Andy's Glasses

Christmas is always ‘big time’ where football is concerned. Where the tough get going (so traditionally Arsenal don’t do that well) and the going gets tough so… yeah, whatever. But the sheer concentration of games ensures that it is a brutal time of year.

And I’m sitting on a train. The ‘trans-alpine’ train from Greymouth (where???) on the West Coast, to Christchurch on the east. It goes across all the mountain ranges that cars can’t. And hence is beautiful. So far so good on that score. Because this is ‘big country’. Full of big…

Whilst I’m here, at this precise moment in time, Liverpool are playing at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. And in fact, as I started my journey this morning at Franz Joseph glacier, City went 2-1 up in the 74th minute and then… and then… we lost WiFi.

Which is fine and dandy, in theory. Losing WiFi is great, liberating, free from everything, but obviously is an eternal damnation to hell when there’s football being played. Over there. On the other side of the world where last night is happening this morning.

However, fast forward to the end of the 4 hour journey, checked into our hotel for the night, been out for dinner, and now I have WiFi AND the score. Which was 2-1 at the end. Which, for Spurs fans, particularly those of a believe-y nature, is THE BEST RESULT EVERRRRRR.

Because if Liverpool had won they’d have been a virtually impossible 9 points ahead of my boys. But now its only 6. Which is a bit less impossible, almost slightly probably possibly possible. Also because the loss will deflate the Scousers, like a punctured tyre on a beaten up, 1973 Vauxhall Viva. A stolen one. Which is more good news. Whereas Manchester City may indeed revert to the blinding form they had up to a few weeks ago but they’re only 2 points ahead.

Therefore: I believe once more. In God. (Sort of). In the trans-alpine railroad. In gender equality, but only for really fit babes. And in Spurs. Oh yes, in Spurs.

Happy Friday (and THAT is the glacier of which I spoke).

Leaving for Sydney tomorrow. Gonna miss New Zealand and its stunning beauty.

A xxxx

I’m sure there are a few Kiwis here. Don’t mean the animal nor the fruit, just the people wot live here. Allegedly there are almost a million of ‘em in the South Island but trust me, they’re as rare here as sheep were in our first few days. Because (shock alert!) I’m a tourist here. I know, I don’t look like one, because I have a knack of just fitting in perfectly. Like Zelig. But a tourist I am. And thus generally find myself either with people of the hospitality industry or with other tourists. The former tend to be English, Scottish, German, anywhere-but-here-ish. And the latter are obviously not native either. A majority are Japanese but you can tell these quite easily because they look like they’re dressed for nuclear fallout in a sandstorm. Or a visit by Russians for tea. These people should be avoided at all costs. The rest are ‘normal people of a non-English nature’.

And everyone wants to talk about Brexit. Everyone. The Americans and Canadians don’t really get the whole thing, the few Kiwis you do encounter have no idea what the word even means, nor do they care, and the Europeans…

The Europeans generally can’t understand why we’d want to become insular and isolated at a time when the world is becoming more global, more integrated, more… together. So I tell them about reclaiming the borders, (banning non-Europeans), making our own laws, (all of which are European), how we were lied to by all sides, at all times, to this day, because no-one knew the truth and won’t do until we leave and learn it the hard way.

Breakfast today I’m talking to a German. Happens sometimes, unavoidable. And he said he couldn’t understand how we voted to leave when every Brit he meets is a remainer. This man is a director of VW (owes me 20,000 euros for mis-selling me a Diesel engine on the Golf I’ve never owned; I asked for it in cash) and is based in Japan. And all the Brits he meets we’re remainers. Funny that. All the London-based executives and business high flyers and none wanted to leave Europe. So who could have voted to leave????

I make no judgments. On morons or anyone else. Not my place.

Happy Glacier Day

A xxxx

So what’s so good about Wanaka, New Zealand then? Ok, its got a lake. Everywhere round here has lakes, big deal. It has shops and restaurants, which singles it out quite a bit more. Mountains, yeah, beaches, right, sunshine and prettiness, blah, blah, blah. But what makes it really special is that Spurs won here. Well, they weren’t here, they were actually in Cardiff, but they won when I was here. And that’s the important part.

Because when Spurs win, I am happy. I am joyous. Life is richer, grass is greener, sun is shinier, everything just… just… just better. Same whether I’m at home or away. But some may have noticed that I made virtually no mention of Spurs rather tragic home loss to Wolves the other day. And that’s what’s really good about Wanaka, I can do the grown up version of sticking my hands over my ears and shouting “NAAH NAAAH NAAAH NAAAH…” I just use my new app on the phone. It’s called ‘GoonerBlock’ and, unlike sunblock, insect-block, any other block, it really works. It restricts all access to texts, messages and facebook from any Arsenal fans for the entire time until Spurs win again. Then its released. Otherwise I couldn’t gloat and be smug and horrible. And we wouldn’t want that, would we?

Wanaka, like most places over here, ranks as the most beautiful… ever. We cycled round the lake and just found staggering views everywhere. No TVs, showing the highlights, that would have been nice, but views of, mountains, lakes, rivers and shit.

Next week Spurs host Chelsea in the Carabao cup semi-final. And, following a wave of racial and anti-Semitic issues involving Chelsea fans, all of which have been aimed at Spurs fans, because Chelsea fans are stupid, there will be lots of crowd monitoring. Because if you go to Budapest and sing anti-Semitic, anti-Spurs songs, what will happen at ‘our house’? I hope David Baddeil comes along for the occasion. So he can realise that his fellow fan’s anti-semitism is nothing to do with Spurs fans adoption of ‘the Y word’ but just to the inherent nastiness and evil that Chelsea fans embrace so willingly.

Happy Wednesday

A xxxx

So it arrived, the New Year, with a firework (above), and the usual combination of music, screaming, booze and good cheer. And then, for the first time in my life; I got breathalysed. Yep, I had a ‘tangle with the law’ and I won. The score was: Andy 1, FASCIST NEW ZEALAND MURDERING (?) PIG BASTARDS 0!!

They do spot checks here on all major (relatively) roads. So on the way back from the celebrations to our hotel, there was a line of police, all the traffic (16 cars per hour during rush hour) had to stop and a dozen cops randomly selected… everybody for ‘random breath tests’. He put a digital thing into my face, size of a walkie-talkie and asked me to count to 5. Which I can do normally without too much trouble, long as there’s no long division involved, but I instinctively went to blow in it. Cos I’ve never been breathalysed before and all the old films I’ve seen have people blowing into plastic bags. But no longer. Breath went digital in 2007 and counting to 5 is probably another test of sobriety. After about 3 seconds the machine said ‘Pass’ and I was a free man once more. San Quentin, I hate every inch of you! Ok, that was Johnny Cash and on another continent and different circumstances, but I was just seconds away from getting my first prison tattoo (cockerel on my thigh).

We drove down to a place called Te Anau (they did tell me how to pronounce it but it’s irrelevant as I’ve left now). The ‘gateway to Fiordland’. Which means pretty much the last place you can actually drive to. Because Fiordland is just fiords and mountains. No roads, well, 2 roads over about 200 miles both of which cross just one mountain into a Fiord. One at Milford Sound, which is famous but very touristy (I ain’t no fucking tourist!! I’m… something else) and the other to Doubtful Sound. So you park at a lake, take an hour across it in a ferry to the road. Which is unpaved and not very road-like at all really, and that takes you to the boat, which takes you round the most beautiful place on earth. Other than all the other most beautiful places on earth.

We slept overnight on the boat, just 8 passengers, 2 crew, we fished (and failed), we saw loads of sea lions, heaps of dolphins and millions of sand flies. It was stunning.

Then we drove a long way up to Wanaka for New Years. Where we saw the firework. Stunningly beautiful here too. I mean, what are the chances? Again on a lake, again with the mountains.

I’m loving New Zealand. And its loving me.

Happy New Years AGAIN

A xxxx

The first time I ever heard of ‘insect repellant’ was 35 years ago when Mel & I, as then two solitary, individual souls not yet joined by common mortgage nor joint account, went to Sri Lanka. It was exotic ‘back then’. Still pretty exotic today. And among the items on the ‘must take’ list was ‘insect repellant’. Which we bought. The ‘good stuff’ because Sri Lanka is tropical, or thereabouts, and so there’s more insects, they’re more bitey, more stingy, more toxic, bigger, badder, like motherfucker mosquitoes on fucking steroids the size of Jumbo Jets who go straight for YOUR JUGULAR! Or so we thought. Well, so Mel thought.

So we took our ‘Deet’ spray and doused liberally on exposed parts daily. And after about a week our plastic watch straps had melted, socks and trouser ends had holes in and bits of your limbs appeared withered. At which point I thought: how bad is an insect bite compared to the absolute horror that is Deet. What can that be doing to your skin? (We later learned its carcinogenic, possibly only if ya smoke it, but really, who fucking needs that??)

But then we’ve subsequently entered jungles and game reserves, rain forests and cloud forests, mountains and lakes. We’re even brave and adventurous enough to risk the midges of a summer in Scotland. And I never ‘repel’. Even though there’s loads of ‘Deet free’ shit now available. Because I don’t care. Mel does care. Deeply, truly, profoundly so she sprays before she goes into our lounge in December. I DON’T SPRAY. FULL STOP!

But yesterday we arrived at Fiordland. It’s amazing. Totally massive, uninhabitable, vast, desolate and magnificent. Fiords (or Fjords, if you’re more Scandy, bit of a dragon tattoo kind’a thing) which are 40 km long, with ‘arms’ going in all directions and mountains on every side of every inlet. It is special. You can only see it by helicopter or, as we chose, by boat. This place is so ‘out there’ that there is no phone signal nor wifis. And that’s the best bit of all really. Because even though it means I’m deprived of Lila for over a day, it is totally liberating.

But instead of WiFi they have sand flies. The local terror. Thousands of the fuckers. And they bite. So I used some local, ‘no Deet’ roll-on thing and its so good that I’ve been bitten to shit. And back. So I won’t bother with that again either.

If you could buy snake-repellent or life-insurance-salesman repellent, even religious-fanatic-repellent that were guaranteed to work, I’d be first in line, cash in hand. But insects? They fall into the category of: what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. And more itchy.

Happy New Years

A xxxx

I call this picture: New Zealander And Wife. Over here it probably has a different name. I didn’t say mine too loudly. Not because its offensive but because sleeping with sheep is against the laws of the Bible and that is one of my favourite works of fiction, just after The World According to Garp and The Shining.

I’ve found the sheep. You can stop fretting as to their whereabouts. I found all of them. Must have driven past 13 million of the fuckers today and I’m definitely having lamb for dinner. Which, for any vegans reading this (yeah; that’s gonna happen), I can do with clear conscience and a total lack of guilt. Because I have a God-given ‘disconnect’ which protects me from any form of hypocrisy. Exemplified today when I pointed out in the car a ‘baby sheep’. To which I was quite rightly corrected (fucking pedantics) that it was a ‘lamb’. And I realised that the ‘baby sheep’ which are sweet, gorgeous and cuter than cute, I would cuddle and stroke and ‘ahhhhh’ all day long. A ‘lamb’ is another story. One normally written on menus. Same as veals. I’ve never seen one in the wild hence its no problem. Baby cows are itsy bitsy cutesy things, bit like baby sheeps but need horseradish.

New Zealand is quite wonderful. The South bit anyway, can’t speak for the rest, got no idea. But you drive south and it becomes very alpine. Typical mountains, lovely lakes, gorgeous trees. Could be Canada, could be Scotland, could be mid-Europe. Then you travel further down and it starts to look a bit different, but still geographically/geologically quite familiar. By the time you reach Te Anau, as we did today; ‘the gateway to Fiordland’, you must be in New Zealand because it no longer looks anything like anywhere you’ve ever seen. Te Anau is a Mauri name meaning ‘gorgeous lake in the middle of fucking nowhere’, or something like that. There is ‘the official legend’ but mine’s much shorter, more concise.

And we’re here because tomorrow morning we board a boat. And stay on it for 28 hours. On lake Manapouri (‘gorgeous lake in the middle of fucking nowhere), cruising round like… probably like Sid James in Carry On Cruising. Only there just 12 passengers on this boat. It’s a little boat. So you may not hear from me in a while. If ever!!!!

Happy Saturday

A xxxx

I’m concerned. What is New Zealand famous for? What is here in greater number than people? What is it that provides the ‘comfort’ for so many solitary, distant farmers? And what tastes really nice with mint sauce and new potatoes?

Of course; sheep. And yet all you see is cows. Not in groups of a dozen like we see them at home, but massive herds of hundreds and hundreds. Then you see a few sheep, couple of dozen, then another 20,000 cows.

Is this an ecological problem? Is the balance of numerical power shifting from the sheepish to the bovine? Are these new, possibly ‘supercows’ eating all the sheep? I’d really want to taste that steak but have my doubts about that particular theory.

Then I learned that it may be to do with the sheep occupying the high ground. Not that they fear invasion, like the Normans, but that they keep the sheep in the mountains so that their wool becomes longer, thicker, stronger. Like the Merino sheep. Nothing to do with Jose, I learned, even though he’s pretty thick-skinned himself. But the sheep who make famous sweaters live high up where temperatures reach -25 in the winter.

I learned this in a place called Tarras. On the 247km trek from Mount Cook to Queenstown. The scenery is simply sublime. It’s like a Christian Eriksen pass that lasts for 4 hours. Quite magnificent. But the ‘towns’ aren’t really towns as such. They’re just like a petrol station, a bar/restaurant a coffee shop and a store that sells Merino Wool stuff at 200 quid a scarf. It’s not like driving through Sheffield. It’s more like driving through a motorway service station that’s really cute and pretty and nice. Unlike any motorway service station ever. And this one announced sheep-shearing events and ram-shackling and all sorts of local, Kiwi-type shit that no-one in the world understands. Nor cares about really but that makes it all the sweeter.

When you arrive in Queenstown it looks like the pic. And is bigger than the above mentioned, kind’a ‘1 horse town’. This is at least a 2-sheep town. But with better restaurants.

Loving it here. The more souther-er… you go, the more better-er… it gets. Amazing place.

Baaaah

A xxxx

Just because.

A xxxx

So you go to the top of the walkway at Mount Cook, or the tulip gardens of Amsterdam, or the Eiffel Tower, Machu Pichu, the Great Barrier Reef, even Trafalgar Square, and what do you find? You find the universal curse of worldwide tourism: The Japanese! In droves, all following their team leader, who carries a Rising Sun flag on top of a stick. And shouts at them constantly, really loudly, quite aggressively. Sounds like he’s calling them to war against an ancient foe, in reality he’s describing the cross-pollination of mountain daisies.

And wherever you stop to take a photo, three of them step in front of you. You think you’re alone for a minute because you can hear the bellow of the tour guide 20 metres below you, but 7 escape to fuck up your shot.

They are the terrorists of tourism. And now they dress like jihadis too. It must be a cultural thing but wearing a breathing mask in Tokyo’s polluted atmosphere is one thing. Wearing one on top of a mountain in deepest New Zealand is really something else. Something different. Something much more stupid. When you accompany that mask with a full-face covering, headscarf AND hat so that all you can see is their sunglasses, you have the full jihadi look.

Not that I have anything against Japanese, honest to goodness, but when they travel they morph into a multi-peopled single organism that is extremely harmful to your health. They get stuck in yer fucking teeth.

But even that couldn’t dispel the feeling of wonderful bonhomie I felt to all mankind this morning after Spurs latest, greatest win over Bournemouth yesterday. 5-nil. I mean… I mean… its just…

11 goals scored in four days. Southampton had to wait… I don’t think they’ve scored 11 yet this season, but who cares about them. And although I have a soft spot for Bournemouth, and may yet be forced to develop a full-blown crush on Eddie Howe, it was wonderful to beat them. Incredibly Man City lost (AGAIAIAIAINNNN!!!) and thus we jumped over them into second place.

OMG.

I mean mountains and lakes and the most beautiful places on the planet are one thing, but THIS IS FOOTBALL!!! THIS IS TOTTENHAM!!!!!

Happy Thursday… I think

A xxxx

We left Christchurch. We’d been there 10 hours and, even though 8 of those were sleeping, we’d seen everything. Not that its not lovely. Just small. Quaint. And we set off into the great unknown. Into the very heart of New Zealand’s South Island. We were entering… The Hobit!

Here’s the rules. Speed limits are 100kph on highways, which are all two lane. One in each direction And 50kph in town. I can walk faster than that. So it feels. And if you go more than 4kph faster than the limit, you go to jail for 10 years. Get fined 20,000 whatever the local currency is. They take speeding very seriously in NZ. A sure sign that no much crime happens here. Australia too, where you’d imagine far more crimes taking place, they have a thing about speed limits too.

We drove to Lake Tekapo. Big. Wet. Surrounded by mountains. Quite beautiful. So beautiful we left and went to the next one. Lake Pukaki. Even bigger. Wetter. More beautiful. They’re glacial lakes and thus, filled with glacial silica, show as turquoise in the sunshine. Which is impressive. If Paul Pogba is worth 300 grand a week, what would you pay for a lake that shines turquoise when the sun shines?

Then an oddity. The traffic stopped. But like totally. Unmoving. And its really not the kind of place you can just ‘turn round and pick up the B.839 via Droitwich’ instead. No. This is one road country. The traffic stops; you wait. Then a police car comes along and stops at every car to explain and ask for your continued patience.

Like you have any FUCKING CHOICE!!. And I really really DON’T HAVE ANY PATIENCE!!! But I just said ‘thank you, officer, can I clean your windshield for you, Sir?’
and left it at that.

There was a bush fire. Or a burning bush. Like Moses but without the God bit. Fortunately it rains quite a bit here so the extent was limited. And I’m sitting here as I write this (not driving, obvs) coming into our second hour. Though it has started moving very slowly past the problem.

We’ll be at Mount Cook soon. Ish.

Happy Wednesday (or whatever)

A xxxx

PS We’ve arrived and this place is amazing, spectacular and stunningly beautiful. Well worth… everything.