Hans en Nienke: February 2022

No good. More than a month since the last post. My excuse? I am writing a book. The book is about my old sportsclub Sphaerinda, which will celebrate it's 140th birthday in April. Surely a good reason to write a book about it's history. Bit of time pressure and a deep dive into history that is my excuse. After al, students are not known for keeping a perfect administration. Anyway, here we go. Last blog we ended with wet feet.

First there was this. We won the cup, again. Our mighty opponents were leading 3-2 when the last match of the final started. We had to win the last match and we did. 3 all and even in sets, but after countback we had one game more. OK, OK, it wasn't just me. We learned from previous seasons and our team was big, just in case one of the 'oldies' faked an injury again to hide the lack of fitness.

Basically 2 teams. Have to say, the young lady on the rights saved our bacon. Thanks to her we won. Overdoing it a bit now. Been recruited by a friend to play in Pukerua Bay's team. Well, after filling in one day in the National Men's third division he said "you're now a member of our club". And a nurse did the same in Levin, so I'm playing 3 competitions now. Trying to proof something?

Every time one of us celebrates a milestone, we throw a party. This year it was my 60th, so New Years Eve was a birthday party. Basically that means a few more people (obviously some Dutchies had an excuse not to be present this year), catering and a band! Dick and Nettie came a day earlier to help us out. And we were going to have a quiet night and go to bed early. Well, BBQ, fire, music, whisky. This is Nienke playing the air guitar, so you can imagine how the night turned out. I got it on film, but showing you that is worse than the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Anyway, for the right bottle I can send it over Whatsapp. Oh, and reserve New Years eve in 5 years, that'lls be Nienkes 60th! Now what is a popular headbanging band........

The party was a great success, as you can see even the only two kids present had a ball. As they were going home before the fire started they roasted (cremated might be a better word) their marshmallows over the torches. probably even better to completely blacken hem as the fumes might not be that healthy.

Carla and Willem of course the first to be on de dance floor.

Yep, we can organise a party. Maybe we should start a business.

Great band by the way, two locals with friends. Played all the right songs and really enjoyed themselves as well.

And got people dancing, or was that Nienke.....

Almost a tradition now. Suddenly the music stopped and Guy appeared to play the bag pipes. Must say, he impressed a lot of Kiwi friends. And the Dutchies were taught how to sing 'Auld lang syne'. We still don't know what it means though.

I managed to convince a lot of people to not drive home. So we had campervans, tents and SUV's with sleeping bags all over the property. Late in the morning, a long time after Louis and I fulfilled the Dutch tradition the New Years dive as they could not do it in the Netherlands, we had a lot of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and coffees.

Brave men, before and after the dip. All the others were either still asleep or sipping coffee.

And then it was time for fishing. In my boat that had been sitting next to the driveway from the moment I bought it. This is a guernet, in the Netherlands better known as 'knorretje' because of the sounds it makes. Beautiful wings and an even better taste.

We caught 40 snapper in 2 days. 10 a person per day is the limit. Nicely packed in the freezer. At 37 dollar a kilogram a nice catch. Don't think were making money here, the cost of the boat could easily supply a big family fish for a year. And then we haven't even started talking about the rods and reels. It's the thought that counts.

Thanks to international post (don't want to blame the Dutch or Kiwi post in particular) I got a birthday box from my siblings a bit later. Much appreciated. All the 60 plus decoration will have to wait for Nienkes party!

Yep, a concert. I know, it is not fair. In the Netherlands they can't go anywhere and here we are in New Plymouth again for a concert from LAB. Hot as! Luckily we managed to find some spots in the shade, close to the bar.

Nienke shot this video from their most famous song. Pretty nice. If you'd like to hear the original listen here.

Rabbits! I hate them nowadays. Shooting is not enough, they multiply faster than I can order bullets. So I came up with a plan B. Find the hole, stuff it full of pinecones, kick them in as deep as you can, fill the rest of the whole with sand. That'll teach them. Or they are laughing their heads of because of so much human stupidity. new bullets to arrive the coming week.

A new weekend of fishing. The tuna is out. People even caught blue fin tuna on our coast. That is because of the warm water. So, a couple of albacore tuna and some blue fins and we are happy, we're not greedy. Nothing, nada, niks, nichts, rien. Been trolling for hours, no success. In the end we managed to get 2 guernets, that was the reward for being on the water for 2 days. And the motor was getting hot too, tell tale not producing water, trouble! Since the weather had turned foul we made it back to the beach. Dropped the boat of at our South African friend/repair man who did a test. Works fine he says. Have a good look I said.

Working on the book I am writing with a few friends in the Netherlands. Horrible working conditions. I mean, it's warm, no wins, blue, calm sea, fish jumping out of the water asking me to come over and play........

One day we had a zoom meeting about our book when the bell rang. Electra, we are going to replace you meter, so we'll have to take all the power of. Time to check if the inverter still works. It did. One lead to the router and one to the laptop and everything is ok, well, apart from that purring thing in the background.

And then Peet called (the nice guy from South Africa), come over and look..... So I did and he showed me all kind of parts of the motor and explained how they worked and about some why they did not work.... Had a little box full of sand, pieces of shell and eroded aluminium that had come of the casket or something like that. No good anyway. well what do you do, get it repaired, some part replace, pay a 1000 dollars, or buy a new motor a 9000 dollar. Hey, I'm Dutch, we'll give it a go....... Unfortunately the parts need to come from Japan......

Not just a bottle!!! The very last bottle of Sauvignon gris 2009. But Nienke wanted another Sauvignon so she went down to the cellar and just grabbed another one, this one. I said "but I saved it for a special occasion". "Well, you're with me, on the deck, beautiful weather, summer, that is special". Well, it was.....

I know, Kiwi's have strange habits. Comparing shoeware around the fire.....

Special night for a special friend!

You see that green spot in the grass? That means work! Digging. Itthe way the grass shows us where there is a leak! Since it's right next to the driveway there'll be lots of stones. Yippee!

The cows are bored. And when you are bored you go and hit things, or push things. These are parts of a ball and cock. Yep, I know, that sounds strange. The cock on the top is a device that holds an arm to which a ball is attached. If the water level is high enough the arm pushes a stop against the water inlet and no more water will flow into the trough. But if the cows start playing with the ball the old copper arm breaks. I replaced it with another old cock and with the last twist of my pliers I pierced a whole in the side of it. Shit happens. Of course this happened in the furthest paddock. Imagine switching of the pump, repairing it, switching on the pump, still a leak, going back again, etc. Almost did the coast to coast. Meanwhile the cows walking with me in the hoper to get some apples.

Snapper time again. Whle I was playing tennis and Nienke doing an after work walk, Dick, guest for one day because of work, prepared the food, Snapper! he forgot to put the frames away, we discovered today, by the smell...........