HOW TO LAY CABLE IN SOFT GROUND First, accept the grey. Not as absence but as medium— the way watercolour accepts water, the way a Tuesday accepts eleven errands without complaint. Dig the trench shallow. Copper finds its own depth the way a root system finds water, the way a toddler's block tower finds the exact centre of a hallway. Do not separate the domestic from the professional. They are the same cable. They carry the same light. When the technician leaves, test the connection: send one message outward and wait for the ripple to return. If it returns changed, the foundation is good. If it returns unchanged, dig deeper. Store this under: winter, Tuesday, Kāpiti, infrastructure, the particular satisfaction of a list with everything crossed off except the last item, which you are saving for when the children are asleep.