A New Year, Tennis, Reminiscing and Other Stuff

Bella has no appreciation for tennis.  She slept through the Djokovic/Raonic match!

  We had a king tide last week.  The tide still had an hour or so to go before full.  As you can see, it was close to the top of the seawall opposite.  It didn't go over though.  

I kept an eye on it...it was close!

January is almost over, we're all a year older and the kids are now back at school. After a topsy-turvey 2014 and a year's hiatus from my usual interests, apart from writing, life is back to normal, to my intense relief.  I don't have to move anywhere and spend precious time looking for somewhere to live before packing, organising a removalist and carpet cleaner and cleaning, which I did twice in six months last year.  All worked out and my current abode is exactly what I want...on the first floor, by water, with a balcony for the cats, lovely neighbours and a great complex manager with a good sense of humour.  I feel very grateful and appreciative as my lease is for two years and unless I do something idiotic like not pay my rent, damage the place or have wild parties, I'm here for the duration.  Wonderful!

Earlier this week, I renewed my membership with U3A which I'd let lapse, booked into a Tai Chi class and put my name down for next term's Italian course and also for yoga. Unfortunately the yoga class I used attend is no longer going due to our teacher injuring her shoulder so she's had to give up teaching. Mind you, she is in her eighties!  I've also volunteered for shifts in the office again. 

Last year wasn't a complete write-off though, I did get my book published and managed second place in our short story writing competition.

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Being a tennis tragic, my TV has been permanently tuned to the various tennis events leading up to the Australian Open.  I'm not sure what's going to happen when it's all over in a couple of nights...but I feel like that every January!  The opening day of the AO Grand Slam has been lauded as one of the best ever...our young Australian players did very well culminating in Nick Kyrgios beaten by Andy Murray in the quarter-finals.  A fine effort from a 19-year-old who is only going to become better as he matures. 

Now there are two nights of top notch tennis left.  It's going to be great!

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I had the radio on earlier, a station that plays music from the 80s and 90s through to current stuff.  One group I loved in the 80s was the Eurythmics...Annie Lennox had (and still has, I imagine) a wonderful voice. This morning I heard their song "Would I Lie Too You?" and it took me right back to the mid 80s when I worked as head bartender and relief manager of a sports club in Auckland.  

This particular night, I can't remember the actual day of the week it was, a few of us went off to a very popular pub in a popular marine suburb after we'd closed up.  It was pretty crowded and somehow, some way we fell in with the NZ cricket team who were celebrating a successful test series.  I found myself eventually teamed (pardon the pun) with a tall well-known batsman and we danced the night away.  The Eurythmics' song must have been one of their latest as it was played several times that night...so it has evocative memories for me. Enough said...

Here it is if you want to listen:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuV7gGRmraw

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It will be a busy year as far as writing goes.  I've started researching my second book.  It's completely different from Old Age and Villainy in that it's fiction but based on family history  during the Maori Wars in New Zealand.  I have a lot of information given to me by my mother after one of her brothers had passed it on to her and based the book on one of the incidents in which an ancestor of ours was involved.  However, the main protagonist and other characters are creatures of my imagination.  I don't want to start a second lot of wars!

I've also had the idea of collaborating on a book of short stories with a couple of my fellow writers.  I've sounded out one who is keen, I have yet to contact the other.  There are also the 2015 anthology short stories for my writing group for which I have written one so far. The theme is killer stories..which covers a lot!  I also have some overseas writing comps earmarked for entry.  I don't think I'll be bored.

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If you're one of my Facebook friends, you would have discovered I had milestone birthday a couple of weeks ago.  I've now reached three score years and ten, and feel a real sense of achievement.  I actually don't mind getting older...I'm very fortunate in that I enjoy good health and am still physically active.  Two flights of stairs help!  I also have all my marbles, although some may argue with that...but don't listen to them!

One of the things I like about being this age is I no longer have the uncertainty, self doubt and lack of confidence that goes with being a lot younger, especially during the teen years. I'm really happy they're over.  Don't get me wrong, they were fun and carefree times with no responsibilities...but oh, the peer pressure!  Fortunately, as I matured that wasn't an issue and the peer pressure back in the 60s is nothing like it is now.

After that came marriage and parenthood.  Looking back, I'm pleasantly surprised that my two daughters are relatively well adjusted adults, although I don't claim credit for that!  I have seven lovely grandchildren, none of whom have caused their parents major concerns, apart from the usual teenage scrapes that most of us went through anyway.

My mother is a vigorous 95 now and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon, so with those genes, I plan on having quite a number of years before me in which to create mayhem.  Bring it on!

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That's my first post for 2015.  I hope your 2015 brings you love, laughter and happiness!