While Emily is falling asleep leaning on me, I have some time to write a blog, because I'm not allowed to move away just yet.
So plenty has happened since last we posted; we celebrated Fireworks Night kiwi-stylee; Wellington hosted its annual Santa (that's Father Christmas, Dad) parade on the streets of Lambton Quay; I went to perhaps the most significant international football match of New Zealand's competitive history; and we hosted a successful pizza party in The Terrace. That was the month of November for us.
Firstly, the fireworks was an impressive show for New Zealand's capital, but was hardly of the callibre Emily has come to expect from the U S of A. But we had a very enjoyable evening on the waterfront, sandwiched between me helping to set up and tear down respectively the weekly live music stage at the Hotel Bristol. What seemed like all of the city seemed to be watching from somewhere along the bay, stretching from where we were near the business district, down to Oriental Bay and beyond. The fireworks lasted a good 25 minutes, accompanied by what seemed to be a Michael Jackson megamix, and the evening was nicely mild for the event.
The Santa Parade, held a few weeks later, saw Lambton Quay and surrounding roads closed off to traffic for the day, while an array of oddly-themed floats meandered south. Among them were marching bands, The Simpsons, Spongebob Squarepants, various New Zealand foodstuffs, and some mysterious yellow dog neither of us recognised (but whose name the children around us seemed to be incomprehensibly screaming), and bringing up the rear, good old F.C. himself. The parade officially marked the start of the busy season in my Christmas shop, as scores of revellers attempted to squeeze into the tiny Mezzazine once the parade had passed. Although it was my day off, I later heard that the shop got so packed that someone had to hit the emergency stop button on the escalator, for safety reaons.
On the same weekend, the national football (that's the soccer type of football) team the All-Whites took on the mighty nation of Bahrain in the second leg of their World Cup '10 qualifier. A few weeks previous a friend of mine from work had acquired a ticket for me, and in the period between him getting the tickets and the match itself, the hype spiralled to ridiculous proportions. Billed as the biggest match in some three decades, a win would qualify New Zealand for entry in the World Cup for only the second time ever. All of a sudden the kiwis around town abandoned their precious rugby and shifted to football fever. But the hype helped to make my first experience within the hallowed Westpac Stadium in the north of the city an incredibly memorable one. The almost uniformly white-shirted crowd in the match was fantastically eager to support their guys, and both the single goal for New Zealand just before halftime and its denial of a Bahrainian penalty in the second half were met with roaring applause and singalongs. The singalongs and chants were pretty straightforward for me, as they were the same ones from home, but instead of singing 'Eng-land', I simply had to shout 'All-Whites'. In our section, the spectators didn't take their seats once throughout the whole match, and New Zealand's victory spurred a celebratory atmosphere in the city (and country) which lasts to this day.
In other news for this month, my new iPod had the desired effect of reducing our electicity bill by keeping me from going on my computer so much, and I invited some people from work to our apartment for what I hope will be the first of many pizza parties. The evening took a week of hard-graft and intricate planning, as it entailed getting 10 pizzas from 5 pizza places around town and getting them back to mine (while still hot) for a 7pm gorging, but as I sit here in a room which stinks of cheese and tomato, and with pizza boxes wherever the eye turns, I can only say it was a total success.
It's our day off together today, so later we'll head down to the tennis courts for a match, and we'll get to try out both mine and Emily's new racquets. I'll try and put some photos on Flickr from this action-packed month this afternoon. Ciao for now.
So plenty has happened since last we posted; we celebrated Fireworks Night kiwi-stylee; Wellington hosted its annual Santa (that's Father Christmas, Dad) parade on the streets of Lambton Quay; I went to perhaps the most significant international football match of New Zealand's competitive history; and we hosted a successful pizza party in The Terrace. That was the month of November for us.
Firstly, the fireworks was an impressive show for New Zealand's capital, but was hardly of the callibre Emily has come to expect from the U S of A. But we had a very enjoyable evening on the waterfront, sandwiched between me helping to set up and tear down respectively the weekly live music stage at the Hotel Bristol. What seemed like all of the city seemed to be watching from somewhere along the bay, stretching from where we were near the business district, down to Oriental Bay and beyond. The fireworks lasted a good 25 minutes, accompanied by what seemed to be a Michael Jackson megamix, and the evening was nicely mild for the event.
The Santa Parade, held a few weeks later, saw Lambton Quay and surrounding roads closed off to traffic for the day, while an array of oddly-themed floats meandered south. Among them were marching bands, The Simpsons, Spongebob Squarepants, various New Zealand foodstuffs, and some mysterious yellow dog neither of us recognised (but whose name the children around us seemed to be incomprehensibly screaming), and bringing up the rear, good old F.C. himself. The parade officially marked the start of the busy season in my Christmas shop, as scores of revellers attempted to squeeze into the tiny Mezzazine once the parade had passed. Although it was my day off, I later heard that the shop got so packed that someone had to hit the emergency stop button on the escalator, for safety reaons.
On the same weekend, the national football (that's the soccer type of football) team the All-Whites took on the mighty nation of Bahrain in the second leg of their World Cup '10 qualifier. A few weeks previous a friend of mine from work had acquired a ticket for me, and in the period between him getting the tickets and the match itself, the hype spiralled to ridiculous proportions. Billed as the biggest match in some three decades, a win would qualify New Zealand for entry in the World Cup for only the second time ever. All of a sudden the kiwis around town abandoned their precious rugby and shifted to football fever. But the hype helped to make my first experience within the hallowed Westpac Stadium in the north of the city an incredibly memorable one. The almost uniformly white-shirted crowd in the match was fantastically eager to support their guys, and both the single goal for New Zealand just before halftime and its denial of a Bahrainian penalty in the second half were met with roaring applause and singalongs. The singalongs and chants were pretty straightforward for me, as they were the same ones from home, but instead of singing 'Eng-land', I simply had to shout 'All-Whites'. In our section, the spectators didn't take their seats once throughout the whole match, and New Zealand's victory spurred a celebratory atmosphere in the city (and country) which lasts to this day.
In other news for this month, my new iPod had the desired effect of reducing our electicity bill by keeping me from going on my computer so much, and I invited some people from work to our apartment for what I hope will be the first of many pizza parties. The evening took a week of hard-graft and intricate planning, as it entailed getting 10 pizzas from 5 pizza places around town and getting them back to mine (while still hot) for a 7pm gorging, but as I sit here in a room which stinks of cheese and tomato, and with pizza boxes wherever the eye turns, I can only say it was a total success.
It's our day off together today, so later we'll head down to the tennis courts for a match, and we'll get to try out both mine and Emily's new racquets. I'll try and put some photos on Flickr from this action-packed month this afternoon. Ciao for now.
Hi James
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you - I wondered what was happening, but I guess the pressure of keeping up a blopg was getting to you. I tried it when I started a 'living with myeloma' blog which was fine for a while but as I wasn't the patient merely the carer I was constantly referring to Caroline, so the experience became vicarious. I decided to stop blogging although I am still 'in attendance' as we travel through the process of myeloma living!!! As today we have just got back from Barts when Caroline was having a transfusion of pamidronate. It was quite a social occasion with consultants, doctors and nurses chatting away about things. We had a long chat with a nurse who was the transplant manager for Caro's second transplant a while ago who went off to have a baby, which is now 21 months - we found it hard to believe it was that long ago. They were all saying how well she looked but I suspect the steroids have something to do with it
I was glad to got to the 'All Whites match'. I saw that it was on in Wellington and wondered whether you got to see it. New Zealand have never been really big in football so it's great they've got to the World Cup. Currently NZ are beating every one at Rugby here (both League and union), but they have always been so good at Rugby but seing the do well at football is great for them although I expect they will find it difficult to live with the big boys. The draw for the finals is being made soon so we shall see how it results. Poor old Republic got ousted but a blind ref who failed to see a blatent handball from Henry. He even admitted he did it to the ref - at least he's not in the Maradonna mode but he's still being slated for being a cheat.
We're prepared for Christmas with Ben and family coming for my birthday when I will be offically old (all the stuff for my state pension has been sent to me). Kate and her troops also on their way with John (and maybe Karen) also line up.
Anyway don't forget to log on to Skype - I look most days now that we have a nice PC with Windows 7.
Speak to you soon - love Dad
Jamie
ReplyDeleteExcellent blog entry- we really got a feel for what you guys are up to. We look forward to new photos when ever you get the opportunity.
Best-
The Besens