Crikey, some people are so clever and obviously have heaps of time on their hands,go here and watch this. Prepare to be amused.

We had a BBQ for dinner last night, so fantastic to have wonderful weather at last.
My dear friend Pixie is in San Francisco and then New York; so if anybody out there sees her say hi and tell her we hope she comes home in one piece and I personally hope she is following my instructions to get laid while she is there!!

Oh, and here are a couple of things I perhaps could have included in the last post...I was a nude model for a photograpgher mate of mine; I have a Certificate in Cocktail Mixology from the Christchurch Polytechnic (and sometimes wonder if I drink too much or not enough...); I went to a Cliff Richard concert once (and dammit, I'd do it again...it was fantastic - cue the sad music, a dying friend gave me the ticket as an early birthday gift knowing she wouldn't be alive by the time the concert came round. When he sang "Miss you nights" I cried myself stupid and he gave me such a warm smile..yes it WAS to me!!); and I had 3 photographs win a Highly Commended in a national competition. Ta dah!!

I've been tagged by the Old Cheeser himself.

Here are the rules:

Firstly, post these rules and a link to the person who tagged you.

Secondly, share seven facts about yourself, all devastatingly interesting.

Lastly, tag seven people at the end of your post, linking their names to their blogs. Follow this up by advising said parties of the tag in the comment section on their blog(s).

Hm, define "devastatingly interesting"....

1. I know all the words to Kenny Rogers "The Gambler"; if I have enough champers I play it and sing it loud (even making the dm dm dm bits of guitar riff), and then I play Rita McNeil's "Working Man" and tell everyone who hasn't already run away that I want that played at my funeral. No-one notices.

2. I backed Mum's car into a corrigated iron fence when I was learning to drive and was so scared that I put the car into first and drove off taking half the fence with me! I'm sure no-one noticed.

3. I was a Prefect at school.

4. On a dare from The Stud and no doubt unduly influenced by aforementioned champers, I once ran out to the front gate of our house stark naked scaring the beejesus out of some late night walkers. Although they came back for another look, I'm sure they didn't notice.

5.I loved Amsterdam and New York but have a soft spot for San Francisco (Stan Frank's Disco) as it was there that I got kinda kidnapped by a lovely and crazy Irish taxi driver on the eve of my departure! I was wandering back from Fisherman's Wharf, tired and bummed out cos I was going home that evening and decided to spend my last Yankee dollars on a cab ride. Got talking to the driver who then decided that I couldn't leave until I'd seen the Zig Zag road and off we went; then he decided I couldn't leave until he had driven like a maniac down "that street where Steve McQueen drove in Bullet". The driver had moved to SF as the small Irish town he was from wasn't that considerate of his er.."life choices" back when he was a lad and he had lived happily in SF ever since. I often wonder what he's doing now, he'd be in his 60s at least.

6. A friend and I once hopped on the train from Greymouth to Christchurch and got off it at Jackson's Pub; we woke up in Hokitika the next morning and hadn't noticed how we got there!

7. I am trying to write a play with a good mate of mine and we have stalled horribly. We need to get our Act together (hahahahaha, punning is another annoying habit of mine) or the only stage we'll be on will be the next one outta town. Yee haa.

I don't know enough bloggers to tag. I'm a sad case without doubt. No-one notices.

Just for fun (after the last post, aren't I considerate!!) Sign I saw at a fair, and the "gargoyle" is from an old building in Oamaru.

Beware of sticking plaster, thats what I say. My 12 year is suddenly allergic to the stuff. She left hospital in a wheelchair, her feet both got worse than these pix actually show. Go figure, you get to 12 and you have had heaps of plasters on before....and now, medica alert bracelet and the works.

Napier is here we have been. My younger brother got married (again, as seems to be the custom these days!) and off we trooped to the North Island of our country. Napier is known as the Art Deco centre of New Zealand. It suffered a major earthquake in 1931 and has more or less stuck in a certain style of architecture. It's a great place to visit and was nice and warm, a bonus for us from the South!!

The photo of the Palms (above) has been "tweeked" by me to make it I hope more interesting, otherwise the Palms all tend to look the same. The street 'man-hole' covers even had Art Deco designs on them, as did the new flyover bridge. Looks good and the shops - where do I start!!? Found a wonderful shop selling 1920s stuff AND THEY HAD A 50% OFF SALE. Well, you don't have to be an empty-headed grandson of a horned toad to work out the value of that!! Mind you, sadly the only thing I really really loved was a red felt cloche, complete with feathers and sequins..a mere snap at $345.00 (about $170 on sale) - yes, its still in the shop.

Also there is a place called Marineland where we took the kids in the morning before the wedding. They are down to their last Dolphin and are not allowed to catch anymore, so I guess the Dolphin part may go belly up at some stage. However the sea lions and fur seals put on a great show as well, and we all enjoyed it. They have penguins (which you can have your photo taken with while holding an old one-eyed chap named Alfred, a penguin) and rescue facilities for injured sea creatures such as seals, penguins, birds etc too. One of the water cages held "sight-impaired" seals, they looked creepy with watery white eyes but appear to have inspired my youngest daughter to start writing an episode of Dr Who! My lips are "sealed".

Oh how I wanted to give the lad a cuddle today. raining and cold but about 3,000 fans were at the airport to welcome the lads home.

There's nowt to whine/wine about, whats done is done. Lets move on. there's another "game" in 4 years.

RIP. "Ernesto"

Che Guevara. My eldest daughter is named after him. I should point out her name is "Shea" - not Ernesto!

This is about as far from Rugby as I can get today. Kids with extra large sparklers last Guy Fawkes, the wind was picking up nicely so I managed to snap this and then tweaked some more!

It rained like hell this morning and finally the sun came out about 2.30pm, of course it would because I nipped home at lunchtime and got the fire started so it would be a nice warm house that me and the wee trolls walked into this evening. Murphy's Law or Sods Law?

There is a black cloud hanging over us today. I am amzaed at how gutted I am about THE CUP. I really feel so sorry for the guys, they have worked hard...mind you, there are ample jokes circulating already and I guess it doesn't really matter how many times ya fall over, its the number of times you get up again that is important. And apparently its only a game of rugby. Keep that a secret. Meanwhile, if young Ritchie needs a hug, I'll be here waiting.

Here is a photo of some red chairs outside at our local Arts Centre, which is in buidlings that used to be our University yonks ago. They are lovely old buildings. You can get excellent fudge there too!

Ok, I'm back! I have been to Oamaru. Above here is an old stone warehouse which has been converted to a whisky bar and cafe. Apparently you can buy your own barrell for about $3,000 (no idea the Euros on that).

Then there are the tulips growing in my Mum's garden. She lives about 800 metres from the beach - how do they grow?? She is amazed only that there is one yellow one amongst the lot. How did Ol' Yella get there then!

Above that again is a photo looking out over Oamaru towards the North.

Then the first pic is of my Mum's backyard...you can just see the ocean thru the trees if you stand on one leg and squint facing Mecca.

Its quite a relaxing place to visit, the kids love it. We stay in a wee "crib" (bach or "holiday hut" to the rest of you), and get woken early by birds nesting in the roof. However, my 12 year old reckons its better than having a truck or ambulance waking you up and I'd have to agree. Its great lying there listening to the waves on the beach, the gulls overhead, the wax-eyes and sparrows fighting for space on the roof....sigh.

Meanwhile, back in Christchurch this morning we had an earthquake, measured 5.6 on the richter scale. I personally don't mind them, but admit they can be scary. Perhaps "sphincter scale" would be better description..."Oh, that was a real bottom clencher..a 7 at least"

Back to work tomorrow...what a thrill.