The legend of Cuthbert

Once upon a time their was a man called Cuthman who pushed his Grandmother around in a wheelbarrow looking for a good place to build a church, he pushed the wheelbarrow for many years and eventually he stopped and built a church and was made a saint. Saint Cuthman is the saint of a local village near to where my parents live now and the church is still there, to wind my Dad up I called the Saint - Saint Cuthbert. When we bought the car in Whangarei I called it Cuthbert because he would be transporting us around many miles for many years, and so he did. And now he has stopped at A La Francesca's. Tatapuranga island knew Cuthbert was going to stop there because it's a magic island which is actually a church disguised as an island.
And so the legend of Saint Cuthman continues.



New owner TJ with Cuthbert

Cuthbert will be staying 'in the family' as he was bought by Dolf and Francesca's son TJ.

Cuthbert dear Cuthbert,
saggy old cloth roof bert,
wake up and see these things which I bring
oh Cuthbert, hear what I sing.

Cuthbert was just an old red Toyota, saggy and a bit pink at the edges, but Claire loved him.



Part of Cuthbert's joy came from the smiley face on the dashboard.

I took Cuthbert out for one last slow drive around the Wellington bays.

Traffic on Shelly Bay

Earlier in the day I also had to say goodbye to my favourite dog Leia, who I love very much and who loves me very much.

Leia knows how to dress

And of course my good friend Josie who I met up with several times this week, she's been a great friend to me.

Leia and Josie and baby Chloe

But all too soon it was time to leave, like Bilbo leaving the Shire or Paddington Bear leaving Deepest Darkest Peru, or Christopher Robin leaving the Hundred Acre Wood or so I had to leave Island Bay.
I said goodbye to Dolf at the house and Francesca took me to the airport, I checked in for the first time using my Kiwi passport and then we had a glass of wine in the upstairs Mojo café that no one knows about. It was very nice not to have to wait on my own, we whiled away a pleasant hour chatting until it was time to go through, we said our goodbyes. I knew I had about 1 minute before I would need to find somewhere quiet or put sunglasses on, I got as far as the spirits sections of the duty free after going through security, so I had to spend some time in a corner by the Dows aged 10 and the Deutz Bruts to regain my composure before continuing. I felt sad, but it was a happy sad from leaving people I love, who I care about and who genuinely care about me, a very different departure from 6 months ago on every level.
See? It was it a happy ending after all.