Yes indeed I'm in London again after visiting my spiritual home - greater Manchester where my grandad came from. It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks - first finding out I had to come to England for family business, making plans and actually getting here was intense. Luckily I'm married to a doer and Jacky made all my arrangements while I got leave from school and made sure the school and my classes were covered. And so here I am. Where exactly? Randy and Pat's house in Islington (the Romanian builder 'Cosmin' is pictured in the doorway their back garden has scaffolding to put in a balcony and this was where I'm sleeping - on the 4th floor, up 41 steps from the kitchen - I counted them), north London to be precise. They are in Austria on a skiing holiday and they tell me they skim my blog so I won't dribble on this time. Just share some highlights - of course Fopp (3 pound, 4 pound CDs - amazing), a walk down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace(the daffies and horses)and a great view looking back to Westminster The trip to the Emirates stadium was immense - it's only 30 mins away from the shire where Pat/Randy have their house - they can even hear the faithful chant 'we love the Arsenal, we do'from their place. I walked across the Westminster bridge for Jacky and took this picture of St Thomas's and its view of Big Ben. The best though has been seeing all my friends at King John, spending time with Randy and Pat and their amazing wonderful friends, and seeing Christine and her children (Tom, Lewis K, and Fran)at the pub watching Liverpool absolutely destroy Aston Villa 5-0 (Tina should be sweating!). and finally the new inspiration picture - this is on the walk Christine and I like to take towards the Peel monument that overlooks Ramsbottom and Holcombe Village. The white dog ahead of us is Sam - Christine's dog chosen by Tom. Inspirational? Oh Yeah!!
I mentioned in a recent post that we'd delivered some stuff to Samantha's Wellington flat. Here's a picture that shows said flat - right hand door leads up to her room which is the one with the windows (blinds closed - means it's Samantha's!). Groovy huh! We have a blast of cold air from the Antarctic currently making us feel very much autumnal. Jacky and I spent the weekend mowing lawns, trimming trees, repairing leaks. The aim being to get ready for winter when we can't do much. It was a holiday on Monday - Taranaki Anniversary, so we did that work and also lazed around a lot.
Some more snips from Adam and Jenna in Japan arrived.
Go the 'Dale - second in the table! Wahoo!! I have no songs with Rochdale in the title so I'll stick with the Clash for this entry - have you noticed how I use song lyrics for the titles now...? No one has sent me a comment saying - 'Oh yeah - I gettit - Ringo right' - which is disappointing people!! C'mon!! See if you get the next one. Apologies too to the Silent Alliance brigade - they'd be there as well in my last post but I don't have a copy yet of the album. How do I get one Tom/Lewis?
Jacky and I spent the weekend in windy (and wet) Wellington at a posh hotel - The James Cook on the Terrace. OO ER. For those non Nu Zilders I've thoughfully supplied a map. Basically we travelled down the left hand coast to Wellington. Here is a nice picture of the coastline- We were there cos Fanfa needed her set of drawers and other possessions for her room. She's back in Wellington for her second year at Victoria University. You will all be glad to know that I didn't crumble like a marshmallow when we said goodbye. I did that last year. This year I know we'll be seeing her quite a bit - so it didn't feel final like it did somehow last year - weird.
Wellington itself has a special spot in my heart - it's where Jacky and I went for our honeymoon in April 1984. I'd never been before and I loved looking around the central Wellington area - the botanical garden and Alexander Turnbill Library, as well as the shops.
It was equally as good wandering around in Wellington's CBD this time - Slow Boat Records and Real Groovy provided some relief from the rain (noteworthy purchase - Mostly Autumn's 'Passengers'). We went for lunch at Fidel's on Cuba Street, checked out the impressive sights (lots of younguns in tats and piercings), we (J and I) had dinner together (not often that happens) almost went to a Beer fest by mistake (not us Tina) and crashed a wedding party having their pictures taken along the waterfront. All good. On the left is a view of the area we walked along.
All up a good break from routines (the lawns are long though). Last week also saw our 26th anniversary on the 26th Feb. Twenty-six years ago I saw a vision on the dancefloor at a fancy dress party and the rest is history.
Before I get to my annual music round up (it's a newish tradition, that is - this is the first) here's a little snap of me with the school's senior leaders. If you want a formal version you'll need to go to the Principal's blog - http://shsprincipal.blogspot.com .
The last Mojo I read was the January 2009 edition – containing their Best of 2008 list and their usual end of year survey of what some celebrities and musos listened to in 08. As a little exercise I went off into my CD collection and rounded up all of the 2008 CDs I’d bought. I was a tad shocked – there were only 14! Most of the stuff I bought was much older. I don’t keep up!
So here’s my top 14 of 2008 - in order of how much I listened to them (and therefore liked!)
14 – Ringo Starr – Liverpool 8. Yes Ringo put out a new album in 2008 – bet you didn’t know that! It’s not very good (you DID know that). Sorry Ringo, but I bought it out of a sense of duty (that’s why I own ALL of your back catalogue). Liverpool 8 has one goodish song that is worth listening to twice – the title track. The best thing about the CD is a picture inside of George and Ringo in Beatlemania times – in Liverpool, in an open top car. They look gear!
13 – Brian Wilson – That Lucky Old Sun. I’ve tried to like this but after repeated listens it hasn’t hooked me. Sorry number 2 to Brian - I did try, really I did.
12 – Madonna – Hard Candy. A disappointment – I think it’s a mistake that she’s retreated to her ‘True Blue’ voice – you know the helium fuelled one. I bought it cos I loved her last few. This one can be avoided.
Okay – into the decent ones now – 11 – The Desotos – Cross Your Heart. Roger gave me this CD with some other Ode releases and I listened to this one a lot. I like the open road/New Zealand feel to the songs.
10 – The Datsuns – Headstunts. A return to form after their last few albums. I bought it out of a sense of duty cos I have all their stuff and they come from Cambridge High School of all places. Good (at times Great) New Zealand guitar rock.
9 – Opeth – Watershed. I didn’t listen to this a lot because Opeth polarises the family (they hate it!) but when I do it gets the juices flowing and there were times in 2008 I needed to put on some REALLY LOUD music. Opeth and Watershed were great! There are some really prog moments on this (rather than their death metal approach).
8 – Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely. Adam Jenna and Keegan gave me this for my birthday but it’s an album I would have bought if they hadn’t. They made a good choice in other words. Another Good (at times Great) rock album.
7 – Snow Patrol – A Hundred Million Suns. I really like Snow Patrol (not love though). I listened to this a lot and it reveals it’s quality over time – I like albums like that.
6 – Oasis – Dig Out Your Soul. I really like Oasis (not love though). Another one I like to listen to over and over because I hear new things in it each time.
And so to the top 5: 5 – Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death and all his friends. Not an album to love in an uncontrollable way (like I do X and Y) but has some classic Coldplay on it.
4 - Sigur Ros - cool Icelandic moodly soundscapes (it's a bit weird in other words). It's actually a strange album - it starts off with some off kilter pop songs and then just gets more and more ambient sounding until it feels like that scene in 'Never Cry Wolf' when he's dropped off into the Arctic. The plane leaves and he looks around in total silence and finally says..."Interesting".
3 – The Kooks – Konk. The Kooks I do love cos they remind me of Lewis’ old band – Plus Special Guests for some reason. I love pop music and the Kooks know how to deliver. This feels fairly ramshackle in places (more reason to love it). Great British pop!
2 – Aimee Mann - @#%&*! Smilers. If Aimee has made a duff album I’m yet to hear it. This is music that is appropriate in any circumstance – Saturday night, Sunday morning, before school, after school - whenever. I love her voice, the texture of the music, the lyrical flips and the off kilter pictures of America/ Hollywood. She’s the woman! This is a great album. Go and buy it and tell me I’m wrong.
1 (Best thing I bought in 2008) - Fleet Foxes - You're probably saying - 'Who?' This is their first album and I only bought it because Mojo did a rave review of it during the year (and it incidentally ended up as their record of the year too). I love harmonies (Crosby Stills..., Beach Boys etc) and these guys obviously love them too. It's again fairly off kilter stuff but I've gone back to it time and again. You will too!
Other stuff -
I get quite a few weird emails from my staff alerting me to 'fun' sites and jokes - most of them are pretty lame but here are two goodies. First up a youtube advert from T Mobile that was filmed guerrilla style at an underground station in London:
and finally get a load of this!!!
Look at the picture above, and you can see where this driver broke through the guardrail, on the right side of the culvert, where people are standing on the road, pointing.
The pick-up was traveling about 75 mph, from right to left, when it crashed through the guardrail.
It flipped end-over-end, bounced off and across the culvert outlet,and landed right-side-up on the left side of the culvert, facing the opposite direction from which the driver was traveling.
The 22-year-old driver and his 18-year-old passenger were unhurt, except for minor cuts and bruises.
A bumper edition of photos for you all in this post. It's been back to work with a vengeance this week - not much time for any downtime apart from rewatching the last series of 24 with Jacky and reading my current book - 'John Paul George Ringo and Me' by Tony Barrow (The Beatles PR man in the sixties). A gift from my Executive Officer at school, it's okay but he's pretty pompous with overblown prose throughout. Apart from that our mower has been away for repair so I've only had the weekly harrowing of paddocks to keep me amused on the weekend.
Thank you to Dad for getting in touch to clear up the blighty thing for me -
Blighty is an English slang term for Britain, deriving from the Hindustani word vilāyatī (विलायती) (pronounced bilāti in many Indian dialects and languages) meaning "foreign", and is itself derived from the Arabic/Urdu word wilayat, meaning a kingdom or ministry.
Joan (remember she and Deirdre recently turned 50) also got in touch to mention that her lovely son sat her down to talk about her birthday and tried to console her that turning 40 shouldn't be such a problem. Bless!
And so - to the photos - a few more from Japan for a start:
The rest are from Jade's three day camp at Vertical Horizons last week - you'll remember I went out for a night and took these photos of her and friends (Jade is on the shoulders in the water, on the beam across the water, and in the 'yellow' photo she's somewhere! This is MacAllister - one of our four Houses and these are the Y13 leaders).
Nature watch - we're back to two horses - Jack has returned to his owner, and the temperature continues to slide downwards - we're experiencing autumnal weather conditions at the moment. I haven't been sleeping very well for a few weeks - I seem to wake at about 3.30am - 4.30am each morning. This morning at about this time there was an eery mist and strange filtered moonlight through the murk. I didn't go back to bed - just made cups of tea, watched the day slowly dawning and the mist lift off the paddocks and trees. Good thinking time!Henry David Thoreau in his diary for 18 Feb 1841 - Sometimes I find that I have frequented a higher society during sleep, and my thoughts and actions proceed on a higher level in the morning.
Currently grooving to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' album - Raising Sand. It kinda gets under yer skin (like sand!). I've played it every day for the last week and haven't got sick of it yet (especially good on misty mornings). Also dusted off Ryan Adams' 'Heartbreaker'. I read an interesting interview with him in Mojo which inspired me to listen again.
Annette sent me an email about a great site that I can also recommend (it's on my 'fun places to visit' bit on the left - just scroll down). Her words sum it up though so - over to you Annette:
Just found this site http://www.6billionothers.org/index_en.php which is part of a film project -- I watched a few of the people talking, and will dip in and out of it occasionally. Keep clicking and you will get to a screen where you can click on people and hear their comments (translated into English).
I found it humbling and moving to realise yet again how similar we are as human beings in our loves, fears and desires. I need to be reminded of this in light of world news and views of people as one-dimensional stereotypes with our attitudes and fears projected onto them.
I clicked on a few people talking about the dreams they had for life when they were children. My favourite was the guy who had a dream about going to Europe. Just look at his smile!!!
Waitangi weekend came and went and I got busy with wallpapering the hallway (5 doorways, a powerbox, a big window, and three power points...I know I know - cry me a river). You may remember I told you that I stripped off the old garish paper last year and the job has been waiting in the queue. I'm not a keen wallpaper hanger and I can lose temper with near and dear ones when things don't go right so it's best to stay away when I'm in wallpaper mode - which is what the family did! It looks pretty good though and I'm happy with the results. The next interior decorating job is the lounge - I've also picked paper off that room too and it looks worse than the old hallway. It'll have to keep for the next holidays though when I can get some days in a row to tackle it.
Adam sent some pictures from Japan which I'm sharing with the whanau:
Why he has that expression I have no idea but there you go.
An update on the family - Jade is off on her year 13 leadership camp at present (I go out for a night tonight so I'll take my camera for some action shots), Samantha is currently in Wellington getting her new flat organised. She's been feverishly planning her year of late. This includes leaving for America during 2009 where she'll stay for a year. Keegan is hard at work in Auckland.
Nature watch notes - we've had some stinking hot days but then some torrential rain yesterday. Today we have overcast and cooler weather which is nice. The grass has stopped growing in the paddocks - too much heat/not enough water. Jacky is sending a loan horse back this week - the horse (Jack) has been stroppy and Jacky's shoulder injury means the horse is too much for her. Jade left the back gate open yesterday (and the back door to the house). When Jacky came back from physio she was met by the sheep in the back yard and in our laundry and toilet area. They made a mess! Jade wasn't popular!!
Currently grooving to Porcupine Tree, Ozric Tentacles and Spock's Beard - prog bands!
Sports thought for this post - Chelsea fire their coach (Big Phil Scolari - a football genius!). This is insanity. I would be in despair if I was a Chelsea fan - if it's not instant success the coach is history. They've had 4 coaches in (I think) the last 2 years. Meanwhile Arsenal struggle (nil nil draws lately) and no one says Wenger must go. Rochdale continue on a winning season. Wahoo!!
Wow! The superbowl has been and gone and I'm still buzzing with shock. The game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals went to script - for three quarters The Steelers were grinding out a win, up 20 points to 7. They had stiffled the one potent weapon the Cardinals possess - wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald (remember I told you he can catch anything right?), and I was worried!! I watched all the play-off games and I knew a comeback was a-coming and that 13 points wasn't enough. And then the 4th quarter...and the Larry Fitzgerald show took over and the Cardinal defence stepped up...and the Steelers were in trouble with less than 2 minutes to go (down 23 to 20)...and I was on the floor in front of the TV begging for a momentum shift and a Steeler win. It was 35 seconds to go and I was saved by Santonio Holmes.
Santonio Holmes is heading my inspiration list - not for this spectacular, miraculous catch to win the game for the MIGHTY STEELERS but for the last two plays in the sequence including the catch. The quarter-back (Ben Roethlisberger) threw a perfect pass into the left corner. Santonio Holmes leapt high - but the ball sped through his hands. The Steeler fans and players watched as, maybe, the game was lost in that non-grab. The next play after this bitter disappointment was again to feature Holmes - this time on the right hand corner and surrounded by THREE Cardinal defenders. The throw had to be high (it was), fast (it was), and pin-point/centimetre perfect (it was), and the catch had to be held (it was), and the receiver had to stay inbounds - that is he had to touch the ground with BOTH feet AFTER the catch (he did).
Wow. The guts of the play-call, the throw, and the catch was amazing. I couldn't speak - the shock of the moment is still with me. Steelers win! Holmes is my hero!
their back garden has scaffolding to put in a balcony 
and 
this was where I'm sleeping - on the 4th floor, up 41 steps from the kitchen - I counted them), north London to be precise. They are in Austria on a skiing holiday and they tell me they skim my blog so I won't dribble on this time. Just share some highlights - of course Fopp (3 pound, 4 pound CDs - amazing), a walk down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace(the daffies and horses)
and a great view looking back to Westminster
The trip to the Emirates stadium was immense - it's only 30 mins away from the shire where Pat/Randy have their house - they can even hear the faithful chant 'we love the Arsenal, we do'from their place.
I walked across the Westminster bridge for Jacky and took this picture of St Thomas's and its view of Big Ben.
The best though has been seeing all my friends at King John, spending time with Randy and Pat and their amazing wonderful friends, and seeing Christine and her children (Tom, Lewis K, and Fran)at the pub watching Liverpool absolutely destroy Aston Villa 5-0 (Tina should be sweating!).
and finally the new inspiration picture - 
this is on the walk Christine and I like to take towards the Peel monument that overlooks Ramsbottom and Holcombe Village. The white dog ahead of us is Sam - Christine's dog chosen by Tom. Inspirational? Oh Yeah!!
