Yellow tigers crouched in jungles in her dark eyes (Cream)

Wie geht's?

I'm in awe at the pursuit of perfection that is Olympic competition. Sport is high drama. Many are called by few are chosen.

The stories of glory and seeming defeat come thick and fast over the Olympic Games weeks - dropped batons/balls/hoops, missed jumps, off timing, human error and so on.

Of course, a lot of focus is on those who have a podium finish - the ultimate symbol of success, and Olympic or even World Records, but I prefer to celebrate any Personal Best (PB).

As the stoics know, in the end, the victory over one's self, the triumph of one's principles is what counts. The satisfaction of not only giving your best but being your best.

As Dame Lisa Carrington says, it's all about a constant pursuit of growth and learning.

So, here's to all of the participants who learnt something about themselves and their skills, who made an incremental forward movement, who bettered their previous best effort. Hurrah!!

My hat goes off to you!

Love and peace - Wozza

Update 29 + Inspiration 2

I seem to be locked into a groundhog day - the fabulous movie where every day Bill Murray wakes up and hears the DJ say, "it's cold out there" - except for me "it's raining out there". I get up, light the fire, shave, have breakfast while watching Sky UK news, put on the wet weather gear and go out to feed the animals. I noticed on the news last night (yes the boycott ended with the arrival of Sky TV) there were over 200 slips in Auckland because of the rain - they've had half a metre of rain in the last three months! Woh - that's a lot of H2woe. Doesn't have the same ring though really - 2 hundred slips in Auckland New Zealand as apposed to 4 thousand holes in Blackburn Lancashire. That's why Lennon was a genius I guess. On rain - apparently with global warming it means that we can expect a lot more rain now. I know you UK lot have had plenty and we've had three months of non-stop rain (some sunny patches but it's rained at some time every day). Looks like Ridley Scott had it spot on in the futuristic landscape of 'Bladerunner' with the perpetual rain, not to mention that biblical guy who got into a spot of shipbuilding.

We had two more lambs born yesterday in the teeth of a gail. Both black faces and well cute. The hugeist ewe that we thought must have triplets also gave birth - to one very large lamb. That brought the total to eight with more to come.

The mountain scenes are from last week - a heavy dumping of snow. And the buds of a week ago on the Rhodedendrum have begun to sprout but I notice the ones in New Plymouth and Waitara (on the coast as apposed to us higher ups) are well blooming.



Samantha returned home for a week so we're listening to a lot of reggae at the moment! Jacky, Samantha and I went up the mountain for a look at the snow and so we have some new pictures - Jade was sick so stayed in bed. As per time honoured tradition Samantha and I ganged up on Jacky with snow balls and then, again as per tradition, Jacky got us back by dislodging a three metre long piece of ice/snow and throwing it from a foot away at my head. All good fun!!

The olympics have finished and withdrawal now sets in. I read a letter in the Guardian about someone who refused to watch any of the sport because of the Chinese human rights record. Am I missing something here? What does marvelling at Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Valerie Villi, Chris Foy, the twins et al have to do with China's human rights record? I no way condone sending a guy to a labour camp without trial for a year for protesting about shoddy school buildings during the earthquake but how does not watching the olympics help him? Doesn't it actually draw attention to it and help prevent other such craziness? The letter writer deprived herself of some amazing human feats (stronger, higher etc) and probably wasn't an avid sports watcher anyway, otherwise how could you not watch? I can't help getting emotionally involved in the event. When I see our sports people getting gold and hearing our national anthem I get misty eyed ( Like Groucho - I'm a sentimental old fluff).

I also thought it was fantastic that: 1 Team Great Britain did so well - their best games for 100 years; 2 the USA didn't win everything as usual; and 3 we had our best games for a while. Everyone's a winner baby (except for the Cuban dolt who kicked a Tae Kwon Do ref). As for the closing ceremony (yes I watched that too) Jimmy Page and the bus were triffic but the spray painting and umbrellas weren't. Why o why reduce Brits and London to a stereotype of frumpy guys reading newspapers and carrying umbrellas. Not necessary. Stick with the decent version of 'Whole Lotta Love' I say. Either that or hire the Chinese to do the ceremonies and build the venues. I saw a news report on East London's Stratford Olympic preparations and a sinking feeling came over me - not a lot done and only four years to go! How long did Wembley take? Decades? Seemed like it. Oh well.

Currently grooving to...the reggae as I mentioned but in the car I have an old prog rock compilation from Classic Rock magazine ( favs Wolverine and Frost), the second Evanescence album and the Lost Prophets all on high rotate.

Inspiration number 2 - Graham Nugent Purdy and Dulcie Mary Purdy - my mum and dad! My brother Ross and I were/are very lucky. We grew up in a stable, loving, supportive, fun, disciplined family environment that gave us love, values, attitudes, support beyond question, happiness, fairness and backbone. Yes I know everyone says their mum/dad are the best but for us it's not a platitude or a cliche. It's the truth!

Unfortunately not all of you have met my mum and dad, and only Ross and I know what it was to live at 18 Korma Rd., then 4 Ramelton Rd. with them. Because of the way families were in the 60's we had the most contact with mum because as dad worked in Otahuhu he both left early and arrived late. It was mostly the little care network of mum and her mum that we saw more of/spent more time with. I have very vivid memories of growing up and they are mostly sunny, warm and satisfied. Dad (Graham) is now living in Orewa and as you all know celebrated his 80th birthday on the 26th July. Doubly and tragically unfortunate is that less of you knew my mother (Dulcie). She died in 1983 and so none of my children knew her. Apart from Jacky, I think only Greg and Mike will have clear memories of her. I'm sure Greg will remember the camel-dung-cookies that I had to share with my University friends!

So why inspiration? Well they were together until mum died and they loved each other (and that was obvious) and they were such different people with such different interests but it worked. This inspires me right there and I know I'm lucky. All around me I see students struggling to cope with horrendous family issues (sometimes amazingly no one wants the child) and Ross and I were safe from all that. So this is a tribute to our mum and dad. God bless them! And thanks.

Love and peace - W

Update 27

Greetings everyone/Kia ora tatou - highlights this week for those of you who read the first paragraph only - 1) Christine rang from England - yeh Christine - I love you and I love hearing your voice!!; 2) the Football started - yeh football - Rochdale off to a winning start (a draw and a win actually) and the Arsenal kicked off their new campaign with a win against West Brom. Unconvincing but a win nonetheless. 3) The All Blacks smashed the 'boks 19 nil - wow!! 4) kiwis won two gold medals at the olympics 5) I've been listening to some great music this week - I found a fantastic compilation of kiwi music 1970 to 1975 and the memories came flooding back and 6) spring is sprung (kinda).

First up - here's a picture of me getting my hair cut at Headquarters (in New Plymouth) by Jenna. Jenna has the huge honour of being trusted with the dynasty's hair, so that's not only me but Jacky, Jade, Samantha, and Michelle.

This comes to you courtesy of bluetooth technology and Jenna's insistence that I put her on my blog. Job done!

This week generally has been another hectic one - night meetings do me in, especially three in a week - cream crackered, Jacky had to have a cortisone injection in her shoulder (youch!), two more lambs were born, both rams - Jade did a great job saving one of them from the elements - yes it's been raining heavily still, and all the usual school discipline and management stuff including teaching my class - I have a Year 11 Unit Standard English class - not the most able English students but great fun and keen - only three girls which is s.o.p. Currently they are finishing off a unit on practical texts - recipes, newspaper stories etc. During the week I also signed up to Facebook - much to the amusement of the kids, well Keegan, Adam and Jade - Samantha lost her phone and therefore we had no contact with her for the week but she'll be amused no doubt. I'm not sure why they thought it was hilarious I had a Facebook site (link is opposite). It all started with getting Leda's photo which I found on her Facebook, then I was trying to establish contact with Noel Forth - a guy I'd written to and swapped Beatle records with many years ago way before Keegan arrived I think. When I googled Noel I got his Facebook and then had to join up to send him a message. Then the thing snowballed and a lot of former students and friends joined me. I rather naively didn't think these sites had a cool quotient but looks like they do and the younger set don't tend to use Facebook - wow! Txts Bebo and MSN are their networks. I did read in the Guardian (so it must be true) that Facebook is the fastest growing social network site or something like that. So anyway..

My two cents worth on the olympics - one world, one dream, one great viewing experience and a great time to be proudly Chinese (my version of Kennedy's 'I am a Berliner'). I'm not one for watching the opening ceremonies of events so I only caught bits of it - hugely impressive it was though - Jacky watched it all and was amazed and then indignant when she learned of the fudging of fireworks and the little girl who sang except she didn't. I'm not bothered actually - the whole event was put together by Zhang Yimou - the director of one of my favourite films 'House of Flying Daggers' so I wasn't expecting reality - it's the opening ceremony after all. The best comment I saw was in the (surprise surprise) Guardian:

The pyrotechnics were followed by a parade of athletes as all 204 nations waved their way around the stadium. Finally Chinese gymnast Li Ning was hoisted on to the roof to light an Olympic torch. At the closing ceremony the torch will be handed to London mayor Boris Johnson, who is perhaps even now ripping up plans for the morris dancing parade and thinking maybe he should buy some more balloons.

Personally I can't wait for 2012 and London. Bring it on!!

It was great to visit the Warehouse (chain of NZ department stores) and get that CD -called 'Under The Southern Moonlight - The kiwi rock scene 1970-1975'(UTSM). Boy oh boy - I didn't quite realise how strong each song was in terms of attached memory. It's the music of our youth that always has the greatest hold - for John Lennon no one ever bettered 'Whole Lotta Shaking Going On'. 1971 to 1976 are my secondary school years (yes - 6 of 'em thanks to a failed year at School C 1973) and you'll see on my whanau map that this post goes to some old school mates - all of whom love music and humour - why we gravitated towards each other in the first place. The aforementioned Noel is the same and if he was slightly younger and had been at Mount Albert Grammar with us (Greg, Pete, Mike) instead of our opposition (Auckland Grammar) we would've been mates a bit earlier. Roger Marbeck ditto. Rog is our age but not a grammar boy even tho his dad is a MAGS old boy. So for many of us 50somethings then it's the early 70's that resonates.


Actually I have Noel to thank for meeting Rog in the first place. Noel used to send me Aussie currency to buy Apple stuff for him from Marbecks which used to be the greatest music store in the universe and that lead to me meeting and working with Rog. To update Noel - Rog and Murray sold last year. Anyway...I digress (again)...

Here are some random memories derived from some key tracks on UTSM - Where to start? Okay Blerta's 'Dance all around the world'
;

- the NZ Loxene Golden Disc awards were a televised event that were subsequently put on record and 1971/1972 were stellar years. It was the pop idol of its day and along with 'New Faces' was the only avenue for new groups/singers/whathaveyou

( Space Waltz 'Out on the street; Split Ends '129' ) to be on TV so it was all we knew. I loved the eclectism of the shows and the records - Suzanne, the Rumour, Chapta, Lutha, the mighty Quincy Conserve etc etc were my first accessible musical moments really. I didn't know about Chicago or Blood Sweat and Tears when I listened to Quincy Conserve's brass heavy rock. I just knew they were great! The fact that others were New Zealanders from Ponsonby (Dragon) or were playing at our school ball (Th'Dudes) or were playing at the school during lunch (Tole Puddle) or were playing at the University (After Hours/Waves) made these sounds more meaningful/accessible during the 70s for us. Hearing the Blerta song again (I bought it on 45rpm at the time but haven't played it for years)instantly brought back memories of watching those shows.

My other memory of Split Ends, later to become Enz, was Mike Budd giving me a copy of the single when we lived in Asquith Ave (where Pete lived too) in Mount Albert. He was working at the Heards sweet factory where members of the Enz were also working and they gave him some copies for his mates.




Space Farm on this compilation as well. I remember taking this album round to Greg's place for him to listen to - maybe I even swapped it for some Apple singles Greg? BTW - Greg and his brother Michael and I went to lots of shows at places like His Majesties Theatre and heard heaps of NZ bands - the Enz, Citizen Band, Hello Sailor, Streettalk etc. Great gigs!



Headband are also there on UTSM - two quick memories - Led Zep raving about the album when they toured (1972?) and dad playing the track 'The Laws Must Change' incredibly loud to test some stereo equipment in the underhouse garade at 18 Korma Ave, Royal Oak, Auckland. Enuf - and I haven't even mentioned the two best tracks on UTSM - Tramline's ' Villards Song' and Murry Grindlay's Nova's Song'. Excellent excellent stuff.




Nature watch: This week's daffodil photos show that spring is slow in coming - still firmly wrapped up.



I took the photos of some buds and flowers in the garden and Bazil and Finn have finally been able to get out and about in between the showers this weekend. Saturday my boys football lost 3 - 1. I ref'd and in the first half we had hail and sleet! My face hurt.






See you next week - have a good one!!

Love and peace - W