Well, Happy New Year ladies & gentlemen, I've haven't been blogging for a while so the year 2020 got started as I went with my 2nd cousin Ben Blain to see the new Star Wars movie again which is Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (After that I went to Caroline's for dinner with the whole family).
And I managed to stay home to look after my beloved beagle mastiff cross pet dog Buck while Pops & Carole were away to go on a trip to Auckland & Waiheke Island (Pops & Carole saw the tennis there at the ASB Classic but we have been watching the Australian Open tennis on TV a lot last month & we went to Thai Villa the day Pops & Carole were back in Whanganui after that expedition to Auckland & Waiheke Island) & they went to New Plymouth this month (Buck was with me while I was at home to look after him).
And Kathryn as well as Ken came here just a day before her 60th birthday to look at houses before Carole picked me up to go to my favourite restaurant here in Whanganui, Caroline's (I had a chicken burger there as well as a tan square for pudding).
And finally of course I have been reading my America's Cup book collection a lot especially the Black Magic: Team New Zealand's Victorious Challenge (Official Team New Zealand Souvenir) which is about Team New Zealand's 1st America's Cup win in San Diego way back in 1995 (And it is only 3 months until the 25th anniversary of Team New Zealand's victory against American Dennis Conner & his Stars & Stripes syndicate aboard the Young America boat with Paul Cayard being the helmsman) as well as the Back To Black: Black Magic book in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Team New Zealand (Russell Coutts was the skipper aboard the Team New Zealand yacht) retaining the America's Cup against the Francesco de Angelis skippered Luna Rossa Challenge of Prada from Italy & The Team New Zealand Story: 1995 - 2003 (I read about the 1995 & 2000 triumphs which are my favourite parts of the book) in preparation for next years America's Cup in Auckland (Our own Emirates Team New Zealand is the defender (Skippered by Peter Burling (Who was the helmsman when we won the last America's Cup in Bermuda in 2017 (Our last major sporting triumph) who took over from Australian Glenn Ashby) while only 4 syndicates confirmed to compete in the inaugural Prada Cup such as the challenger of record, the Italian syndicate Luna Rossa (Max Sirena is the skipper while former America's Cup winner Jimmy Spithill is the helmsman aboard the Italian yacht & they are back in the fold since missing the 2017 Louis Vuitton Cup after they chose to withdraw because of the reduction of the boat size & they last competed in 2013) & other challengers such as Sir Ben Ainslie's INEOS Team UK & both American boats American Magic (The skipper is Terry Hutchinson while the helmsman for American Magic is ex-Emirates Team New Zealand & Softbank Team Japan skipper Dean Barker) from the proud New York Yacht Club & the return of the familiar name which is Stars & Stripes Team USA (Who had to pull out of the event citing fears of COVID-19).
And in tennis news such as Russian born American Sofia Kenin winning her maiden Grand Slam crown at the Australian tennis open as she beats Spanish opponent Garbine Muguruza in the women's singles final then Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic is able to repeat his heroics from last year as he beats Austrian opponent Dominic Thiem to win the men's singles final.
So that is my 341st blog of the year 2020 (MMXX) & my 1st of this year.
P.S. And the Basketball world is in mourning as NBA Basketball legend who played for the LA Lakers, Kobe Bryant, has tragically passed away after a chopper crash in California in America which killed 9 people including him and his 13 year old daughter Gianna 'Gigi' so rest in power/rest easy but all condolences & prayers go out to the family of Kobe & Gigi.
Kobe Bryant
1978 - 2020
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