Well, it has been 2 months since I last saw Kathryn (Who I saw on the 11th of May when we had our family dinner at Japanese Takeaway Momiji) when she was with Carole having a big lunch with me & Pops meaning that I had an incredible time with Kathy of course when she left to go back home to Hihi in the Northland province that I've been 7 months ago with both Carole & Pops in late December last year in which was my first post-COVID era holiday (We left Whanganui on Christmas Eve to go to Palmy to catch a flight to Auckland then Kerikeri in which we stayed until the 29th of December in which we saw Kathryn, Ken, Andy, Kelsey (Who is my bestie now along with Paige as part of my power of 3, but Andy could even be in the mix) & the rest of our whanau there), but we did not go to The Cobb (For which I'll be heading for my birthday dinner on June 7th which is my fave time of the year along with Christmas day on the 25th of December) until the 20th of May with Dad (And the prices have gone up for that occasion mainly due to the winter season) due to the fact that me & Pops already had a big lunch.
And how many times that I've mentioned my dear cuzzie Paige Ahearn (Who I would like to meet her again after 8 years next time when I go to Wellington for my next holiday being planned as part of my bucket list (And she was 22 the last time I met her 7 years before giving birth to her daughter Norah while I was 25 back then at the time (And my half bro Jansen was about 19 when Paige gave birth to her daughter Norah who was born last year compared to me when I was about 20 when Huia & Benny's sister, Kathryn's daughter & another one of my 2nd cousins Gemma gave birth to also her daughter Rosalie (Who I once met her in 2016 in the aftermath of Nana Minnie passing away but she's 12 now as of today) in 2011) on my blogs? Mainly countless number of times since I first mentioned her in 2016 when I famously met Paige & Cathey Middelplaats at Cathey's home in Petone the night after me & Pops attended an AB's rugby test against Wales at Westpac Stadium at the time (It is now called Sky Stadium) with John Coburn in Wellington (That was 5 months after the events of the late Nan passing away due to cancer here in Whanganui & 5 months before the late Nana Minnie who was in Waiheke Island also passing away due to a similar terminal illness that Nan got (And I remember one point that both Cathey & Paige thought that they're gonna attend the funeral of Nana Minnie, but in the end, they didn't make it due to an earthquake that struck the Kaikoura town in the South Island meaning that their flights from Wellington to Auckland had eventually been called off), but I didn't know that she was married to her husband Jarrod Ahearn while the married couple have a daughter named Norah (Which is a good name Carole once told me but she could be named possibly after the female American singer Norah Jones according to the previous blogs that I did), but who knows Paige (Who went on a honeymoon to Japan with Jarrod & Norah as I saw a picture from Pops phone) well than I do? Maybe somebody go tell them about her but she is both a millennial (For those who were born between 1981 to 1996) like me & a zillennial (Which is a cross sub generation between millennial & gen Z by those who were born between 1992 to 1998) when I told Kathy (Who is a baby boomer just like Pops, Carole & our whanau mate Don Edmonds (Who came to Rutland Arms Inn with us for a meal on the 17th of May) about it.
And every time I say bye to Pops I say later on instead (Every damn time I go for my morning walk every Monday to Saturday except Sunday which is being a rest day) along with both Dad & Carole inspired by a video game that I used to play from 2012 to 2015/16 until now on the Xbox Series X console which is a secret about New York City when I told Pops about it as well as about both the war & crime stuff that he alluded to me when someone tells the player later on, but I was like "Oi that's my line", & I laughed about it (And I used to say it to both the late Nan & Pops back in 2012/13 when I was living with Dad until I moved in with Pops officially in February 2017 (Or December 2016 unofficially) in the aftermath of Nan passing away on the 6th of January, 2016).
And finally in the football department as Manchester City (Who still have players such as Belgium's Kevin de Bruyne, Norway Erling Haaland, Portugal's Ruben Dias (Who is now Portugal's main talisman as he takes over from his teammate in international level of Cristiano Ronaldo) & both Englishmen of Kyle Walker & Irish born Jack Grealish, but they have a game in hand against club rivals Man United in the FA Cup final which is going to be held at Wembley Stadium in London in their bid of continuing their dominance in the English cup) claim their 4th Premier League title in a row where they still been invincible since 2020-21 (In which they have been on god mode since just like the Samoan American wrestler Roman Reigns who held on to that Undisputed WWE Universal Championship for 1,316 days (And those who held longer than Reigns were the late great Bruno Sammartino, then Bob Backlund & 'The Immortal' Hulk Hogan (Star of the golden era of wrestling during the 80's to early 90's period along with the late Andre the Giant, the late great 'Macho Man' Randy Savage & the late Ultimate Warrior) starting from Payback in 2020, until 'The American Nightmare' of Cody Rhodes had just broken the stranglehold of ending the utter dominance of 'The Big Dog' at Wrestlemania XL this year in April according to the previous blogs that I did this year, but Cody Vs Roman II: Decider in Philly was by far, one of the most incredible matches at Wrestlemania of all time since the Undertaker's encounter against 'HBK' Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XV way back in 2009 when both superstars such as Michaels & Undertaker were future WWE hall of famers (The man known as 'The Heartbreak Kid' was inducted in 2011, while 'The Phenom' was later inducted 11 years later in 2022) as well as both wrestlers from that New Generation era squared off during the PG era (AKA WWE Universe era which featured the likes of superstars such as CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, The Miz & Sheamus) which came after the Ruthless Aggression era (In which John Cena dominated in that era alongside Batista & Randy Orton) & before the Reality era (Which featured the likes of AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins as their main superstars in that era), & their 8th overall since the advent of the top flight English league since 1992-93 following their 3 - 1 win over West Ham United during the final week of the EPL football season which lasted in a pregnancy period of 9 months which began from August last year to May this year where the football league season which usually commences in August & runs through until May, but the teams playing in the UEFA Champions League final at Wembley is set between Spanish club Real Madrid (Who are gunning for their unprecedented 16th European Cup championship), & German club Borussia Dortmund, then of course German born Liverpool coach/manager Juergen Klopp announced that he is leaving the club after this football season, & of course in all of a sudden that I thought France were the favourites to win Euro 2024, but it's England (Who have never won a European Football Championship before, 3 years after coming so close in which they fell short on penalties against Italy (Who are the defending champs going into Euro 2024, but placed in a very tough group alongside Spain (Who haven't won since 2012 in which they successfully defended the title against the Italians (Who fell to Germany in the quarterfinals at the next Euros, 5 years before becoming champions 3 years ago) in the final to follow up to their success at Euro 2008 where they broke a 44 year drought of winning European Football Championship tournaments, before losing 2 on the bounce against the same opponent at both Euro 2016 in the round of 16, & the delayed Euro 2020 in 2021 in the semi on spot kicks), Croatia & Albania in the group of death, & are making amends after failing to qualify twice for the Football World Cup, in both 2018 (Where they fell to Sweden first) & 2022 (And then North Macedonia in which they made footballing history before getting easily clobbered by the Portuguese in the UEFA qualifying final) in the final at their home patch in the delayed Euro 2020 which was basically held in 2021, & most people predicted that England could lift the Henri Delaunay trophy come July 14th according to EA Sports who used to have rights to FIFA before changing their series name to EA Sports FC where they now have the licensing rights to Euro 2024 compared to Spain winning the Football World Cup in 2010, followed by Germany in 2014, France in 2018, & Argentina at the most recent global football showpiece event in 2022, but there has been an update as hosts Germany open their Euros account with a comprehensive 5 - 1 win over Scotland, then France overpower Austria in a group game which was marred by Kylian Mbappe leaving the field with a broken nose, as well as the Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal stun Czechia (Formerly Czech Republic) 2 - 1 after being 1 - 0 down for so much of the game & Austria having a win over the Netherlands according to Leon Benbaruk who currently lives in Nottingham in the UK (And then this happened as Georgia (Who are in their historic first ever round of 16, but the only matchup I know is between Belgium & France (Who have never won a round of 16 game at the Euros since 2016 (In which Portugal won against the hosts at the time in the final at the Stade de France in Paris after Eder had scored the winning goal during extra time which was overshadowed by their star talisman Cristiano Ronaldo's injury in which Ronaldo had to be subbed off the pitch) against the Republic of Ireland, 5 years before they fell to Switzerland on penalties during the round of 16 at Euro 2020 which was held in 2021 (In which Italy were the eventual champions after they outplayed England on penalties during the final at Wembley) in a rematch of the 2018 Football World Cup semifinal where the French dominated the match to go through to the final against Croatia) walloped another one of the tournament favourites Portugal as they caused the biggest boilover in Euros history compared to Iceland who outwitted England at Euro 2016 in the round of 16), but the latest on the cricket such as the Black Caps fail to make the Super 8 of the men's T20 World Cup after a pair of defeats to both the Rashid Khan led Afghanistan (Who made history by causing the biggest boil over against powerhouses Australia (The former champions in 2021, but I wasn't following the T20 World Cup until Afghanistan's stunning win over the Aussies) before following up their win against Bangladesh to advance to their first semifinal of an ICC sanctioned tournament against the undefeated South African side while the other semi is between India (Also undefeated just like the South Africans, but their group match against Canada had been abandoned due to a washout) & defending T20 world champions England which is a rematch of the semi in 2022 (And the final of the men's T20 Cricket World Cup 2024 is set, it'll be South Africa playing India (For whom I'm rooting due to the South Africans being our main rivals in the sporting field, especially both the rugby & cricket department (And I was cheering on for England who were playing against India in the 2nd semifinal moments before being stunned, absolutely stunned on that occasion where the Indians had payback over the English by reversing their result from 2022 (And I wonder the headlines would probably say: THE CHAMPS ARE OUT, INDIA MARCH ON TO THE FINAL), & I mean, what a disappointing end for England, what a match for our viewers right around the world, it's all happening as iconic Aussie cricketer & retired cricket commentator Bill Lawry would always say) at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown in Barbados following their semifinal wins respectively against Afghanistan & England) & the tournament hosts the West Indies (Who lost to SA (Who nearly got beaten by Nepal who almost made history during a round-robin game, compared to the United States who had a shock win over Pakistan during the round robin phase to advance to their first Super 8's stage) in a winner takes all match therefore missing out for a place in the semifinal against Afghanistan) now who had taken over ahead of 2 time European Football Champions & the top ranked European football nation of the French, the 3 time champions as well as hosts Germany & last but not least, Euro 2016 champions Portugal (Who'll have the services of wily old veteran Cristiano Ronaldo who is appearing in his record 6th Euros tournament (To go with his 5 Football World Cup appearances along with the Argentinian great who is a World Cup winning captain & player of Lionel Messi, Mexicans Antonio Carbajal & Rafael 'Rafa' Marquez & legendary German player Lothar Matthaeus) after the Portuguese have just submitted their squad for the upcoming Euro 2024 Championship in Germany which is led by Ronaldo himself (And there is a chance of Portugal regaining the Henri Delaunay trophy in the aftermath of getting knocked out by Belgium in the Round of 16 at the most recent Euros of Euro 2020 which was basically held in 2021, the year before the Football World Cup in Qatar where Portugal were outplayed by the surprise package in the tournament from the African continent, Morocco (Who was the very first African side in history to reach the semis of the World Cup) in the quarterfinal) for a tussle of who'll become the new champions of the Euros come on the 14th of July in the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
So that is my 550th blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 26th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.
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