Very pleased my husband was able to get us tickets to the Bledisloe cup test match today (an important rugby match between NZ and Australia, for the uninitiated).
The stadium is just a ten minute walk from our house. At first it seemed weird to be going to a game in daylight, in spring, but then the Wellington weather lent a hand to make it seem more seasonal. I was all dressed in black and I was starting to feel a little chilly as soon as we left the house. To start with it wasn’t too bad, the national anthems and the haka warmed me up and once the game started it was just lovely to be at a huge sporting event, as part of an enormous crowd (attendance 31,000) which has been such a rarity in recent times. The pundits had a predicted an All Black whitewash but it soon became clear the Wallabies had really improved since the World Cup, and it was going to be a much closer game than expected. By the second half, however, I was starting to shiver uncontrollably. There was a persistent icy swirling wind and the rain had set in, and in spite of three layers of icebreaker on top and supposedly shower proof trousers that appeared more water absorbent than repellent, I was really feeling the cold.
I had to borrow a better prepared friends jumper to stave off hypothermia. I’m glad I did because the last eight minutes of the game, after the full time hooter had gone, were the most exciting of the whole game. In the end it was a 16 all draw which was probably fair. Simon and I then scuttled home as fast as we could to get out of the cold, and put on the jug for our friends who were coming round for a post match cup of tea and a chance to warm up.
It was only then that I discovered that several colleagues had spent the game lording it up in a corporate box, care of the private hospital which I also work at but apparently am insufficiently valuable to, to be shown such generosity. I will of course name and shame them in next week’s departmental newsletter but that will not be enough to soothe my hurt. I have been reliably informed that it was a very pleasant (and warm) experience, the only down side being that, like flying business class, it will be very difficult to go back to the cheap seats with the hoi polloi. A chance would be a fine thing. Although I did hear that there was one particular surgeon who insisted on talking loudly, mostly about himself, for the entire game, which would have got old pretty quickly. I get enough of that at work.
To cheer myself up, once everyone had left I took the opportunity to finish my Lake Wanaka conference jigsaw puzzle.
Unfortunately it appears that a piece of sky is missing. I’ve since been informed that a pathologist whom we had showed hospitality to after the game, with a cup of sugary English Breakfast and a biscuit, might have been responsible. I can only guess as an unconscious professional habit of needing to take a little specimen of anything she comes across to look at more closely later on, or otherwise purely in a spirit of mischievousness. Either way, the puzzle is back in it’s box now, so will have to remain “the one that got away”.