I'm feeling the heat, glad to be alive, I'm counting the beat, six-seven-eight-nine (The Swingers)

Wie geht's?

Me? Oh - I'm fine, thanks. Just sitting here enjoying that sunrise this morning after a frosty night and thinking.

Pondering really. While listening to a very old but really great and under appreciated Uriah Heep album (Salisbury) in my music room. Vinyl, of course.

In a rare moment of projecting forward, I'm pondering the next week at school and then the two weeks after that. 

Thoughts are increasingly turning to the future: I have a conversation each Wednesday with my new employers in England; there are many items we need to sell or store or pack in these next three weeks.

Those things are encroaching on my here and now. Just sayin'.

No room in my suitcase for Salisbury unfortunately. 

Love and peace - Wozza

WOW

Wie geht's?

Organic appreciation is a wonderful thing!

Recently, staff at school started a WOW board in the staff room (Words Of Warren) and it's being added to on a daily basis.

I have no idea who started it, but it's becoming a beast!

None of it is particularly original to me - we're talking catch phrases that I use regularly.

I love it!!

Love and peace - Wozza

I am the son and heir of nothing in particular (The Smiths)

Photo by Mikael Cho on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

In case you were going to ask me if I'm getting excited yet (with seven weeks to go before leaving NZ for the UK)...

'Sort of, not really' is my stock answer.

What gives, Wozza?

Wishing myself somewhere else runs counter to my 'be here now'. If I start thinking too much about what's to come, I'll neglect the here and now. Simple, huh!

In addition to that, the guilt sets in if I get too excited - SWMBO is always giving up more than I am during our moves. As she says, "I need a base", so she misses her possessions more than I do.

Instead, I subscribe to Hsing Yun's words: humans have to refrain from their external cravings in order to seek treasures of the inner mind.

So, during this stage of the move, I can appear to be  annoyingly glib about leaving possessions behind. 

A case in point: I was told off for my tractor post a while back. I loved the tractor but my practical brain told me I couldn't store it anywhere, I couldn't take it with me, it was going to need more and more TLC mechanically speaking and I just don't have the know-how. That didn't mean I didn't appreciate all of Brian's work. I really did!

The tractor's fate was sealed when we left Stratford really.

The family heirloom fits into that category too. Unfortunately Ross has decided his concrete making days are over so I have had to make a dispassionate decision, as I did with the tractor. 

Doesn't mean I don't love that concrete mixer to bits though!

Love and peace - Wozza

Football is about joy (Ronaldinho)

Wie geht's?

Four games into the FIFA World Cup 2018 and I'm hooked, baby!

I can't understand who wouldn't be but sometimes I come across supposed sports fans who are ignorant of the joys of football (a.k.a. 'soccer' in Nu Zild). 

And I really don't get those blinkered attitudes from dinosaur NZ rugby fans who still turn their nose up at the beautiful game.

Ar well - boy, is it their loss!

So far, they've missed five glorious moments in the opening game from Russia, late drama in the Morocco and Egypt losses and a six goal stunner from Portugal and Spain.

Hard to know who to root for in that one - Cristiano Renaldo and Sergio Ramos are hard to like. 

In the end the teams canceled each other out but not before Ronaldo hit an amazing free kick and Nacho volleyed in a wonder strike from outside the penalty area for Spain.

Sixty games to go (as I write). Get in!!!

Love and peace - Wozza

Sometimes they found it, sometimes they kept it, often lost it along the way (Jack Bruce)

Wie geht's?

Having spent another weekend throwing away stuff, I can't pretend I've got the Marie Kondo tidying gig licked yet.

This weekend saw us saying goodbye to Myrtle, our faithful Massey Ferguson 1940's tractor - sold to a parent from my school. The Minister of Defence (father-in-law Brian Smith) did a lot of work to her recently and she was going beautifully but it needed to be done.

And disposing of four boxes of unwanted Mojo magazines. Real Groovy didn't want them (only copies of Record Collector hold their value apparently), nor did The Piggery second hand bookshop.

So I donated them to the local second hand shop in Maungaturoto.

Neither action felt like much of a wrench. The initial pleasures I derived from these objects is enough.

Then I got stuck into my books again and hauled four boxes to The Piggery. She bought two box loads and I'll donate the rest (some Beatle books among them).

Again - didn't feel like any kind of betrayal to my past (I've stored and moved all this stuff around many times over the years).

I feel I'm almost there with the books, however, I've felt that before.

CDs are next. SWMBO thinks I should get rid of them all but that's not true, that's impossible.

But I am being more brutal this time out. And it's amazing how the pile is growing.

Update coming next post!

Love and peace - Wozza

I'm going down to Louisiana to get me a mojo hand (Muddy Waters)

Wie geht's?

The problem (part 1 of 3): being what to do with a couple of hundred copies of Mojo magazine that I've collected over the last 20 years. That's a lot of magazines. They are heavy and they would take up a lot of space in a storage locker when we go to the UK in August.

The problem (part 2 of 3): as my colleague, Liz, correctly identified recently - I'm obsessive compulsive with wanting to preserve the complete set of Mojos (from issue one until now with a few annoying gaps along the way).

The problem (part 3 - collect the set): I've been firmly embracing a tidy up mission thanks to that Marie Kondo book that Mandy lent me. If a possession doesn't bring me joy I need to get rid of it. But I couldn't face throwing out all those Mojos man!

Solution: It seems obvious but the solution came to my fevered brain at 2am a few days ago. Embrace the fact that I'll never fill those annoying gaps of missing issues; pull out and keep only the issues that bring me joy.

So far I have a pile of Mojos with Beatle related covers and a second pile of issues I'll read again (100 best albums ever type of thing).

Now I just need to see if someone is interested in taking the rest off my hands.

Literally, a weight has been lifted!

Love and peace and groovy baby - Wozza