Thursday, March 15, 2007

You can take the boys out of Scotland but..

...you cant take the Scotland out of the boys!


We went to the Wellington 7s part of the IRB Sevens Circuit. Tickets sold out within 20 minutes of being on sale. For a sell out event the stands were not always full but it seems the event is not just about the rugby its about the party. People go as groups dressed the same. Like this, not sure what the correct collective term is, of smurfs.


Some people put a lot of effort in to their costumes, representing a group, character or nationality. Others just seemed to have grabbed whatever was to hand and put their faith in the power of safety pins over gravity.


We took the opportunity to celebrate our Scottishness: "They'll never take our freedom!"

We had 5 Scottish flags with us. I was rather disturbed to discover that we HAD 5 Scottish flags in the house but our patriotism obviously runs deep.


Craig wore the "jimmy hat" that he had made at school for a craft project from a hot water bottle cover!


Nigel wore the Rugby shirt which was a farewell gift from Scotland.


Given how crazy most of the crowd were it was concerning how easilly we blended in. We had a great day. We got most of the Scottish teams autographs, which given their relative lack of celebrity probably meant more to them than us! In true Scottish fashion they contrived to lose the final of the Shield when leading by 12 points with 3 minutes to go. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is so Scottish. As the man said about supporting Scotland it's not the despair I can't stand, it's the hope!


Still good to be able to experience that little bit of Scottish culture from the other side of the world.


The same week we had our Staff and Families Conference at Papamoa. 22 of these people have come to New Zealand in the last year.


It was a real encouragment to see the growth in the staff team and to begin to see the beginnings of a new staff culture beginning to emerge.

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