Monday, April 13: I have two actual appointments in my diary today. It’s been a blank slate for the past few weeks, now there is the excitement of bookings at 2pm and 5pm.
2pm: walk down to the Cenotaph in Memorial Park and meet my sister-in-law, Denise, at a safe distance. Although we talk on the phone we haven’t seen each other in person since before lockdown. The Cenotaph is within easy reach of our respective homes so this seems a good idea. Although it’s hard not to hug. When a light shower passes over, we retreat temporarily under one of the park’s mighty oaks … and keep talking, keep our distance, in strange times.
5pm: Wine O’Clock Zoom with friends in Whangamata, Hamilton and Auckland. Six of us check in, wine glasses to hand, all framed up on our screens. More pleasure and connection, trying not to talk at once, covering news of children and grandchildren, what we’re cooking, reading, watching on Netflix, and various worries about post-lockdown issues. Some of us have read today’s Stuff story on Hamilton restaurant Banh Mi’s concerns for its future. Banh Mi is a city favourite, it’s a sobering article. Like my earlier meeting with Denise, we keep talking, keep our (digital) distance, enjoy the company of dear friends, in strange times.
Treasures: The bathroom cupboard gets a going-over. Its depths are the repository for tag-ends of beauty products well past their use-by dates. There is a vintage find among the jumble: a purple-labelled Dymol bottle, with a tiny, sticky quantity in the bottom, and a faded price label, $1.25. Dymol was an emollient made at Irvine’s Pharmacy in Victoria St by three generations of family pharmacists, Neil, Graham and Bill. The formula was devised by Neil (Bill’s grandfather) in about the 1920s and it was made until closing day in the late 1990s. As the label says, it was for chapped hands and sunburn and it was a useful after-shave. Soothed any skin irritation, really. I also find a half-full pot of Irvine’s Pharmacy’s handmade lip ointment; it worked miracles on cracked lips and had a particularly big following among Waikato farmers. I wipe the dust off the Dymol and the lip balm and they’re elevated from the bathroom cupboard to new status in Bill’s collection of pharmacy memorabilia.
Treat: Anna makes a big batch of lasagne for her family, and a couple of individual servings. She and Guy arrive at my door with a fragrant golden dish, bubbling hot from the oven. The other small dish is earmarked for Guy’s mother Denise (the aforementioned sister-in-law). Such pleasure. As much as I like cooking it will be truly wonderful to eat something I haven’t made myself. All I need to do is assemble a green salad and pour the wine. Thanks, Anna and Guy.
2 replies on “Day 24”
I’m enjoying your diary, Denise. Had a supply of lovely fish from Takitimu Seafoods arrive last week, time to get some out of the freezer and I will follow your recipe you bought home from Rarotonga, thanks!
Loving these daily updates, Denise. And, yes, I share your concern about the media meltdowns. We need good journalists so much. I was a judge for the Voyager Media Awards this year, and was blown away by the standard of good reportage and writing. Journalism is a taonga and a trusted source in times like this. I urge everyone to support it by subscription or donation.