Look at this idiot .... He thinks that if he gives a strong
speech followed by a thumbs up everything will fall into place and be good. Politicians are stupid this way.
Leadership and respect is earned and not a pre given or even a bought fact. If Gordon Brown and a few other world leaders had taken the time to train and coach
a youth hockey team, or indeed any youth sport team, then they would know this.
Episodes from this last week of Haackey competition and training will demonstrate what I am talking about.
Smallest Baby Clog and her team had, for whatever reason, decided that they could turn up on Saturday and play a game of hockey just as they saw fit. Consequentially at half time they had a 2
goal deficit and Cloggy (their coach/trainer) was as mad as hell. In the half time interlude he told them the following ... and I quote .... " I have not trained you or taught you to play like
this. You are and know better. If it is your intention to turn up on a Saturday and play hockey in the style of a group of baboons with opposing thumbs who are only hell bent on making a bell
ring then I am done with you. This is not a Woman's Institute or Girl Scout Meeting this is a GAME OF HOCKEY. Stop with the crapping around and concentrate. Now take yourselves off to
the dugout and decide if you are serious!"
He left them alone to figure out how they would play the 2nd half. End score was a 2 - 3 loss but Cloggy was well pleased with his team performance, they stepped up and made good mistakes and
sloppy hockey that had been played in the 1st half.
Middle Baby Clogs team was playing against Arnhem, a team that is vying and able to win the sub-top division. The game was hard and strongly fought by both teams but the end result was a
good reflection of the game played. 1 -1. The Haackey C1 boys played a great game and scored within 5 minutes of the opening. Arnhem scored not long after but Haackey played a possession game
that enabled them to hold onto a well deserved draw.
However ... at training last night all the boys had a 'God Complex' because of their perceived presentation during the game last Saturday. They decided that warm up before training was not
necessary. Their trainer did not play along and exercised his earned right of leadership. Consequently they were all sent home, with no training, emails sent to their parents regarding their
mentality, and all the boys are now grounded. Please remember that it takes as much effort to get your kid to training and games as it takes the kid to participate. Respect for the trainer who
has brought these kids into the sub-top division needs to be reinforced once in a while
As parents we were infuriated by our boys mentality. X-Boxes have been mothballed!
Senior Haackey games were a washout. I refuse to give any more info!
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People say that Dogs and their Owners begin to look alike after a while. I kinda believe it ...
however ... take a look around you next time you are out for a walk and form your own opinion.
This is a picture of Middle Baby Clog and his new side kick Knobbly Clog. I swear to god that they use the same hair gel!
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I think I have mentioned previously that Cloggys Chickens are somewhat miffed by the unseasonably cold weather that we have been experiencing .....
The Clucky beasts have been refusing to return to their chicken run and are laying their eggs in the most extraordinary places, some of which defy belief and
gravity. Check out the photo below .... How's this for precision laying!
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What on earth do you do for a girls birthday party and not spend a fortune on doing it?
Movie evening, bowling, decorating cupcakes, disco, swimming, pin the tail on the donkey .... you name it we've done it and if we haven't done it someone else has and is therefore decreed not
acceptable!
Don't get me wrong Smallest Baby Clog is an easy child to please and does not ask for much but this years birthday was special because she was turning 11. She wanted
everything to be just perfect and most importantly she wanted her little guests to have a great time.
Cloggy and his youngest offspring had been in a planning frenzy since January trying to find just the right party theme and finally announced to the rest of the family 2 weeks ago that they
had a plan.
A Murder Mystery Party. A bit sinister perhaps but they were determined.
Luckily Cloggy found a great website that provided everything you needed to host such an event (for children). The perfect scenario was agreed upon, characters were assigned, invitations were
printed, handed out and the RSVPs came flooding in.
Yesterday afternoon the guests arrived "en masse" at precisely 1.30pm. All were dressed up as their pre-given characters and must of stopped traffic on the way to the Cloggy residence as they all
came by bicycle. It was a very strange sight to behold.
The murder was duly committed and the body was carefully outlined by Cloggys last remaining duct
tape. The victim (me) was then banished to the kitchen to prepare and serve brain food for the ensuing rounds of Agatha Christie like detectivism. On the menu was Blue M&M's, Crisps,
Cola and Ice Cream.
2 hours later the murderer had been discovered and it was time for pancakes, cola, more ice cream and
birthday cake. After the birthday tea all the little guests went outside to play on the trampoline to ensure that all the healthy food was mixed up properly before they cycled home. Thankfully
no-one was sick although Cloggy did turn a funny shade of green when he was demonstrating how to properly do a somersault.
Smallest Baby Clog (SBC) had a great afternoon and made out like a bandit. There is an unspoken
tradition in this little part of the Netherlands that as a present everybody gives a homemade birthday card with 3 euros attached. I think this is a great idea as does SBC who spent her
birthday money on a pair of skeelers (in-line skates).
Middle Baby Clog is next in line for a birthday party but being a 13 year old male of the species is less concerned with details. He will be hosting a Poker Tournament!
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SERIOUSLY ......... ENOUGH SNOW ALREADY!
The Netherland region of Twente would have been an ideal location for the 2010 Winter Olympics. We have had more snow than Vancouver. The slight flaw in my
statement is the fact that the downhill ski competition would be reduced to the fastest time that a competitor could ski down the dyke of the Twente canal. (A whole Gouda cheese can achieve this
feat - without ski's - in approx 15 seconds before it sploshes into the water). For the other winter sports such as ski-jumping, tobogganing and luge etc. the Dutch have some of the finest Civil
Engineers in the world and could easily have built the required arena's.
All of that malarky aside ...... I need to vent. We have had snow on the ground since December and enough is enough!
As I write this entry it is snowing ... AGAIN! The dogs are fed up and refuse to go out for walks as their feet get too cold, Cloggys chickens are fed up and have taken up residence in the garage
roof - no amount of tasty morsels can persuade them to leave their roost, Cloggy is sick, Middle Baby Clog is sick, Smallest Baby Clog is sick, The Clog residence boiler was more than sick
and needed replacing (costing Cloggy a pretty penny which is probably the cause of his current ailments), Oldest Baby Clog has had his first driving 'faux pas' - aka accident - in the
snow (he managed to doughnut my car into the newly planted hedge at the hockey club because he applied the brakes too heavily - no damaged caused to my car but a section of the hedge will need
replacing) and me? .... Well I'm just thoroughly miffed at the whole situation!
This coming Saturday I have a very renowned Ladies Hockey Team visiting us from The Hague for a test game and a team building weekend. The bitch of it all is that the hockey field at Haackey is
unusable at this current time and I am reduced to praying for rain, or failing that, bribing the local fire department into illicitly spraying the field with water on Saturday morning
to remove all of the snow. At least one of those plans is going to get me in to trouble with someone or another.
Yes .. OK .. I acknowledge that other parts of the world have seen worse circumstances over the last few weeks and I sincerely hope that their situations improve quickly .. I can't do anything to
change this .. However, this has brought my endeavour to feed Family Clog on 50 euros for a week into a new perspective. I donated the savings in my weekly food bill to the Red
Cross.
My self inflicted task of providing food for 5 Days, 5 Family Members and 50 Euros was a success. Infact, I surprised myself with the outcome but I am also kicking myself for being,
previously, so frivolous and utterly crap with my household feeding budget. Not an error I will ever make again!
The end result was in fact 7 Days, 5 Family Members and 38 Euros. A saving of 142 Euros! Yes ... I did have a pantry full of basics but my success can also be contributed to careful planning and
extra time spent on preparing meals from scratch using seasonal produce rather than relying on ready made food, such as lasagne, bought from the grocery store.
I dare you to try the same exercise and donate your savings to the Red Cross!
http://www.icrc.org/eng
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The boys have had a tough day chasing bunnies and killing rubber chickens.
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This is the beginning diary entry of how I will attempt to feed the Family Clog over the next 5 days spending only 50 Euros on provisions.
(It's never gonna work but it will be interesting to try it!)
I will admit that I have the free use of 'Augustine' and an over full pantry. But please bear in mind that our typical grocery bill for a week normally adds up to 180 Euros!
Augustine was the lovingly raised steer of Cloggy's side kick, 'Old Neighbour Dude', who was recently dispatched to greener pastures courtesy of the local abattoir. Unbeknown to me
Cloggy had negotiated an 8th of his mortal remains against services rendered and these are now stuffing up my freezer. I returned home from the grocery store to find that I
had no room for the pizza's, ice-cream and Jagermeister that I had purchased!
The bequest had also been given as a kind of good neighbours award which begs the question "What kind of neighbours did they have before we moved in?" WHATEVER - Never look a gift
horse in the mouth, as my Grammy might say.
Smallest Baby Clog has now turned vegetarian on us all of a sudden!
If she craves meat after 2 days there are always Cloggy'schickens that are cluckin' around the homestead with too much of a confident strut. Just because they are rare breed doesn't mean they
can't also be table fodder!
Here's a video clip, taken last summer, of the freezer content. He's a bit pissed orf because 'Old neighbour Dude' had put his water trough behind an electric fence, which still enabled him
to get to drink, but stopped him from knocking his water over just for the hell of it.
I think I'll be only eating veggies as well this week!
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A week or so ago Amsterdam
staged its 'International Fashion Week'. This blog entry has nothing to do with that I just wanted an excuse to purger a fashion-like saying .. you know the ones - " Pink is the New Beige", "Fat is
the New Thin" (I wish)!
In a week
where it has been announced that Albert Heijn holds 32.8% of the Dutch supermarket market, I will be found shopping at the Aldi and the local farmers market.
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