Category: Uncategorized

Ski weekend

Last weekend were at Mt. Hutt. As Yasmin was here we made a special trip to the south island for extra fun. Thursday and Friday off school and work, a trip on the ferry and a drive to Methven. Two days of beautiful snow. There was no wind, clear skies and relative warmth.

Eleanor took up snow boarding-what else do teenagers do? The “Yazz Man” was her tutor. After spending day one on her backside with plenty of bruises, she made progress to start doing those curves on day two.

The boys went back to ski school on their first day, and then were were all out on the slopes on the second day. The boys remembered their skills well. Isaa thought he was the best on the mountain.

The video evidence says otherwise.

An old one but a good one!

Posted by Picasa 

A long time since I have posted , but some good stuff to catch up on.

This is from the middle of July, that is when it was well cold. Isaac and I plus another son and father combo went hiking to stay in a hut owned by the scout group. The hut was originally built about 30 years ago. It has basic amenities- a small wood burner, bed spaces, water, gas cooking equipment and a long drop.

We hiked to the site, and stayed over Saturday night. It was a two hour walk through the gentle tracks.

The conditions were wet, though better than it could have been. It was not warm. It was a chilly night despoite all the layers. In the morning we went for a walk along thre river bed. The shallow waters were frozen, giving an indication of the overnight conditions.

The boys built their outside fire with difficulty as alll the wood was so damp.

An experience.

Football preview

BBC Sport’s guide to the new Football League season

 Steve Claridge
BBC Sport football expert

“Brighton could also be a good outside bet for promotion, they are spending good money and Gus Poyet has made a good start at the Withdean.”

Really? Over to the middle England correspondent for comment?
P.S. No mention of the superbees prospects. Maybe not so good with the lose of their world cup stars.

A tough afternoon at the Cake Tin

As part of our tour of Kiwi life and culture for Yasmin, we went off to the stadium today to see a game. This weekend is the beginning of the national provincial championship. The Lions played Tasman this afternoon in quite remarkable conditions. The gale force wind was in play, it was cold, and it rained. Towards the end, the rain was torrential. As the game did not have the air of quality, and the conditions were so bad, it meant that the crowd was quite small-I would say about 2000.

Despite the weather, it was a good game, surprisingly open and skillful.

I am not sure what Yasmin made of it. Rugby being an alien game and having only seen a couple of games on the telly. As well as  going out in those conditions.

Anyway, all part of the experience.

Belle of the semi-formal ball

Eleanor and friends had a big night on Saturday. As well as having a ball to celebrate the end of their school experience, it seems the norm in New Zealand is to have a semi-formal ball i the year preceding. So it was EQ’s turn with her friends from St. Mary’s, along with the lads/boys/men in tow.

The photos are from the pre-ball party. There were plenty at the ball itself, and the after-party. All of which are standard requirements.  The ball had a disco (music not good enough), buffet food and too may teachers in attendance. So I was told anyway.

Late to bed-3-30, and a slow Sunday.

Never happened in my day.

Family of Six go to Taranaki

We currently have an extra member of our family. She is Yasmin, who is from Germany, and is Eleanor’s exchange partner.
She arrived two weeks ago to the very cold weather, though looking on the bright side, the wet weather has been less of an issue. So much so, that there have been lots of clear days, cloudless nights, and hence cold nights.
In order to make her stay interesting and to experience the “real Kiwi life” we have been out and about a little more, seeing places that we pay less attention to these days. This weekend we went to Taranaki. We stayed a little beyond W(h)anganui at Waiinu beach. We stayed at chez Rook with Helen and Andrew and the boys , with other Rook members in attendance in the day and evening. It was Conor’s birthday bash, and we watched the All Blacks v South Africa game with real Kiwis.
We spent time at the beach and the children had some dreams fulfilled. The quad bikes were out, and Isaac could not get off the thing. Joe, Eleanor and Yasmin all had a go, as did I, just to break my rule. We had a bonfire on the beach with toasted marshmallows.
So Yasmin has been to rural NZ, driven the quad bike and seen a couple of All Black games. What else is left?

The best play ever?

The “arties’ have been at it again, seeing Samuel Becketts’s “Waiting for Godot”.

This is a famous play that I knew little about before we went to see it. Having read up about it before hand, I did not know I would be any the wiser. As it happens, going along did not enlighten me much further to its “meaning”, but it was a positive experience all the same. The performances by the four actors were great. It received a very positive review in the Dom Post.

Ian McKellen was as good as one would expect. Matthew Kelly, from “Stars in your eyes” fame and other such tv stuff was also very good, and quite a step away from the work I have seen him do. The actor for “Lucky” was quite brilliant, from his quiet moments of stillness and would guess pain to the soliloquy he performs.

As to the meaning-life, death, friendship, dementia, the cruelty of man and how easy it is to join in? Who knows.

Another successful choice.