It’s Monday. Also known as the Day Of Sorting Out The Court Papers Kerfuffle. Also known as the Day That Probably Needs a Catchier Title.
I start the day well, however, by getting up and starting a new story; one inspired by 30 Days Of Night and also, indirectly, by the terrific short film Zygote. After that I drop the kids at school, at a slightly leisurely pace given that I don’t need to go to to work today.
So here’s the plan: because there was one detail missing on one of my court papers, I need to provide a revised version of that particular document. I need to print it first, which I can’t do because I don’t have a printer. I then need to get it signed and witnessed, for which reason I am dragging Rachel along for this adventure since she needs to also sign it. I need to go to Garden City, where they have a Justice Of The Peace, for this to happen. Once it’s signed and witnessed, I then need to make seven (!) copies to file at the Family Court. Which is up in the city, as you may remember from such exciting diary posts as June 29. I may not need all seven copies, but then again I might, and I don’t want to get turned away at the last hurdle just for being short of a copy or two.
We make good progress. First stop: Officeworks, where it costs me 95c for printing. Next, we drive to Garden City to see the JP, who is obligingly open early just before 10am. Luckily the library next door has a photocopier, so we walk there for step three, forking out $5 for about 28 copies (seven of which have to be in colour).
After that it’s barely even 10:30am and we stop for breakfast. I anticipate a long wait at the Family Court, and do not want to be sitting there dying of starvation. We drive up to the city, taking a beating from the rain on the way, and take our place in the queue (by which I mean we take a ticket and sit down to wait until our number gets called). A little more than an hour later we get called up. I hand over my document, plus three of the copies, and we’re done. Now I get to wait several more days while the judge reviews the file and decides whether this amended document has done the trick or not. We grab some coffee and donuts and then head back to collect the Kinderbesten from school.
I need to make some banana bread to take into work tomorrow, which seems almost a waste of good banana bread. Luckily I have enough ingredients for two loaves. While I make dinner, I persuade the Elderbeast to make the packed lunches for tomorrow, which goes better than expected. We enjoy a second round of meatballs for dinner (which continues to prove popular) then have enough time left over for some board games. I choose Machi Koro, which we’ve not played nearly enough of. I’m delighted to find that the Kinderbeast gets the hang of it right away Looks like this could be another family favourite, along with Exploding Kittens.
Later, the Elderbeast wants to watch the Masterchef finale, which I decide to allow, but I’ve claimed the front room TV for Game of Thrones. He eventually settles for watching his show on his iPad. It’s still going long after Game of Thrones has finished. I leave him to it so I can go to bed and finish volume one of Locke & Key.