Resounding

Home at last. Oh no, I made it sound like getting away from New Zealand was a good thing. Au contrare, it has been revered to as the Land of Milk and Honey and, some even say, "a slice of heaven". And I certainly had a fantastic vacation! It's just that... at this moment in time, when I'm too darn tired to even think of uploading and sorting the 2000+ pictures I have... I realise how this trip has woken me up to some areas in my life; places I've neglected and - drat those words - taken for granted.

It will take some time for the photos to be in order; I came home to a cockroach cemetery, thanks to the neighbours calling in Rentokil while we were away. Dead ones I can deal with. But theN, as I reached for the dishwashing liquid, a large, LIVE one scurried out from behind it. And as much as I hate people who scream, shout, and generally create a racket, I momentarily morphed into one of them. That lasted all of 4 seconds. Then I just stared at the friggin' black thing. And it went waggling its feelers back at me, unmoving. The cheek of it! Ugh. By instinct, I searched for newspapers to roll up, but hey... people who've just returned from vacation never have newspapers sitting pretty on their coffee table.

Thought of calling it a night; going to bed with the back door unfastened and backlights ablaze. But this situation felt so similar to a past one; and like a stroke of genius, I remembered Yann telling me to "grab a can and spray for your life, woman!!" Ahh, the aerosol can. The one that I never use. How fortunate that it should be placed out in the garden, so at least I could go bring it inside for some serious kick-ass. If it had been, say, underneath the kitchen sink where IT was... that stroke of genius wouldn't have been genius at all. But there, I sprayed like mad; not because I thought Yann's advice had a very high success rate, but more 'cause I had no idea how much was enough. I kept it hissing 'til there was quite a little puddle and the cockroach seemed to be swimming in it, or at least, sliding. And then it lay still. So did my finger.