I remember messaging my friend Gerard with a plan to head out after work. I remember closing my laptop and getting changed in a toilet cubicle. I remember attaching a spotlight to my helmet, and another smaller light to my handlebars. I remember zipping up my wet weather gear. I remember reading the weather forecast – wet, gale-force, a mid-winter shit-storm as only Wellington can put on. I remember messaging my partner and thinking at the same time that maybe this wasn’t such a great idea, there would be other days, and that maybe I should just go home, watch TV, eat something warm, and drink something cold. I remember reading the return message, “Just be careful.” And then I don’t remember anything. Just a black hole where normally the rest of the evening would be.
It was 2016, two months before my first child was due to be born. I was in some kind of early-onset, mid-life, change-of life, not-quite-ready-for-parenting-yet, self-denial sprint-to-nowhere. A lot of things were about to change, but also nothing was changing very quickly. I went to the pub, rode my mountain bike, signed up for races, jogged, worked late, booked holidays, bought new shoes. It felt normal, like my regular pre-child life, but even then, I knew I was trying to cram the fading light of my youth into a few short months before the baby was born. It was futile, but that made me even more desperate to cram more and more in.
Bu hikaye New Zealand Listener dergisinin October 14-20, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye New Zealand Listener dergisinin October 14-20, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Spilt milk
Excess dietary calcium goes into toilets, not bones.
To the Max
The testosterone and torments of late adolescence are centre stage in this novel about finding your place in life.
A chemical killer
A new book outlines the life of a woman who may well have been New Zealand’s most prolific poisoner. What was it that led police to exhume the body of her husband from its watery grave?
Creating the WOW factor
Meg Williams, in charge of the biggest festival involving a bunch of people wearing wacky outfits, admits she's not very flamboyant in her own dressing.
Leaving it all on the park
After cancer treatment, Graeme Downes takes stock of a musical life leading The Verlaines and lecturing future generations of songwriters.
Wrong message
A UK journalist who came here to talk about Rwanda’s authoritarian regime found herself the victim of a social media hate campaign.
Busting a gut
IBD is escalating, seemingly thanks to the Western lifestyle, and New Zealand has one of the highest rates in the world.
The point of Peters
There's been much to admire about the NZ First leader's politics over the years, but where has it got him?
Don't call us ...
Finland's ingenuity galvanised the rapid global uptake of cellphones, so it's paradoxical the country's latest claim to fame should be the elevation of no-speakies to a new commercial opportunity.
He is here
In the week my brother died, there was a storm in the universe.
