good sport
There are two main topics of conversation in the office, discussed at length in the kitchen area between coffees.
The first is the weather, which makes me feel right at home, and is easy to agree and sympathise with. Apparently it's the worst winter for years and - as I'm sure I've whinged about before - it's cold. And when you're living in a country where most houses appear to be made out of carboard and tissue paper, it feels even colder. But that's okay because, and there is no hint of sarcasm here, it's still a lot better than the usual winters at home. I don't think I'll ever get used to having Christmas in the summer - it's just plain wrong - but we were mostly prepared for what winter can throw at us.
The second topic of conversation is that of sports, or more specifially kids sport - events that usually take place at some point over the weekend. Mondays are filled with tales of woe regarding disrupted plans and long travelling distances, fridays with hopes of cancellation fuelled by excessively cold or wet weather. Inbetween there are constant murmourings when viewing the projected weather forecast, both positive and negative.
This was at first something unknown to me as there didn't seem anything similar at home - at least not for something our kids really wanted to do. However it took a matter of weeks before I was joining in the same conversations and making the same noises. Saturday morning netball for Katie and - at first at least - football for Hannah had changed things.
The truth is that the positives massively outweigh the negatives. In fact there are many positives but only one single negative.
Katie really enjoys both being physically active and being part of a team, and one that is made up from children spanning two school years and four classes. It's a social gathering that participants, siblings and parents all enjoy. There's no pushy parents and it's nice to meet people and feel part of a community.
Hannah enjoyed some of the football, but felt slightly insecure at the prospect of having a kickaround with boys, some older by 18 months or so. However it's something we're sure she'll persevere with. The first session is especially memorable for me as it was part of the worst hangover I've had in as long as I can remember. The night before was the first social night out that I had organised with work, and a combination of some free beer, a 4.30pm start, and a collective forgetfulness in remembering to eat any food, conspired to make my eventual bed-time merely 4 drunken hours before having to get up for sports.
On a working weekday, the alarm goes off at 6.45am. It's horrible, yet we're getting used to it, work being a means to an end all that. Mondays are hard but things ease up a bit as the working week winds down. Saturday morning netball, and a meet-up time of 8.20 at Hagley Park, means that we need to get up roughly at the same time. That wasn't meant to happen!
I know it's selfish to moan about something that is positive in so many ways, and we certainly don't begrudge doing it as it's the first thing we can do as a family during a busy week. It's nice that we're all together cheering Katie on, and the increasingly wintery weather is held at bay with scarves and hot chocolate.
All that being said however, there was something enjoyable about hearing the news that there is a 3 week winter break. The fact that this weekend is the first weekend off in 10 weeks makes it all the more sweet. We'll miss it in the meantime, but we've got 3 saturday morning lie-ins to look forward to (where 8.30 is the maximum we can push it) and I can't wait.
The first is the weather, which makes me feel right at home, and is easy to agree and sympathise with. Apparently it's the worst winter for years and - as I'm sure I've whinged about before - it's cold. And when you're living in a country where most houses appear to be made out of carboard and tissue paper, it feels even colder. But that's okay because, and there is no hint of sarcasm here, it's still a lot better than the usual winters at home. I don't think I'll ever get used to having Christmas in the summer - it's just plain wrong - but we were mostly prepared for what winter can throw at us.
The second topic of conversation is that of sports, or more specifially kids sport - events that usually take place at some point over the weekend. Mondays are filled with tales of woe regarding disrupted plans and long travelling distances, fridays with hopes of cancellation fuelled by excessively cold or wet weather. Inbetween there are constant murmourings when viewing the projected weather forecast, both positive and negative.
This was at first something unknown to me as there didn't seem anything similar at home - at least not for something our kids really wanted to do. However it took a matter of weeks before I was joining in the same conversations and making the same noises. Saturday morning netball for Katie and - at first at least - football for Hannah had changed things.
The truth is that the positives massively outweigh the negatives. In fact there are many positives but only one single negative.
Katie really enjoys both being physically active and being part of a team, and one that is made up from children spanning two school years and four classes. It's a social gathering that participants, siblings and parents all enjoy. There's no pushy parents and it's nice to meet people and feel part of a community.
Hannah enjoyed some of the football, but felt slightly insecure at the prospect of having a kickaround with boys, some older by 18 months or so. However it's something we're sure she'll persevere with. The first session is especially memorable for me as it was part of the worst hangover I've had in as long as I can remember. The night before was the first social night out that I had organised with work, and a combination of some free beer, a 4.30pm start, and a collective forgetfulness in remembering to eat any food, conspired to make my eventual bed-time merely 4 drunken hours before having to get up for sports.
On a working weekday, the alarm goes off at 6.45am. It's horrible, yet we're getting used to it, work being a means to an end all that. Mondays are hard but things ease up a bit as the working week winds down. Saturday morning netball, and a meet-up time of 8.20 at Hagley Park, means that we need to get up roughly at the same time. That wasn't meant to happen!
I know it's selfish to moan about something that is positive in so many ways, and we certainly don't begrudge doing it as it's the first thing we can do as a family during a busy week. It's nice that we're all together cheering Katie on, and the increasingly wintery weather is held at bay with scarves and hot chocolate.
All that being said however, there was something enjoyable about hearing the news that there is a 3 week winter break. The fact that this weekend is the first weekend off in 10 weeks makes it all the more sweet. We'll miss it in the meantime, but we've got 3 saturday morning lie-ins to look forward to (where 8.30 is the maximum we can push it) and I can't wait.
katie at netball
image © not known
Labels: christmas, cold, football, hangover, kids, lie-in, netball, selfish, sport, weather, weekend, wet, winter
posted by Paul Allan White at
22:07
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