Some things that happened for the first time, seem to be happening again ….

Or as Woody Allen supposedly put it “It is déjà vu all over again”. In fact it wasn’t Allen, it was the baseball player Yogi Berra. Other expressions include “same old same old …” And there was the Movie Groundhog Day. Of course Shakespeare put it best of all: To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, ….


The intense routineaity of routine should cause us perhaps not to take life so seriously. Our lives are constrained. The beginnings and endings, especially, of each day bear striking resemblance to each other. Sometimes you can’t help but see yourself as the director of a movie. It is that moment of dissociation from the ongoing flow of life that help a person see that the whole thing is really a bit of a game.

The secret they say is to enjoy the game, and not to take it too seriously. After all, where will you be 100 years from today?

lets face the music and dance ...

DWTS is now the abbreviation for a show that is dying a thousand deaths. I was listening to radio hosts discussing it this morning - but they could make no traction and little headway in their prolixity as none of them had actually seen the show.

I watched it last night (for approximately 7 mins). Then waves of nausea swept over me and I killed the TV and retired to my bed with a good book by John O'Farrell: An utterly impartial history of britain. The book placed me in a happier space. I am up to the execution of Mary Queen of Scots.

By the way, DWTS stands for Dancing with the Stars. It ought to stand for Dim Witted Tv Shows or perhaps Dumb Wallyish Tv Shows or even Disasterous Woeful Terrible Show ... but I am being tooooo kind!

Fundamental problem with Dancing with the Stars in NZ. With the sensible exit of John Rowles, due to exhaustion, there simply aint a single star.

All I am saying is give peace a chance ....

I saw a guy being interviewed on breakfast this morning (that self-congratulatory TV One programme). He was going on about the army, terrorism, strategic deployment of troops. It all sounded quite militaristic and even scare-mongerish. Apparently, we must be ready for the “worse case scenario”! Then I says to myself, “I know that face”. Anyhoo, at the end of the interview he is revealed as one Jim Veitch from the department of strategic studies at Victoria University. Apparently he is now in the School of Government (a more ghastly title I cannot think of).

Jim (in a previous incarnation) was in the religious studies area. Admittedly he is still into disarmament and arms control (thank God), but the way the interview went, one might have thought quite the opposite.

Anyhoo, perhaps Mr. Veitch’s shift is indicative of the state of education in NZ today. Perhaps it offers an even bigger insight into the state of religion in NZ today.

And as an afterthought, I thought that prayer was the way religious people got ready for the worse case scenario. “live by the sword … die by the sword” eh what????

Show me the way to go home. I’m tired and I wanna go to bed …

Exhaustion is a great thing. There’s mental and physical exhaustion. There is really tried and then there is burnout. I did a 10 km race walk on Sunday in 57 mins, doing the last 5 km in 27:40. When I finished, I was exhausted – but what a nice exhaustion it was! I had been aiming to break 1 hour (6 min per kilometre).

On the other hand, there is the exhaustion of John Rowles, who had to pull out of Dancing with the Boobs … oops Stars. Now that folks is not a nice exhaustion! It is an embarrassing exhaustion – one which will no doubt see the media mongrels have a feeding frenzy.

Good on you John! It is a thoroughly passed-its-used-by-date kind of programme. Without John Rowles the programme has really fallen on its ass.

What about an hour of racewalking instead! Now we guys and gals really know how to wiggle our hips!

Dancing in the dark to a new tune, we’re ….

Is anyone else as over Dancing with the Stars as I am. I have given up watching this latest piece of low-life viewing from TV One. Jason Gunn appears on the screen and the remote leaps into my hand. Unfortunately I saw an excerpt from the programme on TV One’s breakfast programme.

It showed Josh Kronfeld or whatever his label is … dancing with two protruding breasts attached to the vague glimpse of a women in the background. TV One, in its pathetically desperate attempt to increase the ratings, has gone for the lure of more flesh. They should call it “dancing with the boobs”.
Anyhooo judge for yourself

Walkin after midnight

Now, I know you have all missed me. It has bin a long time since the last entry. Put it down to rehab … no folks ... seriously, the university semester one has begun down here in old Nu Zulun.

However, i have not been totally academisized. In the midst of a overwhelming workload, I have been hitting the road with regularity (thanks to the bran in my diet). A big movement ... sorry ... moment ... came for this runner-turned-walker last night. I put together a 1500 metre walk in 7min and 59 seconds. Now that there is no mean achievement for a new comer at this hip shuffling stuff. After all, I am staring 60 in the face (well … all right then … 58 and one half). Still it is a big deal. Sadly, I have no photo to display of my magnificence in action.

It was a grass track as well. I am told by an expert that on the solid road it would be a little faster.

The secret is lots of walking after midnight. No … not really … only Patsy Cline does that after her lost lovers.

Around and around and around I’ve searched for you ….

A favourite course for RWA (Race walking Auckland) is the inner circuit of the Auckland Domain. It is nominally 1.5 km. but is, in fact, 1.56 km. It is a good, though there are one or two slight inclines that can prove a little taxing. Here it is on map my run. The results of yesterday’s race indicate that if you can walk around 8 minute kilometres or under, then this is the club for you. It meets every Sunday at 8:30. Here is the schedule of coming events.

Climb every mountain

Well done Valerie Vili, a great Choice. Of course there will always be contention over these Halberg Sports awards, depending on what sport you are into. Mine is track and field and so I am delighted with Valerie getting the supreme Nu Zulun Sports Person award.

I was shocked to hear Valerie only gets a $40,000 grant. In these days when athletics is professional, it aint good enough.

Mind you there was a time when track and field was strictly amateur. Wes Santee, the great US miler in the early fifties got raked over the coals and almost lost his amateur status for accepting a $200 camera. In 1956, he did in fact lose his amateur status.

The iconic Roger Bannister, the first sub four minute miler, was working hard to become a doctor at the time of his 3:59.4 back in May 1954. There was no way in could put in the training of the modern middle distance runner.

Ten water bottles hanging on the wall....

I have a theory. The speed people walk (or run at) is inversely proportional to the probability they carry a water bottle. That is to say (in layperson’s terms), slower people are more likely to carry water.

The water bottle industry is big business since we were sold the lie some years back that we all needed at least eight glasses of water a day. What size glass was seldom pointed out. The 2 litre figure was occasionally mentioned.

Research has shown clearly that too much water could in fact be bad for you; in depletes the body of essential minerals and so forth. That is to say, to put not too finer point on it (in layperson’s terms), you pee them away. It is called "water intoxication". In non-layman's terms this is hyponatraemia (low salt levels).

Yet you see them everywhere, strolling down the road at a pace, that would not get a rat fit, clutching their water bottles. Again, I have a theory. They are a linus blanket, a source of comfort rather than liquid. Indeed many is the time I have walked close behind and seen not one sip taken in the course of the exercise.

There is of course the extreme variety of this species – those with a belt of small water bottles, looking not a lot dissimilar to Rambo.

The other myth is of course bottle water is purer than tap water. It is a myth perpetuated by the bottle water industry.

However, it is well established that a pint of water before bed after a night on the jungle juice can help ward off a hangover.

Bring back those crazy hazy lazy …

It was only a matter of time before such lines must appear on this blog. Summer ought to teach us not to take life or ourselves too seriously.

I joined Racewalking Auckland in the domain yesterday. It is nice to be in a group of people who are seen by some onlookers to be walking strangely. Many people take a leisurely walk or stroll to get fit. Sadly, the research suggests such activity does little for cardio-vascular fitness. To get fit, you have to put some effort in.

Race walking is an excellent exercise to gain such fitness. It is less damaging to the body than running – though I enjoy a run at least twice a week. And when you get used to how to walk, it is every bit as pleasurable as running.

Top race walkers move at incredible speed. The world record for 10 km is around 38 minutes – a time most runners cannot achieve.