Look over the horizon, see the sun shining down on you (The OJays)

Wie geht's?

The count down is on to a month's holiday at the end of Term 4, that includes Christmas and New Year's Eve while in the U.A.E., the U.K., and the U.S.A. (a lot of uniteds in there huh).

The Californian bit will be with Samantha and Andrew and hopefully we can take in either a National Baseball League or National Football League game in January 2023.

 Some NFL maybe - either the LA Rams or San Francisco 49ers. I'm keen to sample the atmosphere and see how it compares to British football; the Giants game was great to witness a few years ago but the atmosphere was very polite.

American Football has been a passion for many years. Admittedly, I've had shifting allegiances over the years. As a teenager it was the New York Giants, but when the Sivaks moved in next door to us in Wakefield I couldn't help following the Pitsburgh Steelers because that was where they were from.

The Green Bay Packers also appealed to me for a while in a romantic way - all that cheese head/Lambeau Field/frozen tundra stuff. There was a great picture on my wall for years with the caption something like - it's the fourth quarter, it's fourth down and it's 4 below - what do you do?

Having fallen in love with San Francisco, I also have an interest in the 49ers. That extends to  other SF teams too - the Giants and the Golden State Warriors.

While the Steelers have had a disappointing start to the current season (fan for life yunnerstan), the 49ers look to be the real deal this time out. During their recent victory over the LA Rams I found myself cheering enthusiastically for the 49ers win. Jacky told me off for upsetting Rey.

An Arsenal game in late December is also high on my list. Potentially, that will be another big highlight of our northern expedition.

Love and peace - Wozza

We can be together, ah, you and me (Jefferson Airplane)

Sometimes the sporting gods smile on me!

What a weekend of results for my teams!

The All Blacks. 

It's hard for non kiwis to really understand what the concept of All Blacks means to New Zealanders. We love our team and we always want them to win in style (think Brazil in football terms).

It's our national game and even someone like me who's been besotted with Football from a very young age, even someone like me played rugby at Primary School and I was apt to say I wanted to kick a ball like Don Clarke.

A rugby mentality marries well with our stoic, humble kiwi natures. Rugby has become the embodiment of our metaphorical rugged individual persona.

We're also hard to impress! Our team has to smash the opposition (as they did today and against France recently) for us to lose our normal cool.

The difference with Aussies? Their flanker Michael Hooper effected a turnover under his posts in the first half. He flicked his beautiful hair back and then grinned to a teammate.

THAT's the difference between Aussies and Kiwis!

The ABs are a remarkable team and they are champions, always, but today they are World Cup Champions.

What of my other teams?

Arsenal F.C. also had a very good day - 3-0 away at Swansea.

Rochdale F.C. had an away draw at a tough place - Southend.

All in all a pretty great weekend!

The glow from winning the rugby World Cup is going to last a fair while.

Love, peace and big smiles - Wozza
 

Free at last, free at last!

The title comes from of course that famous speech by Martin Luther King and while I know Obama is not the messiah I couldn't help thinking back to the words while I watched the inauguration. Watching the Obamas dancing at a ball and his at ease handling of all the demands associated with the inauguration gave me a real sense of well-being. Weird. To celebrate here are a couple of soundbites.






Ross answered the call and sent some more photos. Here's Lynda on our tractor and a snap of the lights under the waterfall at Pukekura park in New Plymouth - one of their stop off visits while they were in the 'naki.





This week (the last before school gets back into action) has been focused on the roof and the sheep when I haven't been at work and the weather has been right. We managed to get a great cloudy day yesterday and therefore finished painting the roof. Now I know many of you look forward to our sheep exploits so here's the latest. Yesterday started with a trip to the saleyards with the lambs. We had 15 in the end and got good prices for them ($70 - $75). When Jacky and I dropped them off we thought our lot looked a bit small next to the huge perendales that were off to the works but our stock agent (Murray) obviously knew what he was doing. He had to be a Murray or possibly a Trevor, but he was never going to be an Antoine was he? We didn't sell all of the lambs - we kept Sus (the ewe Jade and I saved from the river - check back in the blog history for the full exciting story) and one lamb that Jacky and I couldn't clean up well enough to sell. That means we still have one ram (Doug) and his harem of 13 ewes to keep you updated on during the year.

People news - Adam sends reports from Japan that he is having a great time and feeling right at home; Pat and Randy are heading back to the UK after their summer sojourn in New Plymouth - sorry I couldn't make morning tea wid you; Tina and Adam are back from the UK (somewhere in Auckland) fer good, busy planning their wedding in April.

The world of sports: Go the Steelers!! Jesse will be pleased he wasn't here to watch the AFC championship game with me I'm sure. The mighty Pitsburgh Steelers now face the Arizona Cardinals in the Superbowl in early Feb. Why the Steelers you ask? The simple answer is - coz of the Sivaks. Since meeting them in the early 1990s I've had to support their team! Up to meeting them I was a Seattle Seahawks fan (because of Clay - a Seattle boy) and before meeting Clay I followed the New York Giants - only because the only vaguely NFL shirt that I could ever find in 1970s Auckland was a Giants shirt. The Steelers are the right team for me though - great name with solid connotations, built on tough defence (some unbelievable hits in that last game!) and no nonsense approach/tactics. The Cardinals have one awesome wide receiver who can catch anything but not much else - I predict a Steeler win!!

Currently grooving to a combination of really loud stuff when I'm painting on the roof (the Datsuns' new album is a major return to form) or smooth jazz of the Herbie Hancock/ Stan Getz variety if I'm inside getting a coke before heading back to the roof. Now that I'm back at work it's 'Workin' on a chain gang' by Sam Cooke.

Finally - I was going to put some of Jesse's photos in this post but at the moment they don't want to download from my computer - a technical hitch I'm sure. next time!

Till then - Take care - Love and Peace - W