I was invited as a VIP guest to the Hutt City Sports Awards last night 1,500 people were in attendance. It was a black-tie event and had all the glitz and glamour complete with Wellington Orchestra, Signature choir, dances and singing trio who entertained us all night. It was done very much like a Hollywood Academy Awards event Wellington style. Apparently, it is becoming one of the biggest awards ceremonies in NZ.
I sat a table with the Manager of Radio NZ Pacific, a Samoan woman lawyer, the High Commissioner of the Solomon Islands and the High Commissioner of the Cook Islands. Vanuatu and Fiji were a no show. To be honest, I’m not a socialite and this was a very rare occasion for me to attend such a high society event. The food was fabulous 3 courses and lots of wine and beer, I’m a fruit juice person and our one jug did not last long, no one at our table drank beer just the red wine.
My cousin Ken Laban was the Producer of the Event and Chairman of the Hutt Valley Sports Awards, it was so nice to catch up with him after so many years. Every table was funded by a corporate sponsor and there was no expense spared in hosting the three- and a half-hour event.
I didn’t have to pay to attend but I do wonder how much it cost per person to be part of this glamorous occasion. It was good to see people from all walks of life coming together to celebrate the legends of sports and especially the up-coming youth and current and future NZ representatives of sports.
Early yesterday I dropped my two dogs Peanut and Snoopy at the dog groomers, when I went to pick them up Snoopy had been groomed but Peanut only had a bath as he would not let the groomer close to him with the scissors and the clippers. He is 13 years old and getting quite grumpy and aggressive, he needs to have his own way. That is the first time this has happened, perhaps he is not used to a different groomer. I will have to learn to live with a dog with long hair covering his eyes as he won’t even let me near him to groom his face. Anyone have any recommendations for a dog groomer who can handle grumpy old dogs?
I come from a tradition when there are five Sunday’s in a month, the minister gets this Sunday off and a “lay preacher” takes the service. In the Pacific Island Church we call this Lay Preachers Sunday. This Sunday is the 5th Sunday of May so I will be having a long weekend off. This afternoon I will fly to Auckland to catch up with my family as my sister Violet prepares to fly to Brisbane for the funeral of her father-in-law on Saturday. I will be catching up with all the people I didn’t have a chance to say good-bye to when I came down here to Wellington, so I am excited and looking forward to lots of coffee time. Hope you have a great weekend, and I will see you all next week. Tofa soifua, Fei.
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