I was back to shovelling earth first thing, levelling out a flower bed, but then to break the day up, I had to fetch another load of sand, clear up a concrete area ready for a holiday group, drive into Paihia to collect some things, + mow some more grass. Val had an early start, kicking off at 7 am with some cleaning the bar. She’d hitched to Kawakawa yesterday afternoon to do some shopping, + had managed to acquire a small, cheap travelling alarm clock – it solves a lot of problems for us. For me, a relatively easy day. Some driving to do, including a trip into Paihia, + quite a lot of time behind a hot mower. A bakingly hot day. Val found out for me that I was required to work in the evening, so I knocked off at 4. However, upon my arrival back at River Park, Wayne asked if I could play football against a visiting side staying at the camp. I was quite keen of course, but despite Wayne’s assurances that Marion would have no objection if I just sent Val along in my place, I was hesitant to appear presumptuous. However, eventually we were able to contact Marion on the phone, + she agreed to release me from duties, + allow Val to work instead.
Tho’ as things turned out, it was a lot of fuss about nothing really, since the game was a bit of a farce. It was only about 6 a-side, + it was hardly fair, since their 6 were all excellent players + could all play together, while we were a motley crew of kids + people like me (ie not very talented.) We had one big mouth on the side who tried to tell everyone what to do but was pretty rubbish, + late in the game we were joined by a young bloke who looked really excellent, especially in the air. But it was too late by then. I think the official score was 11-4, + that was being kind to us, especially as right at the end we were joined by a few kids – tho’ they really had no more than nuisance value. I played pretty well in patches, + scored 2 of our goals. I’ve decided, after all these years of playing in defence, that really I’m a forward. Ah well.
Afterwards I went first to see how Val was getting on (fine) + then went to the pub, where I had 2 jugs, so got a bit pissed, but otherwise depressed myself by sitting there on my own. I’d half expected to find someone to talk to, but I was out of luck. All I could do was admire the breasts of the ladies + wait for Val. I think that maybe I’m a tit man. 2 discoveries about myself in one day.
Ah well, honesty, I suppose, which is about the only positive thing I can say about my final comment. Nobody could accuse me of not writing exactly what I was thinking.
Shame there are no photos of the football, which was my first opportunity to play anything like a real game, however chaotic, since Mexico. But the photos are very random. Obviously, while playing I could not also have access to our camera, and in any case we were careful not to take too many photos, as there was such a cost implication. Unlike now, of course, when not only does pretty much everyone have access to a camera at all times, you can take as many as you like (and see if they are any good) without it costing a penny.
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