorge ourselves, John approached the restaurant from a different direction and we drove right by the front windows that appeared at a quick glance to have no lights on. That wasn’t the most propitious sign as we glumly went around the corner and parked the car. We had high hopes when we heard a slight commotion emanating from the screen door of the kitchen in the back. Aha. There were people inside. Perhaps, we were wrong about the lights. Tentatively we walked around the side of the building and made a left turn at the sidewalk, noticing that all the little cafes across the street were dark inside. It was Monday after all. Many eateries are closed on that slow day. But with slightly hopeful hearts we proceeded to the doors of the esteemed restaurant, appropriately named, Joyful, to find out that they were not open. Their hours of operation clearly showed that they were normally open on Monday, but alas there was another recently taped message to the door that read that they were closed on this Monday and Tuesday for kitchen maintenance. Gutted, we walked away.

We ended up running more errands and eventually got some Japanese food at a local take out counter in a mall, that is reasonably and reliably

good enough. I also drank a cup of their miso soup to placate myself from the disappointment of not having my wonton soup filled with fat dumplings and all the other delicacies I’ve lived without. I ate in the car while John was picking up other things he needed for ongoing projects.

He waited until he got home to eat his sushi. We put it in the chili bin to keep it cold. But I was too ravenous and had my tiny container of katsu chicken on rice while we drove. I hadn’t eaten since the night before. I wanted to have a big appetite for our Chinese feast. He’d had breakfast.

But oddly enough, we still had a good day. We were together. We did check off lots of boxes of items we needed to find, and we had a few laughs. There’s just no guarantee of anything in life. We just take it as it comes, when it comes.