…when stout-hearted men stick together man to man …

Folks, it was only a matter of time …

700 men have sworn an oath to Brian Tamaki – a binding, unbreakable, irrevocable oath. And oh the bru ha ha!!!
What surprises me is nothing.

Of course, it is interesting in the light of the simple words of the Jesus:

Matthew chapter 5:

"34 But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."
 
Enough said ...

He remains an Englishman .. he remains an Eng, eng eng eng lish man....

It has all the hallmarks of a party political broadcast.


The elections can’t be that close … I thought to myself!

Tempus fugit indeed.

Yes, that’s what I thought, the first time ever I saw the advert-come-promo on TV One for this up-and-coming-programme on Free View Channel TVNZ SEVEN.

The Economy in Plain English.

And indeed Bill’s newslutter also goes by the title “Plain English”.

I thank TV One for the warning. I really do! I find young Bill not to be one of the great orators of all time. He suffers from CDD (Charisma Deficit Disorder).

Bills finishes the promo with the immortal lines:
 
"We're nearly through the tough times and things are looking up ... together, us Kiwis can do it."


Riveting stuff!!!

Eat ya heart out Churchill!

What did the crowd think of Bill's speech?

Pass the maxigesic round

Climb every mountain ...till you find your dream ...

I wonder if Julie Andrews is a jogger? The opening scene of the Sound of Music sees her running up a mountain.

Calliope had its final harrier event of the winter season: King and Queen of the Mountain. This involves an insane uphill road run from Chelsea Sugar  to just short of Mokoia Road in Birkenhead.

Over 30 runners and walkers from all over gathered at the bottom of the hill. They set off on their tortuous agonizing  journeys at 5 second intervals (as you do).

Between 5 and 12 minutes later, depending on their respective speeds, people arrive (breasts heaving) at the top.

Now, to change tack slightly. Maths Class!!

1. The first person left at 0 secs, and we went at 5 sec intervals. I started at 1 min 40 secs. So what number person was I?

2. At what time did the 29 th person start, if the first person started at 6:45 pm?

3. My recorded time at the finish was 7 min 46 secs. What was my actual time?

4. The distance up the hill was 1.2 km, What was my average speed? (km/hr)

Please offer your answers in the comments.

These questions demonstrate just one example of how numeracy is buried within sports and PE. So, I cannot quite understand why the Ministry if Education sees numeracy and PE as alternatives in its latest pronouncements.

It seems to me, that contrary to the Ministry's stance, the Arts, Science and PE offer rich contexts for the development of reading writing and maths "skills".

After all, one has to read something, one has to write something, and in the end maths that can't be applied in life and work is fairly pointless.

So, why not let the youngsters develop these skills in contexts that really interest them?

And of course they must run up the hill first - whooops there goes the obesity problem!

That's why darling its incredible that someone so unforgettable ...

I read the results, and I was, as they say, gobsmacked ...

A sporting achievement of world shattering proportions has passed under the radar screen down here in Nu Zulun!

One Sala Vaega completed the Sir Barry Curtis 10 km walk in 37:22. Yes indeed, that is 37 min and 22secs. Check the results here! If you don't believe me.

The lady competed in the female 35-39 division. Considering that the world record for men is is 37:53 set by Francisco Javier Fernandez, the mind simply boggles at this perfomance by Vaega.
 
It seems the Pakaranga Athletic Club are unaware of the significance of Vaega's unbelievable time.
 
Such an acheivement, I can assure you, would not go unnoticed at Calliope.
 
This women, it appears, beat New Zealand Commonwealth Games silver medalist, Tony Sargisson and 4 times British champion Mike Parker.
 
You know, I can't help but feel that something is not quite right .... especially when a google search resulted in no hits for Sala Vaega racewalker.
 
Dare I say it ... could it possibly be that perhaps she ran ?????

How much is that doggie in the window ....

I have never owned a dog.

Many of my friends do and I am struck by the affection they hold for their animals. I am struck too by the profound grief they feel at the loss of their pet.

What is it about dogs that make them the most human-like of all animals (apes included)? After all, your average dog is 99% wolf. It is essentially a pack animal. The task of the dog owner is to be leader of the pack

We humans have taken the wolf and domesticated it. We have bred and crafted an amazing variety of shapes and sizes of canines. And, I can’t help but feel, we have created them in our own image.

I guess that is part of the reason, they are so loved.

Here’s a poem read at a tangi recently for a beloved lost puppy.

“There is one best place to bury a dog.
 If you bury him in his spot, he will
come to you when you call – come to you

over the grim, dim frontier of death,

and down the well-remembered path,

and … to your side again. And though you call a dozen living

dogs to heel, they shall not growl at

him, nor resent his coming,

for he belongs there. People may scoff at you, who see

no lightest blade of grass bent by his footfall, who hear no wimper, people

who may never really have had a dog.

Smile at them, for you shall know

something that is hidden from them.”

One day I shall get a dog.

Opportunity, opportunity, this is your big opportunity. They shop around ...

Bus drivers' lockout + racewalker = extra training.


Every crisis, “they” say, is an opportunity. I just hope “they” aint too obese to walk a little in these testing times.

With the Kerikeri half marathon less than 6 weeks away, this lockout of the bus drivers by NZ Bus alias infratil has come just at the right time! Thank you Zane Fulljames. Thank you Mr and Mrs Fulljames, parents of Zaney.

Bet ya bottom dollar young Zane Fulljames doesn’t catch one of his buses to work. He probably doesn't have a grandmother (Nana Fulljames) who relies on buses to do her shopping.

Anybody whose everybody will be competing in this Kerikeri event. Who knows, maybe even Zane Fulljames may compete.

Back to the opportunity theme: “They” also say ….

Every challenge is an opportunity

Diversity is an opportunity

Disagreement is an opportunity to show love….

Every problem is an opportunity for a creative solution

Fiscal crisis is an opportunity to fight corruption

Every threat is an opportunity

But this last one I do like!!!

2,433 unreadmails is an opportunity for an entrepreneur.

Now ya talkin my language! I wonder if Zane Fulljames is getting many emails these days - hope he got mine!

Full speed ahead James and don't spare the horses!* Or was it dam the torpedoes and full speed ahead!


* Queen Victoria actually said "Home James and don't spare the horses".

Through all kinds of weather, what if the skies may fall, just as long as we’re together ….

The great thing about doing the first leg in a relay is that you get to sit back afterwards and observe everyone else suffer. Now please note! I did not say ‘enjoy everyone else suffer’.

The tough thing about the first leg is that this is the leg most like a race. This is quite unlike the last leg where the field is maximally spread out.

Enough already ….. Let’s cut to the quick. The Calliope men’s team won the men's race walk section of the K•SWISS Rotorua Ekiden on Saturday. The Calliope women's team was second in their section.

The results for the Calliope men.

Conditions were somewhat less than clement. Yours truly was lucky. He had the wind in his sails for a good part of the first lap. Alas, other team members had to engage a barkingly cold, snarling wind head-on as they slowly, grimacingly, lap-by-aching-lap circuited Lake Rotorua. (Wew! You might need to read that again! And feel the pain this time!)

Having established a 3 min 30 seconds lead on the next team in the first lap, I had to sit in the van and watch with all the empathy I could muster, the quiet, lonely, inexorable suffering of my team mates.

It would have brought me to tears, had I been one given to flights of emotion.

Later that evening, much of the suffering was assuaged with assorted beverages which supplied a strange, calm, healing effect.

Meanwhile, down in Christchurch, another Calliope team did gladiatorial battle in the Takahe-Akaroa relay.

Conditions in this more southerly relay were, I am told, “atrocious” and that many of the team barely survived. They underwent environmental factors that would literally freeze the brass off a bald-headed monkey (or something of the sort).

How can one club endure so much suffering you ask?

I am afraid, I have no simple answer. I suspect senile dementia comes closest to the truth.

Regrettably, this team came away with no prize except their self respect intact. They also have the sure and certain knowledge that running up hill causes immediate pain, and running downhill causes a delayed agony.





By the way, if you feel you would like to run or walk with Calliope, then join us at our clubrooms: Osborne Memorial Park, Mahara Ave, Birkenhead.
Wednesday nights, 6:30.

In your running or walking, you will no longer suffer alone! (However, you may still be barmy!)

In this world of darkness, so let us shine, you in your small corner .....

Every now and then, you encounter Jesus.

I got a glimpse of Jesus last night in the face of Shinkee Chung (Daniel). Daniel is a taxi driver who every Sunday feeds the homeless and hungry in Latimer Square, Christchurch. He spends over $250 of his hard-earned cash.

Here’s the video clip from TV3

The cynic might say, some of them take advantage of Daniel. Daniel simply calls these folk "his precious friends .... his family".

Daniel is "a man in whom there is no guile" for he sees no deviousness in those he serves.

It is in Daniel and people like him we encounter the true Jesus - not in ornate churches and repetitive religious ritual - not in demanding dogmas and crumbling creeds.

The apostle Paul said "we encounter God in the face of Jesus". I would add we encounter Jesus in the face of Daniel (Shinkee) Chung.

I also encounter Jesus in the faces of the many friends who offer me a helping hand along the way ... if you are reading this, you know who you are.

Singin in the rain, singin in the rain, what a glorious feeling …

The first weekend in October was decidedly wet in Auckland town Nu Zulun. My friend Mike is preparing for a 50 km walk on the 25th of October. On Saturday morning, he went out for a 4 hour training stint. I joined him for a 12 km section of it. He had already been on his feet for 1 hour 25 minutes when he spun past my place.

We mused together on things as we walked. Both agreed on a Tua win if the fight finished early.

We reflected too, on just how much a long training stint is about mental toughness.

With up-and-coming Keri Keri half marathon in mind, I stepped out the next days into a rainy Sunday morning for a 20 km effort. I had been delaying the inevitable - looking vainly for a break in the weather. But by ten oclock, any clearance seemed only a remote possibility, so I steeled myself, donned a parker, gritted my teeth and hit the road.

It was a glorious feeling - that last 3km - body shattered, clothing drenched, wind-in-your face stuff. But oh, the sense of mastery over that other "self" that had wanted to just cozy up on the couch and watch another episode of M*A*S*H.

Home again, triumphant! Hot shower. Now where was that M*A*S*H episode where Father Mulcahy runs 12 mile to raise money for the orphanage?

Photo courtesy of www.freefoto.com