Some time back in late 1997, we had been writing to some penfriends living further North in the Uk. (I will refer to them as D & C). They had applied for, and received, NZ Residency and were putting plans into place to emigrate to their new life. Finally that day arrived and in late 1998, off they went....NZ bound.
We continued to write to each other, but unfortunately their news was not at all good. In fact, things went from bad to worse as each month progressed. Now we were back in the Uk then, little money but enough to get us through each week, that's all that mattered, but it would have been so nice to be able to afford a trip to NZ to see them. (I had already visited in 1996 with my ex husband, Matt had never been)
One night, after recieving a very upsetting letter, Matt decided he would do a reading for them, tape it and post it off, hoping it would have some good news.
So, kids in bed, lights dimmed, candles lit....mood was set...I grabbed a bacardi and decided that if I got any info I would add it as we went along.
Matt turned some cards and started to proceed with the reading....by now my bacardi glass was half empty! In I jumped..."D.... C.........get the swimming pool and BBQ out, we will be with you at Christmas!"
Matt's finger pressed the stop button of the tape pronto!
"Kris, you can't say that, we have no money to get to NZ especially as it is the Millennium and prices to NZ will be way beyond our reach!"
"Yes, you are right Matt, it is the Millenium, prices will be high...but you are also wrong as we will be with D & C this Christmas!"
Matt looked at me like I had 2 heads, not wanting to leave that bit in for fear of upsetting D & C when it didn't materialise! But he knew better than to ignore what I said also!
He continued with the reading saying "Well, you heard what Kris has just said, hope she is right, would be nice to be there"....(still not believing we would be) Further into the reading I suddenly said to Matt...."Hey, there is someone in NZ in the same line of business as you, you used to work with him"
Matt stopped the tape again. Took one look at me and replied "Kris, I have never been to NZ, I dont know anyone there other than D & C"..
"Oh yes you do...and his name is Barry"
Matt raised his eyebrows, looked at my almost empty glass of bacardi....and said that he did not know any Barry's, past or present, had never worked with a Barry......
Difference was...I knew I was right!!
Now some time later, Matt started at a new company....weeks into the job he recieved a phone call from a name he recognised......so he asked the guy was he such and such a person previously from a certain company. He was.
So they started chatting about their lives etc...and Matt casually mentioned that according to his partner (me) we were off to NZ for the Millennium.
"Oh really" this guy said.."Do you remember Barry K*******.....he and his wife emigrated to NZ and I am still in touch with them!"
Matt almost fainted!
"Barry.....yes I do remember Barry...now! He was the guy we worked along side on many projects!"
So his e-mail was passed on to Matt and he contacted Barry...the one he didn't know and the one who lived in NZ!
Months later, we passed a travel agent, well when I say passed, I mean we were pushed inside! lol
(I had warned Matt I had gypsy blood and love to travel)
We sat down, looked at flights to NZ for Xmas time.....wow.....to stay for the Millenium would have been over 1800 gbp EACH! To leave before Millenium....695 gbp each. Big difference. Before we could blink, we had booked it. But it meant flying back on the 31st Dec, so we would miss the Millennium! Now we had hardly any money, had no idea where it was going to come from...but we booked it anyway!
"Ok Sherlock...how on earth how we going to pay for that!" said Matt as we left the travel agents!
"Trust me" I said "We will"......somehow".....
Millions of car boots later, we managed to get enough to pay our tickets, just the spends to save for next!
One morning as we lay in bed, Matt turned to me and suddenly announced "Cathay Pacific....there will be some sort of delay".....
"Dont be silly Matt, Cathay Pacific dont 'do' delays"......
"Well....they do now" said Matt!
Two days later, letter from travel agent arrived....
'Sorry to inform you, but Cathay Pacific have decided to cancel all flights on the 31st December from noon onwards, it is beyond our control, you will need to sort it out directly with the airline!"
Great, I thought...now what???
So, many, many phone calls later, we finally managed to change our flights to......4th January 2000! No extra cost, we were going to see the new Millennium in after all...in NZ!
December came, D & C came to the airport to meet us.... cried their eyes out, we had been their first visitors since they left UK the year before. The holiday went well, 31st December arrived, we watched bands playing in Auckland domain..in true Kiwi style....it rained!
By 11.30pm we drove to Auckland Harbour Bridge, thousands of people watched and waited for the fireworks to go off......I waited in the car, wet and tired.......
12 o clock came.....fireworks lit the sky......and me? I had fallen alseep in the car and missed the lot!! But for Matt.....he saw it all.....the new Millennium.....first to see it was NZ and he saw it all!
We even enjoyed a meal with Barry and his wife!!
(edited because I missed the last line out!)
