The Emerald City

MMM, strawberry. I've started my Dragonboating supporting with a bang by spending $5 on a punnet of strawberries and some chocolate dipping sauce to go with it. And what's the first thing I find? That's right, The Strawberry That Would Be a Bottom. Score! And for only $5!

Also - it's Guy Fawkes! Oh yay for me. All I can hope is that it keeps on raining so that I can at least get a small amount of sleep tonight. Or perhaps I'll just have a Supernatural Season 3 fest! Double Yuss.

On the not so positive side, I've just been reading about King Tut's tomb being opened for viewing and King Tut himself being put on view ... Why oh why did I not get picked to go to Egypt with the rest of the guys? Is it because I'm just too damned pretty? Am I just too shiny to be allowed? My heart's broken all over again at the thought of everyone trampling through the Cairo Museum, and not to mention the impending weekend trip to Luxor, where the above mentioned can be viewed. Woe is me. Still, I have the Strawberry That Would Be a Bottom, this is at least some compensation.

It was a beautiful day yesterday and thanks to an awesome afternoon out in the sun, eating Jelly Tips, being blinded by the surf and talking Sport Drinks and Mello Yello with my workmates, I've been reminiscing non stop about being Kiwi Kid in the 70s and 80s. Everything was "choice", summers never ended and you could entertain yourself for hours, roller skating around the school grounds with your Mellow Yellow in your hand, playing elastics in the front yard in your blue towelling stubbies with white piping and generally and hanging out for Christmas and the exciting pile of presents under the wooden Christmas tree, then Easter so you could go to the Easter show and buy candy floss and sno cones and later, buy a Cadbury Creme Egg, and try to get goo all down your chin like the girl in the ad. And when your crate of Sport drink arrived each month, you'd always drink your favourites first, and give the ones you didn't like to your friends!

I vividly remember taking our first video player out of the box (it was bigger than me) and the first video I watched on it (Bed knobs and Broomsticks - it's lovely bobbing along, bobbing along on the bottom of the beautiful briney sea), followed by The Gnome Mobile (the gnome mobile, the gnome mobile, bobbing along in the gnome mobile!) and the Witch Mountain movies (I looked like Tia - so I was choice)!

Then, there was the longest drink in town, which for me was always a vanilla or lime milkshake (never was a chocolate gal) which my mum used to get for me at a little cafeteria in Takapuna beach. There was the ferry building in downtown Auckland which had a fireman's pole and a slide, Grundy's in Surfer's Paradise (where I excelled at bopping things on the head), holidays at Waingaro Hot Springs (balancing on the log) or Awakeri Hot Springs (to this day I swear I saw a UFO there, and not the sewing kind_! Then surprise weekends away in Rotorua, where my parents would pick me up from school early on Friday and we'd drive down in the mini or the ford, and let's not forget the Footrot Flats theme park with the world's dodgiest roller coaster.

I was a geek even back then and knew the words to Star Wars off by heart, had all the Star Wars read alongs (and many others, I could read from 3) and an ewok on my bed at all times. As I got older I expanded my movie horizons to include anything with Chevy Chase in it (my absolute favourites being Foul Play and Caddy Shack) and probably too many movies with Bill Murray. Han was always my first love though.

I've searched youTube and managed to find an old Mello Yello ad, some footage of Telethon '88 (check out Lisa Gibbons and Thingy!), and my absolute favourite ever NZ song, Sweet Lovers, by the Holiday Makers. There's also a bit of calssic Billy T and Patea Maori Club, some Mockers, some Dave & Herbs and even - a room that echoes (around and around and around with its own sound...)! The L&P ads are fairly recent, but they describe exactly what life was like... I'm trying to track down the rest of them and will post them as soon as I do!

OK, the Cadbury ad shown here is not really from my childhood (more like early 20s), but I love this particular ad (watch out for the bum wiggle and you'll know why)...

Some L&P ads





Mello Yello Ad (the girl in the black bikini)



Just Juice vs. Coconut




Cadbury Ad




Peking Man - Room That Echoes



Dave Dobbyn & Herbs - Slice of Heaven (Footrot Flats! Yusss)



The Mockers - Forever Tuesday Morning



Netherworld Dancing Toys - For Today



Patea Maori Club - Poi E



Holiday Makers - Sweet Lovers



Telethon '88 Higlights (set to Sweet Lovers!)




Billy T James - Te News



Billy T James - Where'd I get my bag? (Lands for Bags of course!)

One minute it's a beautiful sunny day, the next... Well, the picture says it all. At least I managed to keep my camera dry. But hey! It's stopped raining now! Just in time for everyone to start setting off their fireworks (oh yay) and keep me awake all night again. Yep, go ahead and call me the Grinch who stole Guy Fawkes!

Anyway, on to the positive stuff...

First of all, I am now the proud owner of a transforming Transformers DVD! In fact, I managed to buy the last one on the Shore, which pleased me no end.

Secondly, I now have a new addiction, having watched Ghost Rider for the third time this weekend! I can't remember what originally put me off Nic Cage (I think it was when he married some young asian girl - was that him?) but I'm back off the wagon, and devouring his movies with a vengeance. It started with Next (awesome, awesome, awesome!) now Ghost Rider... And National Treasure is the next on my list. I haven't even watched this week's Supernatural yet GASP!

Of course, this weekend should have been spent making my costume for our Christmas party in a couple of weeks - a Goth-Loli dress does not make itself. Every day I promise myself I'll at least start on the accessories, but I never seem to get around to it.

Until the next time I remember I have a Blog... Auf Weidersehn.