2.50am – thief’s
In mid October, my birthday started early in the morning with a big scare. I woke up from some noise behind the house. A big bang and than some voices. Suddenly wide awake I listened for a moment, still in my bed. No, it was not my imagination, there were voices in the driveway. I slipped out of my bed and peeked through the curtains. Two guys were standing behind our house, it seems they climbed over our 2.20m high fence. One was wearing a white hoodie. I quickly draw the curtains back. What should I do? Any weapons in the house? A baseball bat and than I could go out …. as Superwoman ….
… maybe not …. a good idea after a short consideration. Suddenly my bedroom door opens, my heart came almost to a standstill!!! My hubby was still in deep sleep. It was pitch black and while I was trying to reach the light switch I fell over someone …. my little son. We were so excited! He whispers: Mum, there are people in our driveway. “I know, what should we do?” Maybe we should switch on the light, so they know there is someone in the house. Great idea! I turned the light on and then we looked out of the window. They did not care! Oh no, criminals, they were not impressed at all, they still chatted and no indication that they would leave.
Anyway, where was our dog? Still sleeping, just like his master!
Finally our dog Wuffti woke up. At the moment he is sleeping at the garden house and it is very comfy. Well, it is a Labrador and this are actually not guard dogs but he has a very deep bark, like a Mastino Napolitano! First we heard a restrained bark from deep inside the hut. It sounded like: “Quiet!” Suddenly the barks turned really mad. My son looked out of his room and Wuffti was on his way out of his bed to check what was going on. Two restrained screams and my son saw two fellow running in WOOP speed for their life out to the front gate. They were so quick to open the gate.
Wuffti was the hero of the night and his reward was a sausage. At our neighbors house also all lights were turned on and they checked everything. Well, even my husband woke up and he closed the gate outside.
So we went back to bed.
6.00am – BIRTHDAY CAKE & WUFFTI GONE
I woke up from my superwoman dream, to a birthday song sung in beautiful man voices while my birthday cake floated to my bed.
After that I got great gifts from my loved ones.
1. A survival knife, co-designed by Bear Grills (my little one gave it to me).
2. A beautiful drawing of a glider and a book about Aotearoa.
3. Speaker!
A morning routine of my husband is getting the newspaper and sometimes he forget to close the gate, especially after such an eventful night. So our dog left without notice. We searched for him a full hour before giving up. Then I drove my hubby to work and on my way back home Wuffti waited at the traffic light to cross the road. I stopped and threw him into the car. He lost his collar. At least we found him.
His collar re-emerged half an hour later with a text message saying that they found it.
8.30 – 9.00am POLICE AT OUR DOORSTEPS
True! I called the police and reported our nightly event. They also congratulated me to my birthday, really nice of them and they told me to call, if this happens again, immediately. Maybe the fellow try to shortcut home, over a 2.20m high fence ???
Around 9am the alarm went off at our neighbor home and shortly after that the police stand in front of our house. I open with curlers in the hair because I was getting ready for an appointment.
10.00am – MY APPOINTMENT & AN INDECENT OFFER
My son is participating at the Youth Glider Camp and he asked me to join. So I voluntair at the camp. Where? Omarama, die capitol of gliding in New Zealand. This is real mother love – camping at the age of 47 and the next town is a junction…
So I was about to meet R. in a Cafe to talk about my tasks and the camp. When I arrived I did not know how R. looks like. I just asked every guy if he is R. Are you R.? No, no … well, it was soon clear R. has not arrived, so I sat down alone at a table. Suddenly a guy came over to my table and said: “In case R. does not show up, call me!” and he handed me his namecard. I wanted to show my wedding band but I never wear one and than I wanted to explain … looking at the other tables and everybody looked at me …. so I said: “Thanks!”
OMG … I am not sure what kind of impression I left in this Cafe but thank god, R. arrived with his wife …. gasp…
I think this is inappropriate behavior…. :).
After that I called P. the father of another Youth Gliding Teen and told him that we can do car pooling for today.
11.00 am-2pm - PROVISIONS
Preparing provisions for the trip because O-Bentos are not available like in Japan. This time is over. Wikipedia metioned that Omarama has a populaton of 231 in 2006.
4pm – TRIP TO OMARAMA
I also volunteered to clean up the camp this weekend. Main task was to clean up old leaves and check if everything is in order. I wanted to get a basic impression what to expect in Omarama and do I have to bring the next time. Are the showers clean and usable and so on.
We started at 5.30pm. This was my first trip within New Zealand and it gave me an idea what to expect beside bungee jumping, parachuting and rugby and not to forget gliding….
The whole time it was not so clear where we would sleep. Thank god we got a Chalet from someone. I mean my sons and me and P. and his son another one!
WORLD RECORDS IN GLIDING
Big surprise when we entered the Chalet. The wall was plastered with world records in gliding, 17 all together if I counted right. My future pilot son was impressed and starred with dreamy eyes at it. He is Otaku, which is not necessarily a compliment in Japan.
On the next day we cleaned up the camp. It was really hard work!