Still alive and kicking!

I know.
I know ...
I KNOW.
I KNOW!!!

Yes, I know I haven't posted since August 20th but I've been all over the place and almost without a 'base'. Forgiven? Please?

What have I been doing? I presented a pilot certification weekend in Nelson, then went to Hamilton for a different certification course before driving straight to Auckland to fly to Vancouver :) Nelson is an incredible place and I always stay at The Honest Lawyer, a lovely, oxymoronic title for a neat place with draft Boddingtons and draft Guinness. there's also a 4-poster bed in one of the rooms but I haven't landed up in that one yet.

Then, from Vancouver, I went to California, met up with Hammy and 'did' the Santa Barbara area of wine-tasting. We drove from LAX to SB and then did about eight vineyard tastings of maybe 8-10 wines each - we 'spitted' of course! Some wonderful stuff.

Hammy had brought a mixed case from his 'cellar' in the UK so we worked our way through that during the American Swiming Coaches Conference in San Diego. I can't remember how many times I've been to that but it's probably 5 or 6, and this was the best. During the wine-tasting/conference transposition Bill Sweetenham, the British Performance Director, 'suddenly' resigned which was a surprise to many but a relief to a lot.

Check out Chateau d'Yquem because that was one of the wines Hammy brought with him!

Then, when I returned to NZ we were straight into a serious HP meeting, immediately followed by our Spring Competition, then our annual School of Coaching; all in all it was over 30 days straight without a break.

More blogs over the weekend I promise :)