Tiny, but perfect
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‘‘After 25 years Bill wanted out, we’d finished educating the kids, and I said, ‘Why don’t you quit?’.
‘‘We had the whole set up, you know the two cars in the garage, the house, the aeroplane, we sold it all and then thought ‘what next, Peace Corps?’.
‘‘And I thought, oh no, I like a hot bath too much. So we came to New Zealand, I hadn’t really seen it much as a kid, and Bill was willing, so here we are.’’
They’ve walked the great tracks of New Zealand, kayaked, packed plenty of retirement living in so far and now with Bill at 80 and Jane in her 70s they’re tending more to enjoy Nelson, surrounds and the garden.
‘‘We made changes when we finally bought this little pink cottage.
‘‘Bill trellised at the back, I tiled around the coal range and a year in we put in a heat pump.
‘‘At the flick of a switch it’s so warm, and there’s underfloor heating in the bathroom, It’s like living in a boat, tiny, but perfect.’’
Jane’s thoughts do wander, her exuberance is hard to contain. She was looking at a rural cottage in the middle of nowhere, a cottage in ‘‘original’’ state she spotted for sale in the Moutere.
‘‘Why not, Bill could still walk, maybe not just get the coffee and newspaper down the road, that’s all.’’
But for the moment the plan has been abandoned – Jane is trying to find new challenges in and around the pink cottage.
Bill just smiles – after 50 years he knows whatever will be is ‘‘just Jane’’.