New Zealand win 1 nil

It was a wonderful game, fast and flowing and the intensity didn’t let up at any time during the 90 minutes. The winning goal was scored by Rory Fallon who plays for Plymouth Argyle, the club I used to watch from the terraces in the 60s.
Here is the match report from Radio New Zealand and it even made the BBC.

Now we go through to the World Cup proper in South Africa during June and July next year.

We are the 24th country to qualify of the 32 that will be organised into 8 groups of 4, with the top 2 in each group going on to a knockout phase.

Roses, Rhubarb and White Noise

The roses seem to be more colourful and prolific than usual this year. Here are a few shots of the display in the front and back gardens. This is a Peace Rose which was of a venerable age when we moved in 23 years ago.

This red rose is newer but has been doing well in the front for a few years now.

Growing along the wall at the back of the garden is a climbing rose which has delicate orangey buds which become paler on opening.

Earlier this year Janie gave me some rhubarb plants. They have done well at the bottom of the bank and we will start to take leaves off for eating shortly.

This weekend in Wellington the All Whites are playing Bahrain in a world cup qualifying match. The first leg was a nil all draw. It’s a windy old day down at the waterfront, with the usual activity on and over the harbour,

an Australian airline hoping to take the winners to the World Cup next year

and all sorts of soccer related events around the town.

The match will be played at the Stadium, the home ground for the Phoenix in the A-League. Phoenix supporters are know as Yellow Fever but are rebranded as White Noise for international matches. They are renowned for their singing and have published a special song sheet for the occasion.

You may have noticed New Zealand sports teams often have a nick name following on from the All Blacks (rugby). So as well as the All Whites there are Black Caps (cricket), Tall Blacks (basketball) and Black Sticks (hockey) amongst others. The women’s teams tend to be variations on Silver Ferns (netball) – Black Ferns (rugby), Tall Ferns (basketball).

Getting Away from it all in Christchurch

Noreen went down to Christchurch last week for the annual Culverden Fete. She went with Janie and Denise and they had a great time doing girly things like shopping, drinking gin and soaking in spas (the trip included an overnight stay in Hanmer). Unfortunately no photos of the trip exist or perhaps I don’t have sufficient security to view them. I went down on Saturday and spent an enjoyable morning helping out in the garden of Janie’s new house.

As a reward we went to one of my favourite pubs for lunch – the Twisted Hop.
The beer we are drinking is a special brew called Bagnold. It is named after the founder of the Long Range Desert Group, a World War 2 unit that was the forerunner of the SAS. It was manned largely by New Zealanders and had a depot near where the brewery is situated.

On Sunday we went out to Ashley for a picnic lunch with Elwin, Jeneane, Bryony and Kitty.

Bryony is clever with clothes and has made these trendy holey tights without her mother telling her off!

Kitty just likes playing on the swing.