The Missing Piece

Or should that be pieces? Lots of them. This coming Monday it will be eleven weeks since we packed up our possessions and watch them sail off.... well be driven off... down the street. I don't think, even then, that we had a clue just what that meant. It was going to be fun, or so we thought, living without things that we had taken so easily for granted for just a few weeks. Oh yes I can hear the derision in your thoughts even from here, "Typical middle class professionals - can't make do without their cappuccino makers and fondue sets", or ,"In my day we had to make do wi' a bit o' coal and phlegm for our entertainment. I wouldn't give a ha'penny for these two clouts"

Well we don't have a cappuccino maker and I wouldn't call three computers, three bikes, two sofas, three armchairs, two tents, two dining tables, three beds, two guitars (including cases) and a 6TB hard drive exactly the lap of luxury. No way. But it has been missed. 

What's even worse if that we knew where it was at all times. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology we could track the progress of our possessions from the moment they left Teesport to the instant they hit the berth in Auckland. And boy was it painful to watch. The tinge of excitement we felt as they arrived a week later at Antwerp soon faded. By the time they approached Italy it had become too stressful. Why was it taking so long? We're they rowing? Had the captain taken a leave of absence and left rank amateurs in charge? What was going on? Italy slowly became a faded memory as the craft inched it's way towards the Southern Hemisphere. Then, inevitably, the estimated arrival time began creeping South. The 12th September became "mid-September" and "Mid September" became "End of the month. At the latest". At this rate we'd be eating our Christmas dinner off paper plates on our knees. 

But all was not lost. No siree. It had arrived into Sydney. From there it was just a short hop across the Tasman Sea and it'd be here. Cruise ships can do it in a few days so a week. Ten days tops. 

You can imagine my surprise, not to mention frustration, when I logged on and saw it heading the wrong way. "Where the f*** in f***etty f*** is it going now?!?!?", I screamed at the monitor, my new work colleagues sloping away in case I started banging my head on my desk. 

So we have to grimace and watch as it made its slow way to the bottom of New Zealand, crawl up the west coast - stopping at each town, village and small hamlet on the way, presumably to pick up nautical hitchhikers and give their mates a lift back from the pub - until it finally announced arrived off the coast of Auckland..... where it anchored for another day until it was ready to dock. Mind you, I can't blame them - they were probably doing their hair and looking "just right" before hitting the bright lights of the city. Image is everything.

And so, like giddy children, we are now eagerly anticipating the arrival of our stuff this weekend. Friday to be precise. This Friday. Two days from now. Oh I'm getting dizzy with excitement at the thought of a comfy chair and a cushion. Luxury? Well ok maybe it is. And besides, we can always buy a cappuccino maker.......