24. Lighting a fag in Tanuki’s Cave by James Curtis

One of David’s favourite places in Auckland was Tanuki’s Cave, a Japanese yakatori grill and sake bar in Queen St. He’d been there a few times with Dad and Michele, when he was visiting from Linton.

When I came home from London for Christmas in December 2004, that is where David and I, Dad and Michele, and Richard and Kuljit went to celebrate. We had a really good time. David loved all the different meat dishes cooked right in front of you, and the beer and the warm sake of course. David offered to pay for the whole meal that night and gave Dad $150. Dad took it but gave it back to him later.

When Dad, Michele and Kuljit left, the three of us stayed on and we were the last in the restaurant. David had a game he liked to play where he would head butt us. It was something he learnt in the army and he thought it was quite funny. This was also the first night of the smoking ban in New Zealand, which was a real challenge for someone like David. He rolled up a fag, lit it and started smoking in the restaurant. The bar staff noticed this very quickly and told him he couldn’t do that, so David had a few puffs and stubbed out his cigarette. David didn’t like people telling him what to do and he enjoyed pushing the limits, but he didn’t go too far that night.

It was a really nice family evening. I liked Tanuki’s Cave because David liked it and I’ve been back several times since.