netball again

Its netball season again and after a year off Georgia decided to join the netball team again at her new school. New Zealand certainly takes its sport seriously and from an early age they are coached in the game. She chose to be either goal keeper or goal defence as these positions don't involve too much running about (that's my girl, good thinking). So she did well in the trials and secured her place on the B team. Over 150 girls from Georgias school alone are in a team.

On Saturday morning all the local teams get together and play a game which gives focus and point to all the practice they do during the week.

And what an event it is. You have to marvel at the organisation behind getting the teams together. They all play at Blake Park Netball centre which has 18 courts so after a quick bit of mental maths that's 20 players for each game with 5 games played on each court making at least 1800 players, plus parents, other family members, coaches, referees, managers etc it makes one big event. (This doesn't include the 5 rugby pitches next to the netball courts which hosts matches at the same time for the boys.) So about 1/2 of the local population are there. You have to take your hat off to the Kiwis when it comes to managing sporting events. Everyone knows exactly where to go and who they are playing and someone also keeps all the scores to build a league table. Its all very professional, with some hoping to be spotted as a budding Silver Fern but for many its just for fun.

Anyway, the first match has given Georgia's coach something to work on - they lost BIG TIME but they all seemed to enjoy themselves and its good exercise and if it gets Georgia out of bed on a Saturday morning that's got to be a good thing.

bloody poms

While Norman and Linda were at the shop with us the other night, we all got talking to a customer, Nigel, who regularly enjoys our pizzas. He was cursing the fact that his mobile phone was on the blink and blaming Vodafone for the problem. Norman has also had a lot of problems with Vodafone so this sparked a lively debate which led on to the general state of New Zealand. Politics, tax, big business, the social divide were all discussed.
Eventually the conversation touched on immigration. Nigel, a returning Kiwi was lamenting the fact that New Zealand has been overwhelmed by 'foreigners' and that Brits could just 'walk' into New Zealand with out any trouble from The Immigration Department. This is a popular misconception by many Pakeha (White New Zealanders of European descent). They believe that British people (or Poms) can just come to New Zealand, cream off the assets and reap the benefits of the New Zealand lifestyle. He believed that immigration just signed applications with no questions asked. Who is he kidding? Obtaining residency visas and citizen ship in New Zealand can be a daunting process; costly and sometimes very lenghthy. In fact it is easier to get into Australia. And just what are we creaming off New Zealand? It is hardly a wealthy country. We run our business and pay our taxes to enable us to enjoy the New Zealand lifestyle, no free ride expected.
I was also taken aback by Nigel's open racism towards Chinese and Indians living here and in particular 'those Middle Eastern types, who were not to be trusted'.
It is unfortunate that we have encountered this kind of thing before - we are known as the couple of Poms that own the pizza shop. He also didn't seem to mind spouting off his opinions to the five of us from England!
I wonder if he ever considered that while he was working in the UK for 5 years and Australia for 15 years that he was the 'foreigner' 'creaming off' the high wages of these countries. Probably didn't even enter his head.

smells and senses

Of all the bodies senses, its the sense of smell that can send distant memories rushing to your mind the most. Last Sunday was cold and damp and as soon as Georgia stepped out of the door she said 'oh it smells like England.' Walking through the wooded area at Maketu the other day the whiff of wild garlic and damp earth propels us back to the river banks of the Wear in Durham.

Over the summer months when the air was hot and dry here it almost smelled Mediterranean but for the lack of that strange drainy smell that you get at Spanish resorts.

When you think about it though, the cold and damp reminds us where we lived in England and the heat and dry remind us of great holidays abroad....

Considering we are fast approaching winter here in New Zealand and temperatures in the Bay are still around 13 - 16 degrees, plus the sun shines most days, I feel quite happy to enjoy the memories of the cold and damp stimulated by smells and not actually experience it!