I look pretty young, but I'm just back-dated, yeah (The Who)

I idolised the dutch football team of the early 1970s.

Johan Cruyff who recently died aged 68 was the stand out star of that amazing bunch of players. But he wasn't the only superstar name in that famous 1974 team: Johnny Rep, Johan Neeskens, Rob Rensenbrink and Ruud Krol were also Holland players from that era that I worshiped.

The idea of total football appealed hugely to my romantic side and there was no better exponent that Johan Cruyff.

When his death was announced I was a tad shocked to discover that he was only ten years older than me. In 1974, following the World Cup and the Holland team's progress to the final, I was an impressionable teenager. 

A ten year gap then was huge, it doesn't seem any time at all now.

The last word goes to Johan Cruyff:

“We showed the world you could enjoy being a footballer; you could laugh and have a fantastic time. I represent the era which proved that attractive football was enjoyable and successful, and good fun to play too.”

Love and rest in peace - WNP

It's a genuine problem, you won't try to work it out at all, you just pass it by, pass it by (The Who)

Dear Geeta

Please excuse this open letter to answer your question (Warren - how are you enjoying being 'back home' - was it a difficult transition?).

Interestingly, a number of people have also inquired about my feelings lately and I've fobbed them off by saying, "Hmm, that's a really good question" and...and that is it. 

The truth will set you free but I don't really know what my truth is. 

Ambivalence is the best way to describe my feelings right now Geeta. Ambivalence.

As I understand it, it's defined as the experience of having 'an attitude towards something that contains both positively and negatively valanced components'. 

It's the perfect word and is my best answer to the question; I'm ambivalent. 

But that's not what I mainly want to write about just now. Actually, I want to write about the question and consider how it can be answered. 

The 'how are you feeling' question is usually trotted out by reporters keen to illicit some emotional pay off for their story. 

It's a tough one to answer for a number of reasons. One possible answer is  a glib 'I'm fine' but it's not usually the honest option. Another possible answer is a more truthful one but one that then leads to a whole other conversation and a whole series of 'why?' probes.

It's particularly tough for me because I always aim to answer a direct question with a direct answer. I want to be honest but instead I've opted for the fob off of late; I guess through a need to preserve some privacy and a need to examine my feelings carefully before articulating them to strangers. By the way, no one who knows me well has actually asked that question, which is interesting.

All of which leads me, inexorably, back to 'ambivalent'.

Raining and finally getting more of an autumnal feel this end.

Love and peace - Wozza

I see your sun is shining (Jeff Beck)

Since returning from London at the end of January, my weekends have taken on a familiar pattern. One that involves physical labour around Rochdene.

The pattern is necessary for a couple of reasons: things need doing (they bug me); I need to be busy.

Both, I admit, are deep psychological problems (the unexamined life is not worth living remember).

The first one started as soon as we returned home - I see loads of things that need doing around the place and save them up for my weekends. Stuff like painting the house, building pergolas, hanging sails. Then there are the smaller items like hedges that need trimming, an unfinished garden seat, gardens that need taming, mess that needs tidying (I've lost count of how many times I've sorted out the garage frinstance)...you get the idea.

All week I make a mental list of chores and then spend the weekend ticking them off. I'm driven. I'm focused. I'm nuts.

Result: stuff gets done but I don't relax (which for me means reading while drinking tea in Abbey Road Three).

Second one - the need to be busy. I can blame SWMBO a little here. She can't sit still. After thirty three years of marriage that's bound to rub off a tad.

But I'd be lying if I was to leave the impression that I'm not to blame. The puritan work ethic is alive and well inside my core being. Once I get started on a project I can't stop until it's done. It's the way I roll baby!

Next weekend is Easter break and apart from a trip to see Jade in Palmerston North, I should get started on the next project - a garage for the horse float.

Now, where did I put my concrete mixer?

Love and peace - Wozza

Someone’s got it in for me, they’re planting stories in the press; whoever it is I wish they’d cut it out quick but when they will I can only guess (Bob Dylan)

I'm hacked off!!

Adam rang me a few nights ago with the news that my Facebook page had been hacked. 

Sure enough someone had changed details on my profile so I changed my password and then, when I checked it the next day, someone had hacked it again and posted objectionable pictures. Jeesh - why bother????

Why why why??? 

My first thought was - get your own life and leave mine alone.

I seem small potatoes in this world. Hacking an account seems such an insignificantly silly thing to do to someone you don't know. Was it a prank maybe? I'll never know. 

What I will know for a while is the feeling of being violated. 

Yes hacking my account was a violation of my right to write and post my stuff and have friends in a social media platform.

So I deleted my page (not that easy to do btw - I had to google how to close a Facebook account, follow the directions and jump through a few hoops to get shut of the thing).

All of that left a nasty taste and I don't believe I'll reinstate the page or start a new one.

As you can tell, I am pretty cheesed off with the whole thing and feel most put out.

Facebook fulfilled two main roles for me: one was to keep me in touch with my overseas friends in the UK, America and Middle East - that was the primary reason for starting my page; secondly, Tweets about my blog posts simultaneously appeared on my Facebook page so that my family and friends could access them if they wished.

I regret the loss of F******k for the first one because I'll now lose touch with many of those people I guess.

As for the second one? I'm picking that anyone who wants to read my blogs on a regular basis is already following, getting email alerts or tuning in from time to time anyway. If they are not doing any of those things then F******k is redundant anyway isn't it!

As for other uses? Well it's not like I posted regular pithy updates or shared much there, so - who knows what's good or bad, my life goes on without F******k. 

Cry me a river.

Love and peace to everyone except all the hoodied hackers out there - Wozza

BTW - my Twitter account is just up there on the right hand column if you feel up to it.

Life is a rollercoaster, just gotta ride it (Ronan Keating)

In life, I've found you have to take the crunchy with the smooth.

Smooth is great, it's what I prefer (duh), but life dishes up crunchy more often than not. Bugger!

Boy have we had some crunchy lately. 

So much so that I've been reaching for the great philosophical minds of our times, yes Jagger/Richards, to pull me through.

You can't always get what you want, You can't always get what you want, You can't always get what you want, But if you try sometimes, well, you might find, You get what you need

SWMBO got some good health news recently though, and really, that's what it's all about, right? RIGHT!

Who gives a shit if things don't quite pan out the way we hope along the way, as long as the big guy gives us what we need!

Love and peace - Wozza

I see a red door and I want it painted black (The Rolling Stones)

...er...brown.

How to guide:

Step 1 - find a red door

Step 2 - take said red door off its hinges and administer three coats of brown paint

Step 3 - rehang the brown door!

Love and peace - Wozza