and time goes on...

Luke and I took the Beast down to the sea for a surf. The Beast decided to stay at the beach and watch the two of us frolic in the water. A good call! The waves were small but it was hard work to tow Luke out to backline after every wave that he caught. He still has not mastered the art of duck diving and hence the need for my muscle power. Unfortunately, my muscles were feeling somewhat depleted after a mere two and a half hours at the Judoka practising all of the throws required for my Brown belt grading in two weeks time.


Just last week, Matthew asked if he could go to surf lessons, and so we spent Thursday evening in sea together. It was a very short session, but then again the weather was abysmal. Perhaps one day, I will get to spend some really valuable time surfing with my two boys...

It was wonderful to be in the water again. To feel these tiny waves sliding under my feet. To watch Luke’s joy as he experienced the same sensations! Somewhere in all of the salt water, sea spray, and beautiful blue sky I finally made the decision to declutter my life. I have thought about it, blogged about, and talked about it, but now it is time to do something about it.

Just about every evening in my week is taken up by some or other activity. I hardly see my wife in the evenings anymore. That must change! I want to spend more time with my wife doing stuff, instead of us doing our own stuff at the same time. For that reason, Action Cricket, Action Soccer, and Forum are all activities that must cease immediately. Other activities like some of my charity and church stuff will need to be phased out. Especially the stuff that I attend but make no meaningful contribution. That is just a waste.

Hopefully I will just be left with the crèche as a charity project, judo and surfing as my sporting pursuits, and time for my wife and children.

And then perhaps I can try again to be the father and husband I really yearn to be!

Monday Board Meetings

The last two Mondays have started off with a surf. A wonderful return to an old and good habit of mine. How on earth can one not look forward to the new week when it starts off doing something you love?

This past Monday was also the "Beast's" first surf outing. It was surprisingly fun, just a good mate and I, on a surf mission, accompanied by the low growl of a powerful V8. She is not yet complete and I hope to have all of the last niggles ironed out in the next week or two. My children absolutely adore her and are only to keen for her to take them anywhere! Even my 11 month old daughter gets a big goofy grin whenever I start her up!

Oh, and the surf was good too!

and then there was nothing

I have not been blogging much since my climb.


Whilst walking, I would spend long passages of time planning my blog. Words would flow with careless abandon. Blogs would get written and rewritten in my mind. They would swirl and jostle for space, fighting for breath, for life of their own.


That was then. Now, life on the flat plain is fast, hectically fast. There is no time for contemplation, or even a moment for an outpouring of spirit. Instead, silence reigns where words once tumbled and played.
And so...


My body aches. Judo the definitive cause! This week has been ultra intense. Partly because two Korean Olympians have joined our club to assist with coaching and partly because my body is fighting back from a chest cold. Somehow I managed to resist being strangled to death, have my arms twisted off, and be body slammed through the floor. But only just! I know I am not dead, so surely I must be stronger for all of the abuse.


My sons think I am cool! Although not for my prowess on the matt but rather because I sweat so much! One must wonder...

My car, the beast, of which there are still no photographs, is running like a dream. I now am down to two short lists of things to be done. The terrible paint job is on neither of those lists as I have at last made peace with it. Regardless she charms people wherever I go. Yesterday a lady in her late seventies made my day when she stopped at a traffic light, got out of her car, came up to me and told me the beast was absolutely beautiful!

The Beast has developed a nasty habit of setting off car alarms with her deep rumble. My record has been three in a single parking garage. Oh she is fun!

I have some more car stories about other cars, but I will leave them for another day.

I have so enjoyed this time of writing. It is so sad that life is lived so fast. It really is so much fun when time stands still.

Ah, the Weekend!

Weekends are the manna of the week; time for a bit of nothing, lazy thinking, restful relaxing, and occasionally a little fun! Instead of grasping this last weekend for all that it could have been; I chose instead to fill it with back breaking work, sawdust, and the prospect of a new radio in the beast.

My misspent youth had included many hours in mates’ cars installing their radios. This weekend I figured, rather incorrectly, that sound in the beast would not be too much of a stretch. Besides, I had company; the spray painter was to spend the day touching up a number of issues.

Bring on the day!

The beast having been designed in the fifties; was a little sparse in thinking with regard to modern heavy rectangular radio’s. It used to be two knobs and a little display which fitted beautifully in the dash. My first problem was to find anywhere to attach a new radio in the acres of open air under the dash. Being a little loath to drill an unsightly hole through it; required me to dig a little deeper for the solution. The cubby hole was really the only space which could be used, which of course was made of cardboard!

A purpose built wooden box that fitted snugly around the radio, slid into the cubby hole, looked awesome, and somehow bolted onto the cubby hole frame seemed to be the answer. Of course, how I would get it bolted on anywhere else was a mystery, not to mention avoiding the great arcs described by the giant mechanical arms of the windscreen wipers.

With this very simple idea in mind, I got busy cutting the wood with my table saw at an angle. I managed to minimise my cuts and used the least possible amount of wood. And then threw it all away as I discovered my little problem with the angled table saw. Take two saw me fixing the angle problem and then locking down a guide plank to ensure that every cut was straight and perfect. Except that the guide plank was skew.

I almost went on strike. Haphazardly sawn planks of fine wood and a heap of wonderfully aromatic sawdust was all I had to show for my labour.

With the day almost over, I began again. Filled with the wisdom born of failure, I measured, checked, cut and re-checked every piece. They fitted perfectly, much to my surprise.

Sunday saw me dismantling my ignition which took ages to fix, and then everything started to go smoothly. After holding a number of intense yoga positions for a couple of hours under my dash, sound streamed sweetly out of my speakers.

To celebrate my wife and I helped the kids clean their rooms!