It seems like forever ago I started Radiation Therapy – so far I’ve
had eighteen of the thirty sessions I’ve signed up for. (Sounds like a Gym
membership, doesn’t it?) At first the novelty of it all was a little bit
exciting, but it certainly wore off pretty quickly. Once again, we weren’t able
to get into Domain Lodge. No one’s actually said anything but I‘m pretty sure
if you come from south of the Bombays (as we do) you go to the back of the
queue. Sorry, for those that aren’t Kiwis, the Bombays is a line of hills to
the south of Auckland that separate it from the rest of New Zealand – both
geographically and culturally. So, we’re staying in a motel just down the road
from the hospital, and by down the road, I mean, down the hill.
Remember when I came to Auckland to get the rust cut out? Well,
thinking it was the right thing to do we came by car. Denise ended up staying
in Auckland for a month, waiting for me to sort myself out and for that whole
month, I think we used the car three times, and ended up paying an eye-watering
amount of money to park it each night. So, this time we decided to leave the car
at home. A good plan, ‘cause using buses and Ubers has been cheap and easy. The
only downside – the hospital’s on top of a mountain. Well… that’s what I reckon.
Each morning the hill to the hospital seems to get steeper and steeper. And
wetter and wetter. Have I told you about how it rains in Auckland?
Before I started treatment, everyone said, “you’ll probably start to feel
fatigued after the first couple of weeks.”
Ha! Were they wrong!!
Before the end of the first week, all I wanted to do was sleep – and sleep
I did. As well as sleeping eight plus hours through the night, most days I’m now
sleeping another four or five hours through the day. My best (or worst) effort
was into bed at 10:00 am – after treatment and up at four. My poor, darling
wife. Not only does she struggle to get to sleep most nights, she gets to watch
me sleep for most of each day. Luckily, it’s not too far to the Newmarket shops
and cinemas, so she can escape occasionally. If it’s not raining.
It’s a shame the Westfield Centre isn’t open yet. It’s a huge shopping complex that’s being
refurbished in the middle of Newmarket. From what I can work out it’s taking
years to finish, but after walking past it a dozen or so times in the last few
weeks, it seems to be providing a great deal of long-term employment. It’s easy
to spot the workers – unless it’s raining.
You can watch them wandering down the street at all times of the day,
or standing around in their various tribal outfits. They pretty much always
seem to collect in tribal clusters, sporting different coloured plumage. The easiest
and most common variety seem to be the “Yellow Vests”. But there are also quite a lot of the “Orange
Vests” variety as well. Both types are scattered all over the place in small
groups, and if you listen closely you can hear them chatting amongst themselves
while standing about conserving energy. Sometimes you’ll see a group of them
marching behind a “White Hat” heading for some unknown, but obviously important,
location, and you quite often see them during feeding times at the local Café or
Takeaway.
There’s also a third group. These are the “Pink Vests” and are a much
rarer variety and a lot harder to spot. Both the Yellow and Orange Vest groups seem
to be controlled by these Pink Vests and you’ll quite often see the “Pink Vests”
gesturing and pointing to direct small groups of the other coloured groups in
different directions.
I wasn’t really aware until we went exploring in the city, but it
seems there are different colonies of these groups scattered throughout
Auckland. We spotted all the same groups, doing the same activities when we
wandered down to the bottom of Queen Street. Apparently, as is the case in
Newmarket, these colonies have been in residence for some considerable time and
it seems the locals are expecting them to stay for quite a while yet. While the
employment opportunities and influx of resources is helping a lot of the locals
surrounding the various colonies, I believe some of the locals are becoming
frustrated with the disruption and mess and are attempting to shorten the
length of time these colonies stay.
I kinda wish I could shorten the length of time I’ve got to stay. I know…
I should consider myself lucky – and I do. I won the Post Code lottery. Another
few weeks and it’ll all be a memory. It’s not the therapy that bothers me - sometimes
I almost fall asleep on the table. It’s not the hospital – everyone’s very nice
and always friendly, even if sometimes they seem to be on autopilot. It’s not
even Auckland that bothers me – even if it’s raining. I think it’s just that I’ve got no energy. I stagger up the hill every morning and then try to
act like a human being for the rest of the day, but sometimes – it’s easier just
to go to bed.
Sorry folks – but just trying to concentrate while I write this is too
hard, so nite nite.
