GROWING OLD IS A PRIVALEDGE
GROWING OLD IS A PRIVALEDGE
WHAT IT IS TO LOOK SHEEPISH.
I put my wellies on, on a cold crisp frosty morning with nothing other than a bucket of sheep nuts, all other nuts had long disappeared!!!
The sight of a naked man or hunk was enough to ensure they offered no resistance. Instead they laughed.
Anyway, I digress. To the point. THEY LOOKED SHEEPISH and to tell you all that took almost as long as it takes to get from Wellington to Sydney when the actual process took about 10 minutes.
- On Saturday 7 June I was out for a walk. I’d recently returned from the UK and jet lag was still playing havoc. (I hadn't but for the sake of the story it makes sense to say that)!! Imagine how pleased I was when I chanced across one sign saying, “TT Start” and another of “TT Finish”.
- Unknown to me I was back
in the Isle of Man. Suddenly I
heard the mighty roar of motor bike engines and the familiar smell of
110-octane race fuel.
- I
crossed the rickety bridge under the towering hill of Snaefell, or maybe
it was Birch Hill, recognised only by it’s carpet of newly planted pines
and around the corner at the top of the rocky track was a rev of
motorbikes. I had chanced upon the IoM
TT. Amazing. Something I’d always wanted to see.
- Clouds
of light blue smoke hid a few of the bikes, a cumulus cloud of steam
looked as if the fire extinguisher may have been needed, but nope, it was
just the effects of going through one of the many puddles. It was raining, just as it had done for
a few days and the nice smooth tarmac road had been washed into a muddy,
rocky, and rutted route. To
accommodate the conditions the usual TT bikes of Kawasaki, Moto Guzzi and
BMW had been swapped for KTMs, Suzuki RM250s and Husqvarna FC350s.
- I’d
never seen a TT like it. The
youngest was 14 and the eldest 63.
This was a TT with no sex discrimination. I was beginning to doubt whether I
really was in the Isle of Man, and I was suffering some delusions with the
jet lag. I was a little confused
once the hail, wind and snow started.
Apparently, the Isle of Man is having one of its warmest springs
ever. It was time to put my mind to
rest. I approached an official looking person, looking official only
because she didn’t have a bike and was dressed head to toe in Hi Viz. “Is this the TT”? I asked. “Yeah, nah”. There-in lay an immediate
hint, ‘yea and no’. “Am I in the
Isle of Man”? “Nah mate, Ruakokopatuna, dude; The Ruakokopatuna Enduro,
this is the start of the time trial”.
At that she pulled her foot back which had been holding the
departing bike, the engine reached a volume greater than Concorde and off
it went, nose elevated, back wheel spinning and mud covering me head to
toe. The bike was lost in a cloud
of exhaust and concorde would have been left standing.
- The
annual Ruakokopatuna Enduro was in full, mud splattering swing. The weather was either ideal for the
riders and awful for the marshals.
Cold, windy and wet.
Conditions under wheel were soft and boggy. Probably ideal for a water buffalo.
- Participants
came from north of Tokoroa and south of Christchurch. This enduro is a part of the national
series. At each event the riders
accumulate points and with points come prizes, but no one really knows
about it such is the modesty of all the riders. It seems as if the main aim is
enjoyment.
- After
one rider swung his back wheel around to dash for the finishing line he
was asked “How was your ride, have you had fun”? His reply, “I’ve had a blast, I’ve had a
brilliant time, all my times have been rubbish”. He imagined a sloth and bearing in mind
his entire self and bike were now a shade of thick grey mud; I imagined an
underweight hippo (ed – hippos can run very fast).
- Sadly,
due to the weather and recent rain parts of the Enduro were cancelled or
shortened but as the organisers said, “everyone’s safety is paramount;
best to err on the side of caution” (If you were there, I think you may
have sensed that caution was a subjective judgement)!
- As
the Sunday ride progressed bikes zoomed, were pushed or limped in and
people headed to the Ruakokopatuna Community Hall where a stunning
community effort was in full swing.
A vegetarian was barbequing sausages, the urn for hot drinks had to
be refilled several times, the deer still wished he was running around the
hills, local home-made pavlova, arctic rolls, chocolate eclairs, custard
slice, apple strudel, fruit cake, ginger loaf, and more were eaten with
the same kind of joy you’d eat your Mum’s Christmas cake. A P&O cruise afternoon tea would look
positively amateur by comparison. People
realised they had lost their satiation gene for a moment and simply ate,
more and more true stories were recounted about how sonic booms were
achieved, snow created a white-out, sections were completed without a
wheel, punctures were repaired ‘on the go’, how clutch pedals had fallen
off and that the third lap was completed without brakes. It was all so
plausible. Yeah right! Meanwhile times and numbers were fed
into computers and if by magic results were produced. Enduro riders are a modest bunch, no one
celebrates like Alcaraz and no one cries like Sabalenka. Almost with
embarrassment, Enduro riders take their trophy and quietly walk off having
thanked the organisers and the young ones thanked Mum and Dad. Rightly so.
- As
usual the unsung heroes don’t get a mention. The stewards who waded through water,
sat in snowstorms, held on to life in hurricanes, cursed the cold and
revelled in the rain. Allegedly
they enjoyed it. Heroes, every one
of them.
- The
Enduro is a great big ride and a wonderful event for the little
Ruakokopatuna Community. It is also
a fundraiser for the Hall and huge thanks go to all the organisers, the
bakers of the valley and the participants who all pay an entry fee, some
of which the community gets.
- The
medical team were prepared for punctured lungs, fractured femurs, broken
necks, cardiac arrests and everything in between. Amazingly all of the above happened plus
a fracture. Who needs ketamine,
helicopters and an AED when you don’t need them?
- A
great event immaculately organised and apparently enjoyed by everyone.
- The
only complaint: “No Soup”. Clearly
a failed event.
I could go on for as long as there is no peace in the middle east, and for your sake I hope it comes very soon. Ali and I did another fundraiser for Medical Aid for Palestine. We did it at a local café, which sold out with 65 people. The café did excellent food, and I managed to get 4 excellent speakers. 1 Palestinian, 2 non zionist jews / Israelis and the local MP. Tomorrow we will send $3000 to 3 charities. Rather pleased!! From the 2 events we have organised about $7000 has gone to Gaza and there is another event in September.
Suffice to say that is another rant very close to our hearts. That was unbelievably succinct and brief, wasn't it. When will people realise that starving people is simply not acceptable, and that Israel houses thousands of hostages in their prisons and behind the separation apartheid wall. GRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
It has been quite a chilly winter but we have a lot of wood we cut down a year ago. About a month ago we chopped up 4 trees and now have to hire the log splitter to prepare our warmth for next year. On Sunday we will be helping our wonderful neighbour to put all the logs on to their ute, and then bring them around to our wood shed. It's all good fun.
I was quite honoured for some one to suggest that I might want to think about standing for election to the local community board. But I'm not that kinda guy. I can't do committees and I'm too sensitive to have the local populous finding fault and being publicly critical. But it was a nice thought.
We had to laugh! We suggested setting up our local community hall as an 'emergency community hub'. A lot of places in NZ have them in case of a cyclone, tsunami, cyclone, fire or flood. I had secured $5000 grant for the project. So we had a meeting to discuss what was needed and what the priorities were. The discussion started with the treasurer saying he had "no idea why we were even thinking about it, if a cyclone comes through the hall will get blown away, it's not possible for anyone to get flooded, no chance of fire and you can't do anything about an earthquake". He seems to have missed the fact that NZ has had 6 extreme events recently and that the incidence of extreme weather events is increasing every year all over the world. It was a tad frustrating!!
But the local community have been very generous in their appreciation to me for getting another worthwhile grant for more tables and chairs to replace the ones which are left over from when the hall was the local school. The chairs are a bit small and you risk a splinter in your bum when you sit on them.
You may have heard the news from Australia about the person who made a beef Wellington for her ex husband who didn't turn up and her ex in-laws. It was so meticulously well planned that she had hers on a different coloured plate, she bought a new micro wave and chucked it out the next day and apparently she bought the mushrooms at the local South-East Asian shop that doesn't exist, All she needed to do was go into our woods where Ali found some death cap mushrooms and brough them back, placing them not far from my spot at the table,. I turned up but her in=laws were long gone. Should I be worried?
Clearly worth spending $60 in Sydney.
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