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Joseph’s birthday was yesterday. We were up a little earlier than usual to open presnts and have cake for breakfast.

His birthday game of cricket was ruined by the weather, being rained off after about two hours.

In the evening we went to our favourite family eating venue; Scopa on Cuba street. Pizza, pasta, beer, cokes and cheesecake were consumed. A lovely evening.

Happy birthday big lad.

As mentioned Monday was eleanor’s last day at school. Are there differences between now and her first day?  The blazer is the same. Can you tell?

So that is it. School is officially over for Eleanor bar the turning up for NCEA exams. And so for her parents it is another life event to remind them of their trajectory towards elderly care.

Eleanor did well again. As a member of the leadership team was involved directly: hence the reading of the prayer seen above (excuse the poor quality. Must be a cheap android phone!).

She won a cup for contributions to the special character of the school, a mercy award recognising her overall input and contribution to the school and academically she came first in German. She did not win the German prize cup-not clear why as the usual criterion is around academic success. Shall we ask for a steward’s enquiry?

She again has proud parents. Life will soon move on to new opportunities and challenges. I am sure she will adapt and do well.

Joe’s turn will be soon.

Life has obviously moved on. I went to the ballet with Eleanor on Friday and this time around it she paid for me (mostly)-an early Christmas present. Apparently it was a better option than the standard pair of socks.

So we enjoyed the charms of “Sleeping Beauty” and of each others company. In a way it was a completing of the circle, as Sleeping Beauty was the first ballet I went to with Eleanor, I think back in 2001. We saw it performed in Birmingham when she was still a small ballerina.

The quality of the dancing was excellent though I think the ballet lacks somethings. The music is beautiful rather than memorable in its own right. The story line is a little thin and so is padded out in parts. However, the set was cleverly and beautifully put together, the scene with the dragon done very well and the performances of the leads excellent. The dancing was technically challenging I understand and as far as I could tell and well executed.

The arts critic will return again shortly!

An attempt at a panorama at the game.

Sara and I were at the the game on Saturday, having left Wellington on Friday evening and driven part of the way, stayed over in Taihape and continued on to Auckland in the morning.

We visited the fan zone on the waterfront before the game and met people from Khandallah in the pub!
We arrived at the ground in good time and enjoyed the build up. The stadium has improved since our previous visit in 2004 to see England thoroughly beaten after Simon Shaw was sent off (hmm oh so familiar).

We had reasonable seats, undercover, that proved to be useful at one point in the evening.

I was really looking forward to the game, and wanted Wales to do well as they had played some good rugby in the tournament and were a positive team. However the game was ruined after 20 minutes. I thought the sending-off was harsh and it proved to be the deciding factor. Wales still deserved to win as France were totally inept. Incapable to attacking and using their advantage.

The final has been ruined. So we paid all that money to go to the semi and saw 20 minutes of real competition. The final has been downgraded at a significant cost. Joe and I are flying up on Sunday and returning by coach on Monday. Not a cheap weekend and now for a downgraded game.

After the game we walked along the fans walkway back to the city for a drink before going off to bed. It was up early for a long drive home.