Week 18

Week beginning September 5th
The week of the start of the world cup....and so the excitement builds up all week until Friday night when the party starts. At the waterfront in Auckland a fanzone was set up for the duration of the event. On Friday bands were playing etc and the organisers hoped perhaps 50,000 people may come to party...approximately 200,000 turned up. Central Auckland was at a standstill and the transport system to get people to Eden park for the match didn't cope very well. Fire extinguishers and emergency buttons got set off on trains so they had to stop and quite a few people missed the opening ceremoney at the stadium as well as the first half of the match.
On a more local note, there are flags everywhere, except for the Wharfside as the owner isn't into rugby (or seemingly profit), so while the rest of the village puts up flags and the restaurant/bar next door becomes an official Hieniken match venue, with large screen etc, the Wharfside remained flag (and atmosphere) free. That was until I got a call from Lisa to say get some flags when I was in town and bring them to the bar. On Friday afternoon we decorated the place with All Black stuff ( I couldn't find any other nationality).
We went with the kitchen staff from work to the next door bar to watch the opening ceremoney. There was a good atmosphere and we then watched the haka before the match started. It was powerful stuff and the anthem was sung loudly by those around us. A surreal moment for Lisa and I as it is still hard to take in the fact that this is home and this event is on our country ! We then left and went up to our friends house to watch the rest of the match. Roger's 90 something year old mum was also there and she knowledgeably watched the match, telling us which of the ABs were on good form at the minute.
I printed off the words of Irelands Call as we are going out again with the head chef from work (who is from Ireland) to watch the Irish game. I feel under pressure to know the words, other than the chorous! I also printed off the NZ anthem as I get the feeling I may have cause to sing it more often during the tournament !!
On saturday morning we went to be welcomed onto the local marae. We intoduced ourselves in Maori and the whole event was very informative and of course, welcoming.
This week also saw Wheelie Fantastic take another step, or pedal stroke, forward as the order was placed for a trailer and cycle racks. We also had a meeting with the company who is going to design our branding and website.
Lots of things starting to happen, so I may post blogs more than once a week and will keep you posted on the world cup as it unfolds from'down' here.
Things such as the match result predictions from Sunny Wool, the psycic sheep, I may spare you from. So far he has predicted the same results as the rest of the world, but I guess his 'powers' could become convincing at the later stages of the tournament !
This is now Sunday lunchtime so I better go and learn the words before tonights match !