Christchurch – Feels like home
Tuesday, September 26th, 2006My family is huge. Simply huge. Or, to be more accurate, the amount of people from my family who I know is huge – the actual family is probably only the same size as everyone else’s; what makes us unique is the fact that we all know, and see regularly, distant cousins (and class them all as cousins – believe me, trying to work out what relationship you have to someone whose grandmother was your maternal great-grandmother’s sister is no easy task). Without exception, they are all wonderful, wonderful people, and my life would be immensely poorer without them. So it is always especially lovely to meet those from our clan who live in far-flung areas, such as America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, or Wales.
The New Zealand (South Island) faction are made up of the Johnson and Milne families – Jimmy and Sheila Johnson, their daughter, Sheila, and her son, James (who is now based in Auckland but due to his musical talents and work, is often on the road). Jimmy and Sheila knew my grandparents well, and Sheila is the same age as Mum, so it’s always a delight to hear their stories. I’d met Sheila (jnr) when she visited the UK, but had never met Jimmy and Sheila (snr).
So, after a shortish flight from Sydney in which my sleep was interrupted over and over again by too-helpful hosties, “Tea or coffee, Madam?” “Ummm, sleep please”, I was glad to land in Christchurch, where I would be met by family. First, though, I had to get through New Zealand customs – by far the most inquisitive to date. First thing, their in-house Beagle who is trained to sniff out illegal foods being smuggled in took a liking to my handbag. I honestly couldn’t think of any food that had been in there, so the Beagle Handler made a mark on my Entry Card that was obviously code for “Tomato Smuggler” or something, as I got questioned about a million times after that. Firstly by the customs stamp lady. “I see you’ve been travelling a lot through Bangkok. Are you carrying any drugs today?” were her EXACT words. I know, I know, I thought of all the obvious smart answers as well – “Well, not today, no! Now, if you’d have asked me yesterday”, “Why, yes, I am. Would you like any?” “Are you being racialist?” – but managed to smile sweetly and answer “No”. Likewise, another lady (job unspecified) was very interested in my travel plans, and made notes of when I would be leaving the country and so on. I’ve only just arrived!
Eventually making it through customs, I was delighted to see Sheila and Jimmy waiting for me, so delighted I even forgave them waving Liverpool scarves at me! It’s now a traditional greeting for family members arriving, so I was glad to see it. Christchurch Airport seems to be really close to the suburbs, so after a really short car journey, we were at Jimmy and Sheila’s house, where we would stay the first night. It was absolutely wonderful – warm and cosy and homely, exactly like being at family’s house back home. We had a fabulous home-cooked dinner, and spent the evening catching up, getting to know each other, and swapping stories. I even got tucked in to bed that night, a wonderful gesture guaranteed to make me feel at home, despite being on the other side of the world.
The next morning, Sheila and I nattered for ages whilst lying in bed – we both share a love of the English language and its uses (correct and incorrect!), so we had plenty to talk about and laugh about it – Sheila’s a real giggler, and according to Mum, she always has been; it’s impossible to spend time with her and not descend into wonderful silliness.
After breakfast, we headed round to Sheila’s house, a wonderfully welcoming place that would literally become my home from home in New Zealand. The first couple of days were spent catching up on all my late, late blog entries from Australia, and then we got started on the tours of the area – and I was soon to discover that Christchurch was very like home, as well. The perfect tonic for homesickness.
Suzanne