Boys, bikes, baking, beef, backflips, burgers and ball games

This week my thinking turns to an issue that is brewing in the background in Cromwell.  There is a petition to Council, columns in local print media and letters to the editor - so the ball game at the forefront of this week's blog is touch rugby.  There has been lots of talk in Cromwell over the last month or so about the charges for the Cromwell Rugby Club Summer Touch competition and I have been asking those I meet for their opinion on the charges for the use of the Anderson Park grounds.  There has been a very mixed response - and I am quite surprised by that.  Some people are very firmly of the opinion that this should be covered in rates - their arguments include: we are already paying for the upkeep of the grounds, we want to encourage community involvement in physical activity and the cost to the council of the grounds not being used is roughly the same as the cost of grounds that are being used.  On the other side of the fence I'm hearing: it's user pays, the club charges fees and these should be adjusted to cover the expected costs, there are costs associated with ground use and other areas charge even more,  why should the majority of rate payers cover the costs for a small percentage of the community who want to play touch.

I know this issue will be coming up for discussion at community board level.  Let me know what you are thinking... You can comment on this blog post, on my facebook page @annanatalyaharrison or email me anna.harrison@codc.govt.nz.  There are lots of sporting organisations in Cromwell using Council owned facilities - this can't just be a rugby club issue, what are others being charged and how are the charges managed?

Beautiful, blue sky morning to greet me from the Harry house this morning

As for my week, that is where the boys, bikes, baking, backflips, burgers and yes, more ball games come in. My Sunday started earlier than usual.  I do like a bit of a Sunday sleep in - but, this morning I needed to be up at 7am as lummox no.3 needed to be up and ready for his ride to the final day of the Apples basketball tournament in Queenstown.  He and his mate Bailey joined the Cromwell men's team for the tournament - stepping up as junior players.  He wasn't invited to the boozy weekend the big boys were having, so there has been a bit of car pooling this weekend.

I was on B-ball duty yesterday, which resulted in a boy's day out with Mum.  Joe (AKA lummox no.3) had his mate Kaleb staying for the weekend, his mum and dad were up from Dunedin to go to a 40th.  We caught up with them for a quick drink on Friday over the dismal end to the Otago rugby season and Kaleb stayed on.  He joined us, along with Bailey on our Queenstown trip.  I had quite the music education in the car on the way over - we had everything from Bohemian Rhapsody to the nastiest, misogynistic rap.  There was lots of singing, laughing and the compulsory Wayne's world style head banging - every car around us would have known what was playing at that point.

Joe on court - not much of an action shot - setting up for free throws after a foul

Maccas was the order of the day after the first game - not somewhere you'll find me very often - I got my first experience of the new techy ordering system and of loaded fries - how to make the food that is probably the worst for you of anything just a little bit less healthy - but yum!  Wow teenage boys can eat - I do know this having had quite a few of them in my household - but there is nothing like a Macca's tray with 3 burgers, fries, nuggets, a thick shake and a sundae to bring that home - not my child, for the record.

Next on the agenda was Site - a trampolining venue - just to shake up the just consumed food.  I didn't stay for this adventure.  I have seen the videos of back flips - but don't have any to share with you.  I took the opportunity for a little retail therapy - mostly window shopping.  Trampolining over, it was back to the events centre and basketball.  The trip home was even more hilarious music wise - the boys were going for music memories - so it started with a very loud rendition of Bob the Builder!

Meanwhile, my lovely bloke was off trail riding in Milburn on a wet and muddy day.  Sounds like he had a blast.  He carried on through to Dunedin to catch up with his brother and elderly father, and to pick up a side of beef - bit of 'cow pooling' - we are at total freezer capacity - amazing!  There are a lot of spag bols and BBQs stacked up in the freezer.  I'm sure quite a bit will make its way to flat freezers to help out the student population soon to arrive back at the Harry house.

This is what a relaxed and happy Harry looks like!

There were a couple of important events that I missed out on this weekend - one of them was an amazing community event - the Cromwell Bike Park opening.  I would have loved to have been there to celebrate this amazing community collaboration.  Huge congratulations go to Gary Smith who had the vision and passion to get the ball rolling and to Viv Wilkinson who led the team who made it happen.  The bike park is an amazing example of what can happen when a community pulls together and people with vision, passion, drive and skills get together and don't stop until it does happen.  Sarah Walker at the event was the absolute icing on the cake.  Well done Cromwell - what's the next project?

The other event I missed was a baby shower for a dear friend and colleague - I just couldn't quite juggle my timings with car pool duties to Queenstown.  I had a boys day out rather than the lovely ladies event I would have loved to have been at. 

I rounded my weekend off with a trip to buy fabulous fresh, local produce at the farmers market.  I found the market bag I bought in Bayeux, France - perfect to hold my precious purchases.  The sun was shining and the market had a lovely, relaxed atmosphere.

Market bag filled with lovely fresh produce

I've also taken a leaf out of my mother in law's book and filled the tins.  Bacon and egg pies for lunch tomorrow and a banana cake.