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Published: October 12th 2010
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After the hectic happenings of the past month or so, things quietened down a little bit as the world settled in to watch the greatest month of sport that comes around once every 4 years, the Football World Cup. This time it held special interest as for the first time since 1982, the mighty All Whites of New Zealand had qualified. Of course, it was even more amazing as I watched England come alive with hope that they would be bringing the World Cup back to England for the first time since 1966. But that dream ended a couple of weeks early.
With some luck (some might view it good, some might view it bad), my contract ended right around the start of the World Cup, so rather than be sneaking off to the pub for long lunches every day, I could relax in the comfort of my own home and I watched as much of the festival of Football as I could. Other than New Zealand, I was also supporting Uruguay (my favourite country in South America). In the end both of my teams did exceedingly well, but it was a bit more dangerous supporting Uruguay, especially considering the
Ghana incident and where I lived, well let's just say that the number of Africans in the area certainly outnumbered the number of Uruguayans! But on to the All Whites, they finished the World Cup as the only unbeaten team and did the country proud. The fervour was every bit as strong as any other supported team, especially on match days in the Southerner and Walkabouts around London.
It was for the third and final group game that my Dad touched down in London for a few weeks of experiencing the UK. So I met him at the airport, went to dump his stuff at my place, then it was straight to the pub to see if the All Whites could pull off one of the great upsets and make it through to the final sixteen. Alas it wasn't to be as they could break the deadlock and it finished 0-0. and the All Whites finished 3rd in the group - still ahead of reigning World Cup winners Italy!
Over the three and a bit weeks Dad was in the UK, he managed to get out and do a tour up and around Scotland and parts of the
Tower Bridge #1
With the bridge raised and a boat passing through UK as well as day trips to Liverpool and Paris. But while he was in London, I made sure to take him out and show him as much of the city as I could. There were several things that I hadn't done myself that I waited until he was here to do, including a tour of Lords which was first on the agenda. As you will see by the photos Hannah and Ben joined us for a look around and we even saw a few members of the Australian team, and the Pakistani team practising in the nets. We also did the tour of Twickenham and got great views of the ground, but as a tour it wasn't as good as Lords or our next tour of Wembley which was brilliant. The guide was fantastic and judging by his language, the view of the stadium (we entered in the top tier) blew Dad away.
I had my Hapkido grading two days before he flew out so he got to witness me do that for the first time and was quite impressed - as was Master Chang who passed me so I am now Blue Belt Brown tip. Then it
came time for him to head back to the NZ winter after an amazing London summer - where he is convinced it never gets cold. So I waved him off and then two days later, Brendan and Renee arrived in from Cardiff on their way back home as well. I wished them farewell, but it wasn't too bad as I would see them again in a month and a bit.
After my Dad left, I threw myself back into the job hunt with the intention of getting work for my last few weeks to top up the funds when something strange happened. After a few weeks of missing out on several jobs for various reasons, I went for job interviews for two fairly average jobs and got them both, one for 6 weeks and one for 3 months. I accepted the one for 6 weeks with the idea being that it wouldn't be so bad to only work 4 out of the 6 weeks before I flew back. So I rang up the other job and before I could say no, they told me I had interviewed so well that they didn't want me for that job, but for
Wembley #1
Inside the ground a management role that would continue at least until the middle of the next year. With the role, the company and who I had met, I was intrigued so I mentioned I had travel planned for 5 weeks and asked if that killed the deal. They spoke to the company and came back and said it was fine and offered an additional payrise. Sold. So my London exploits will continue for another year as will this award winning blog!
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