25 years
What a week it has been! I have to start off with the subject that has occupied most of New Zealand this week - the World Cup. The team started returning home today as heroes, after three drawn matches in the group stage. There was a little disappointment after the 1-1 draw with Italy; there were hopes the All Whites might get through to the the last 16, but it was not to be. However, their achievement is massive. After watching their last qualifying match against Bahrain (which they had to win), I felt they would do very well just draw just one game at the finals. So, to return home undefeated is fantastic. To try and put this into context for you, not only were they rated 78th at the start of the group stage, but there are only 25 Kiwi professional footballers (Italy has over 3500). Not all of them made the 22 man squad, and two of the team playing against the Italians are amateurs.
The other even more significant event this week, though it has passed by most Kiwis, was our 25th Wedding Anniversary. Nicky took Tuesday (the actual day) and Wednesday as leave. We started the day, after a lie in, with breakfast at a local café, Barefoot in the Bay. Nicky had fresh fruit salad and French toast, and I had eggs benedict with bacon and black pudding. We each had a large glass of mango juice for refreshment. The weather was sunny with a bit of a breeze, not dissimilar from our actual wedding day but not quite as windy.
We wandered home and put some afternoon tea together before driving up to Waiwera. I had booked us into the spa at the thermal pools for a private spa, massage and facials for both of us. It was a very relaxing and pampering afternoon. Once we had floated back to the car we headed into town to meet Claire and Ryan at Cibo, a restaurant in Parnell which won a Metro Magazine award this year. We had a fantastic evening of gorgeous food and excellent service. Ryan had a softly cooked Duck Egg followed by a banoffi/crème caramel creation Claire ordered sweetcorn dumpling followed by Red Velvet kisses for dessert. Nicky opted for rack of lamb and then baklava with olive oil ice cream (which just tasted wonderful). I went for one of the specials - Coromandel scallops with duck breast followed by "broken" tiramisu with chocolate mayo - absolutely gorgeous. We also had roast kumra and pumpkin, green beans and fries as sides with our main courses. The waiters reference to the fries as yellow beans or man salad will stay with me for a long time. Nicky also had a glass of wine which some of us also sampled a little of, as with two of us driving there seemed little point in having a whole bottle, and we had some of Moir and Peters' champagne waiting for us in the fridge at home. However, by the time we got home we were just wanting our beds, so we didn't have the champagne until Friday night, but it was very nice. I am really looking forward to consuming the other bottle.
The rest of the week has been more routine with our work commitments. Claire is between semesters and Ryan is on holiday so we are not seeing much of them.
The weather has been cooler, and at times wetter. On Friday the rain alternated between heavy and torrential for most of the day, but cleared in the evening. We are making much more use of the heaters now. We have had a quiet weekend pottering around the house, and wallowing in the hot pools of Parakai last night. We saw the lunar eclipse too.
And now our focus goes back to the World Cup (I know I was taught at school not to start a sentence with "and" but I am 50 now so feel I can get away with it, in this modern age of language mangling). England's stumbling progress to the last 16 has not made the headlines here, especially with the All Whites performance and Australia getting a Sheila as Prime Minister. The only games which have been on free-to-air TV have been the three All Whites matches, until now. At 2am tomorrow, England play Germany, and its on the tellybox. Will I get up to watch it? Not sure, wait and see in next week's exciting instalment…
Rick
The other even more significant event this week, though it has passed by most Kiwis, was our 25th Wedding Anniversary. Nicky took Tuesday (the actual day) and Wednesday as leave. We started the day, after a lie in, with breakfast at a local café, Barefoot in the Bay. Nicky had fresh fruit salad and French toast, and I had eggs benedict with bacon and black pudding. We each had a large glass of mango juice for refreshment. The weather was sunny with a bit of a breeze, not dissimilar from our actual wedding day but not quite as windy.
We wandered home and put some afternoon tea together before driving up to Waiwera. I had booked us into the spa at the thermal pools for a private spa, massage and facials for both of us. It was a very relaxing and pampering afternoon. Once we had floated back to the car we headed into town to meet Claire and Ryan at Cibo, a restaurant in Parnell which won a Metro Magazine award this year. We had a fantastic evening of gorgeous food and excellent service. Ryan had a softly cooked Duck Egg followed by a banoffi/crème caramel creation Claire ordered sweetcorn dumpling followed by Red Velvet kisses for dessert. Nicky opted for rack of lamb and then baklava with olive oil ice cream (which just tasted wonderful). I went for one of the specials - Coromandel scallops with duck breast followed by "broken" tiramisu with chocolate mayo - absolutely gorgeous. We also had roast kumra and pumpkin, green beans and fries as sides with our main courses. The waiters reference to the fries as yellow beans or man salad will stay with me for a long time. Nicky also had a glass of wine which some of us also sampled a little of, as with two of us driving there seemed little point in having a whole bottle, and we had some of Moir and Peters' champagne waiting for us in the fridge at home. However, by the time we got home we were just wanting our beds, so we didn't have the champagne until Friday night, but it was very nice. I am really looking forward to consuming the other bottle.
The rest of the week has been more routine with our work commitments. Claire is between semesters and Ryan is on holiday so we are not seeing much of them.
The weather has been cooler, and at times wetter. On Friday the rain alternated between heavy and torrential for most of the day, but cleared in the evening. We are making much more use of the heaters now. We have had a quiet weekend pottering around the house, and wallowing in the hot pools of Parakai last night. We saw the lunar eclipse too.
And now our focus goes back to the World Cup (I know I was taught at school not to start a sentence with "and" but I am 50 now so feel I can get away with it, in this modern age of language mangling). England's stumbling progress to the last 16 has not made the headlines here, especially with the All Whites performance and Australia getting a Sheila as Prime Minister. The only games which have been on free-to-air TV have been the three All Whites matches, until now. At 2am tomorrow, England play Germany, and its on the tellybox. Will I get up to watch it? Not sure, wait and see in next week's exciting instalment…
Rick
Comments
World Cup fever is finally (thankfully) abating, after England's utterly lukewarm performances. Lowri and I were flying back from Berlin when my two teams were playing each other. The cabin crew kept relaying the scores excitedly. Well, it was a Lufthansa flight...
I'm now getting text-spammed by a friend who was so fed up with the footie that she's decided to blame John Terry for anything that happens until at least October. To whit: To raise morale amongst the England football team, the FA has arranged a match against Iceland. The hope is that if they win this, they might be able to take on Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda next.
Sincerely yours, etc...