A different sport altogether

So what have we been up to since Friday then? Well, Saturday saw my second football match of the season and it went rather well. We were playing an away match down in Ashburton which is about an hour south of Chch. 4-0 up at half-time the match finished with us winning 9-0. Not too shabby. I scored two, which was pleasing, including a diving header I was rather proud of. For the second I played a one-two just inside their half and broke away from the defence before rounding the keeper. That's 3 in 2 matches for me now. It could be worse, for sure. Checking the fixtures today the big match is 17th May. That day we play the team that contains four of my work-mates. That's a must-win game if I am to show my face on the Monday following.

Saturday evening we went over to Joan and John's for dinner. They're a lovely retired couple we first met on the church weekend away back in November. They were part of our quiz team. It was a fascinating evening. They have just got so many interesting stories. We could have stayed all night. There were another couple there from church too, Ronnie and Nigel, an English couple, and their friends visiting from Hampshire.

This evening we've been out. And the experience was quite a first for me. Joanne and met for a quick dinner after work, but that's not the new experience. What came after was though. Just recently a new trans-Tasman (semi-professional?) netball league has started up which has five Nuzziland teams and five Aussies teams. One of the teams is based in Christchurch. And with Joanne just getting into playing netball again I thought it would be an idea to go along to watch a game. Dan & Fizz fancied it too so joined us. It certainly was an experience. Unfortunately the Tactix, the Canterbury team, lost and to be honest were never really in the game, always chasing both the scoreline and the Southern Steel players. What really stood out for me though (as well as the agility and ball-handling skills of the players) was the attendance. The Westpac Arena (where we saw Jack Johnson as well as where the Food Show was held and the Home Design show thing we went to ages back), in the laid out as it was tonight could probably hold 7 or 8,000. And it was full. A sell-out. For a netball match. True, it's the school holidays and the average age of the spectators was perhaps 12, but it is still an impressive turnout. My ear-drums are still recovering though. Do you know how much noise an arena full of teenage girls can make? The dogs in the neighbourhood are still howling.