what we didn't pack

Between gaining acceptance on the 18th November and leaving the UK on the 21st December there was an awful lot to cram in, both figuratively and literally. Of course we had been expecting/hoping that the final confirmation was imminent, but there had been a number of frustrating false starts re medicals that meant that we were in a semi-limbo state, albeit one that involved writing a large number of cheques to private consultants in order for them to tell me what I already knew (well, mostly).

So there were leaving-drinks to arrange, family visits (to Liverpool and Middlesbrough), flights, accomodation in and around Christchurch, money to transfer, paid work to finish off, house-cleaning for any new tenants, and the new tenants themselves. And we had to pack.

Kiwi friends who had migrated back home 5 or so years earlier had regularly told us that they wished they'd brought more possessions back with them. However over the years we had - like 99.9% of the population I'd imagine - accumulated a vast amount of what can only be described as crap. We had been together for over 12 years and there were still suitcases and boxes from our first rented flat back in 1996. Boxes full of photographs and 'treasured' possessions rotting silently caked in years of damp and neglect. Surely never a better time to take stock and organise.

Personally I sold, gave away or destroyed many things I kind of, sort of still wanted, but realised that I would never use. This included 25+ years of comics, an unused-for-5-years guitar, books, clothes (patiently waiting until I could once again fit into a 34inch waist), shoes, vhs videos and assorted technical and electrical goods and paraphenalia such as phone-chargers, modems, manuals, cd-roms and routers.

As a family we gave away our lovely piano to friends. I bought it for £10 (plus £100 delivery) 4 years earlier, and Katie - my eldest daughter - and I were taking lessons at the same time with the same teacher. We knew it couldn't come with us as there was 100% chance the MAF would condemn it as a health risk, but I do miss walking past and playing the first few bars of 'Hark The Herald Angels Sing' to the continued annoyance of the rest of the family. (There may be something inherently wrong in playing christmas carols in the blazing sunshine, but that's a gripe for another time...)

If I was honest, there's not much materially that I regret leaving behind. Most things can be bought here, New Zealand being, after all, a pretty civilised nation. However there are two items I regret not stocking up on, and it's only now - and too late - that I realise how much a creature of clothing habit I have become over at least the last 8 years.

Next Jeans - 36 inch waist (yes, I know) long leg, boot-fit. It took me years to find jeans that I loved wearing - and I really did experiment for many years after leaving university and entering the realm of the moderately paid - and once I found them I never let them go. Except I left one pair in Middlesbrough, and the two remaining pairs I brought with me are pretty 'well-worn'.

Adidas Superstar II trainers - size 11, white (mostly), stripe colour negotiable, shell-toe mandatory. Again, my love affair with these classics took a while to take off, and I'm vaguely aware that there is a slightly chav-like element to wearing them, but I'll enjoy them until the transition to cardigan and slippers becomes inevitable.

So instead of paying £20 for jeans and £25 for trainers back home, buying them in bulk to fill the empty space in the container, I have just paid over twice as much in total through ebay to have one pair of each shipped over. I don't get much post, and I have to admit I'm really looking forward to their arrival.

our possessions arrive at last
image © Paul Allan White