Tigy’s Blog

Yes I am still alive and still wanting to post. What with kids, new baby arriving, study, work and the fact I’m trying to get back into my running again I just haven’t had time.

Anyway, just to let you all know that I care about you here is my top 10 list of things I wish I had written about but just didn’t get time to:

1. Paul Potts - Quite wicked and I can see why he’s famous. He’s done a record that I wouldnt mind to hear but the clips they play on the radio make it sound a bit cheesy.
2. Police chases - Look I really, really feel for the family of the kid who died in a police chase the other day. But when are the press here in NZ going to stop blaming the cops for pursuing the guy and start blaming the idiots who run away from them. If we tell the cops to stop chasing what the hell would you do when they go to pull you over, run away because you know they cant chase you!
3. Awww damn it… only got to 3 and I gotta go again. I’ll be back soon… promise…

So this time things didnt go quite as planned. I’m bummed, pissed off, grumpy and sad. But I’ll get over it. I read something quite inspiring, and something I think sums up why we were finally able to win the cup in 1995

It is not a game for armchair admirals. It is not a game for a person who is not prepared to come back. It is not a game for the faint hearted. It is a game for those who are not scared of pitting themselves against the best that the world has to offer. It’s a game where winning is almost impossible, almost, but not impossible.

This time you didn’t win but certainly didn’t lose. You only lose when you don’t have the courage to return. Not winning is part of the learning process which leads you to success.

Sir Peter Blake… Letter to Luna Rosa after 2000 America’s Cup

You can read the full letter on Peter Lesters blog, something I’d recommend everyone do. Its a real insight into the mind of one of our greatest hero’s and something that can be applied to so much in life.

So we didn’t win this time. We were, without doubt, the best challenger. We had the best challenging boat and arguably the best challenging team. But those bastards over at ‘Adinghy’ were better. Their boat was probable an inch quicker overall and their teamwork was a little better on the day.

I dont blame the team, they gave it their all, they gave it 4 years of their lives. They’ll be feeling like crap and my heart goes out to them. I’m pissed off. I wish we had done better, and although I thought it was a waste of tax payers money at first, I want us to be back. Learn from this and give it another crack.

We didnt win, but we didnt lose.

Its the first of December today and I am still waiting for it to snow… Not a sign of it anywhere! The stores have had to resort to using fake snow and turning the air conditioning down so that poor old Santa doesn’t go the way of the wicked witch of the west and melt away. Perhaps I’m mistaken, perhaps it doesn’t snow in New Zealand in the middle of god damn summer! But I can’t be wrong! I mean everywhere you look are snowmen, reindeer and heavily overweight guys in thermal underwear and red lounge suits… To quote my eloquent sister:

Whats worse is that the majority still insist on using snowmen, snow covered plastic fur trees, Polarbears??, giant fake snowflakes, cotton wool as snow and Santa dressed up to the nines in fur! ITS SUMMER AND WE LIVE ON A PASIFIC ISLAND!!! So as you can tell it shits me a bit. Why cant we use the Pohutakawa as our tree? and sand as our snow? Santa can keep the beard, but maybe dust off the stubbies or something?

Hear hear I say! Odds on when Santa comes whistling through the south pacific he will be stripping of the thermals and giving his lilly whites a chance to get a little bit of sun before they go back into hibernation for the next 12 months.

I find it strange that things like this, these defining events in a nations identity and therefore the identity of its citizens, are not taught in schools. Or at least weren’t taught when I was there. But for those of you who care November 25th is officially the date New Zealand became independent of Britain. Yay!

The independence of New Zealand and the other dominions, was recommended by the 1926 Balfour Declaration and implemented in the 1931 Statute of Westminster which was ratified on November 25, 1947.

The last barrier to complete legislative freedom was also removed in 1947 with the passage through the British Parliament of the New Zealand Constitution (Amendment) Act, giving the New Zealand Parliament the power to modify its own constitution.

The act also created New Zealand an independent constitutional monarchy, with the monarch of the United Kingdom remaining the monarch of New Zealand. New Zealand’s monarchy is legally separate from that of the United Kingdom.

Poor Feltex. But I hate to say it, you dance with the devil and your gonna get burnt. The ANZ is like the town slapper, she’ll say “yes” to anyone who asks, and you think your doing alright. Then you wake up in the morning and realise not only have the beer goggles stopped working but she’s given you the “mydy”. Basically my experience with the ANZ is that you cant trust them. Good luck to Feltex, hope you get out of it OK.