Auchtermuchty

Belt Up Time Again

Severin is moving through the belts and now is up to Blue. Lots of sequences of moves and fighting people and bags. Some of the people held their own, but the bag got beaten to a pulp. Poor bag but Yeah Sev!

Movie review time

Haven’t seen anything recently that has inspired me to want to write about, then saw two last weekend.

The first was Let the Right One In. A Swedish vampire film what was not scary but wasn’t without it’s horror. Very atmospheric and very cold. It has a tenderness that makes it hard to  know which side you are on. The two child actors are very good, and everyone just revolves around them. Very different, very interesting.

The other movie, strikingly different, was Dean Spanley. An Edwardian film, lots of talking and very witty. Insane idea for a movie (or short novel by Lord Dunsany that it was based on) about a man who is transported back to a past life as a dog when drinking a particularly expensive wine. That was all I knew about the film when I saw it, and didn’t exactly inspire me to see it. But what fun it was. Very well acted by the small but excellent cast. But it not without it’s pathos which gives it a nice bit of depth. For a nice, happy, sad and amusing watch, very recommended.

Smithy meets the team

This is probably all over the net, but it’s really good. I got most of the jokes, but did need a fervent England supporter to get the rest .

p.s. got to love the white board

Severin the football god

Severin wanted me to blog about his last game, which was the first game where the after game analysis was all positive, there was nothing to pull him up on. He did have a brilliant game. Moved to the ball quickly and decisively, controlled it beautifully, work rate very good, passes and interplay were spot on, and lots of good shots against a great keeper. He scored 2 of their 4 goals. He still has room for improvement, but if he keeps on in this way, I’m going to have to get a lot more picky in my analysis to keep his head from expanding too much .

The cursed thing is that after a great start to my indoor comeback, things have gone down hill since. My ankle is holding up, but my foot is very sore, limping off the field sore. I’ve rested it a couple of games, but am now a bit hesitant, so not playing so well. Semi final for Div 1 this Thursday so will have to do a lot better, otherwise I’ll have Severin critiquing me, eek!

Time for something silly

Why post this, well it just a …

Alexendra and stuff

Off on our annual visit to Alexandra visit, well, annual in that this is the second year we’ve gone down on this date, so maybe almost getting to be annual but yet to be decided visit to Alexandra.

We did more Rail Trail, cycling through the country side, Diana and Jonathan did lot, Severin and I did a bit. See the Flickr pictures on the side of shot of us in Alexandra.

My main activity was drinking coffee in various cafes around the place. Tough I know, but no-one in particular had to do it, so I did it anyway. Also kicked the ball around with Severin a lot, was fun. Jonathan and Julie were wonderful hosts, yet again, and we were fantastic guests, as per usual .

My big news this week is that last week I had big news. I played my first game of indoor football since breaking my leg. I was nervous, very nervous, that I’d either play like a crippled duck or smash it up again and become a crippled duck yet again. Neither happened, a good result so far. Better still was that I played very well, 2 goals in the first 5 minutes and one assist, then rested for remainder of the first half (3-1 score at half time). In the second half, didn’t do too much, set up a couple of goals, but as the flood gates had opened by then, end score 13-3, I was happy to slowly build up my stamina and be nice to my ankle by not running too much. My team is still in the first division and I’m still scoring goals. Happy, happy, happy! I have so missed playing the last 7+ months.

Missing Richard

I haven’t written anything for a while because it difficult to write about a good friend’s death. Richard was a very social friend, barbeques, parties, boys’ nights, he was a staple. Always one in for some of my more elaborate plans for Diana’s birthdays. One of those people that no matter how long it’s been since you’d seen him, it was always like yesterday. Leaving Fiona and Joshua behind, I‘m finding it hard to imagine he gone.

Summer Finally

Away between Christmas and New Year, up in the mountains, away from civilisation, not so far that I was contemplating marrying my sister, but far enough that telephones are a distant memory. Not as much walking as we would have liked, as it was fine, rainy, fine rainy, and so on each day.  No jigsaws done this time, but crosswords, card games and sudoku.

Today, it is around 35C and I’m loving it. Blueberry picking in the morning, blueberry eating now . On the way back from the mountains we came across a cherry picking place and went to town, too many eek.  So Diana made cherry pie for us all, very Twin Peak, but without the dwarf.

Severin does stuff

Another big Severin post I’ve been meaning to do for the last couple of weeks, but each time I do, he does something else, what a big life he has.

Leaving school for the big change to high school next year was a fun event. In his final assembly each child made a 30 second speech about the school. Severin, who is normally a very good public speaker, did only ok this time, but surprised us both by getting the outstanding music achievement cup for the school. We were very impressed, a bit of work went into getting that.

Secondly, we got an email out of the blue, which is weird, because our computer is grey and black, but that aside, it was a request to short list one of our Flickr photos on a map / guide site. It was one of Severin’s photos and quite cute, so we said yes. It got through the short list and can be seen at Schmop.

Finally, in the last indoor football (soccer) game of the year, Severin opened the scoring and the team were 2-1 up at half time against a rather hugely larger team of boys who didn’t look as if they were under 13.  3-4 just before the end and Severin came in and scored the final goal just before the buzzer, tying the game at 4 all and winning player of the day.

Diana and I have negotated world peace and cured world hunger, but not much else, will write about it later if I can be bothered.