Day Four (Sunday) - Rugby (not), Racing (not), and Beer (make that a Wine!)

- March 29, 2020

It's Sunday, there's no need to be in a hurry, a lie-in this morning was nice.

Had a long chat with a friend in Melbourne who was driving off to go kite-surfing - I said that was forbidden here in NZ (potential accident/rescue and all that). They're not in full lockdown in Victoria, Australia - yet!

I went to the beach late morning, and sauntered down to the water's edge. I even paddled quite deep and the water was beautiful and warm. Quite a few people were swimming. And walking. More than the past few days. And mostly in clusters of 3 people today. The beach was pretty busy. Yes, it's Sunday ... but are Kiwis beginning to get a bit too complacent?

On the topic of swimming, even though I'm not a water baby, I've been in swimming at Omaha more times this summer than I have in the past decade (or maybe even two decades). The sea has to be "Mediterranean warm" for me to venture past the knees - and this summer, it has been. And it still is! (Gorgeous Med swimming spots will feature in a future post - including "the wrong beach" in Mallorca!!)

So, with such warm water and perfect waves, it's easy to see why people were tempted in. But this is a time we all need to stay as safe as we can and out of potential trouble.

Did the person who got into strife in the water anticipate drowning in it? Not for a moment.
Did the person who crashed their car think they might go out and injure/kill themselves and their passengers? No of course not.
Did the person out walking think they would trip and break bones and be out of action for months? Never.

Be cautious, take care, mostly stay at home!

So back to the gorgeous ocean that I didn't venture into ...

The water was an expanse of stunning shades of blue and greens, with perfect waves curling as if created from an ice-cream scoop and ending in a froth of foam (see yesterday's post that refers to an ice-cream that ended in a frothing mess!)
From phthalo blue, which is one of my favourite pigments to work with (esp green shade), being more like a dye or ink than a paint with light and transparency properties galore, Prussian blue (as deep dark and forboding as the ocean itself), right through to the tropical teals and turquoises that remind me of Tahiti.

Dinner was a chicken burger - with mushrooms, sauteed aubergine and onion rings!

Omaha Beach Photo of the day - the waves rolling in

A very rare selfie

SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
Horse racing.
I am a long-time lover of horses and racing (as most readers of this blog will know), and I have skin in the game in a number of ways. Being a race lover since I was a teenager, an owner since 2008, and involved with the NZ Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Federation for quite some years, I'm across many facets of things in a highly complex and fabulous industry that, like many, is facing its most challenging times ever.

Racing has come to a grinding halt here.
The TAB, as media has reported, is in dire straits and the racing industry challenged.
Not long ago the TAB put most of their eggs in the big basket of Sports Betting which was seen as the great income stream (race betting small fry in comparison). And then both Sports and Racing as we know it, ceased, just like that.

There is still racing in Oz/Asia for now, with top Kiwi jockey James McDonald riding to perfection out of Sydney.

The horse I currently have a share in (Ziggy, racing name Saintly Way) has been in work and doing really well and was set to race soon. Now that's not a possibility. Such a shame as he's in the best fettle of his life but unable to run. Everyone is in the same boat of course. Ziggy has won a race, and then battled wide draws and tough runs. Let's hope he can add another win to his stats when life is back to normal and racing resumes - unlikely until spring.

RUGBY RACING ~~BEER~~ WINE