Hooray, I'm back!!

Lote, Glenn, Stuart and telephones

So, because he's probably pissed, Lote Tuqiri, with speaker 'phone engaged, rings up Michael O'Connor (Australian selector) and asks what he thinks of Peter Hewat. Hewat's in the pub at the time with most of the NSW team, and listens to O'Connor (who thinks he's having a private conversation with Lote) bag him. Lote is a DILL. It's not clear at this stage what the consequences will be.
Meanwhile, many years ago, Glenn was responsible for a telephone gaffe. He'd rung Stuart, who was staying with Cathie and me, to wish him well on his 21st birthday. Cathie and I were saving furiously for our big trek to London and probably didn't have a good reputation at the time for our hospitality. Stuart had just told Glenn that he was having a really good time on the night but I took the 'phone before Glenn could answer and I heard him say, "I'll bet you're paying for it yourself." Charming. Stuart actually had a hard time with us during his 21st year. I took him to dinner with a school-teacher mate and someone overdosed in the house toilet. I'm convinced Stuart was in the car when we dumped the body at the door of the Balmain hospital. I think the bloke lived but I can't be sure.
I know this is a family secret but I made a small error of judgement once while I was sitting with Sarah at a Wallabies game when I criticised Wendell for not passing. Wendell's family was sitting in front of us. Diplomats would describe it as an "uncomfortable" situation. Some weeks later I had a call from Wendell at 11.50pm telling me he loved Joe and would ALWAYS pass to him if he had the opportunity. I think I could hear Joe in the background but you know what the noise is like in pubs at that time of the night. Lesson from these stories: the telephone isn't always your friend...

Mother's Day

After much angst, I am hoping this will finally allow Stuart and I to blog. I will do a short post of mother's day to see if it works. Drove to Gunnedah to watch Ben Sattler play in the Country team against the Adelaide Falcons. Great game with a 25-23 victory to NSW. Then off to Armidale where we were wined and dined in the new extension. Jenny looked superb in her new kitchen and I think should be designing for vogue interiors. Then aftera moring of makeup and hairdoing with Lilly on Sunday, Stuart and I headed off to Woko national park for a look. Great place and we will be going back to camp when the weather warms up a bit. My biggest surprise was Harry arriving on Monday - Adam did let the cat out of the bag when he blogged that he could not make it to Lainey's to catch up with Harry. Daniel covered very well when I rang to find out what was going on to say Adam goofed and meant he (Daniel) was there for dinner. I believed him. Have had a lovely catch up with Haz who flies business class back to NZ tomorrow.

Newcastle Roff's Back in Action

To log in with new accounts like this one just created for Stuart and Marianne, just click on the Orange "B" for Blogger at the top left of screen when you are reading the Roff Report. Then log in with the username and password we give you.

If you are having trouble logging in send your email address to roff.report@gmail.com and I'll send you your username and password.

- Adam

Sorry Lainey

I've just fiinished 3 nights and 1 day of shooting for this video clip I'm doing and I'm exhausted. I hoped to see Harry at Lainey's tonight but my phone is dead and I'm stuffed so I need to lie down ASAP. Sorry.

Here are some stills of the video shoot. I shot it on my digital stills camera with them singing at halfspeed (6 frames per second) so it ends up looking like something from Hollywood. I took 20,000 photos in 4 days!

I draw better than Mark Taylor.

Hi Jake, this is where the "add picture" icon is now. Is this what it looks like for you??? Give me a call if you want and we can sort it out. We need pictures of Lachie!

I can blog, im just lazy.

the photos are of cal at Newcastle, Amy at Moree, Lily at the Moree Baths, Luke and Lil at Easter and Lukes first day at school.

Instructions Mark 2

The problem I fear is that people are used to just used to being on the Roff Report and aren't used to logging in... so don't know their username and password.

If you are in this position email roff.report@gmail.com and let me know which email address you use most and I will create an account for you and email you back your new Roff Report details. We all miss a wide sample of contributors.

Also, on some systems (like Glen and Sues) it won't remember your password and you have to log in each time you post making it a little harder.

----------------------------------------------
Instructions for upgrading yourself.

Step 1. Go to the Roff Report and click on the Orange blogger logo at the top left of the screen. You will be taken to the screen below. Choose "Old Blogger"... no pun intended.


Step 2. After you have signed in as an old blogger you should be prompted to move your account to use the new Blogger.Step 3. Follow the instructions.Step 4. Your new username will be you email address. Enter that as instructed.Step 5. Follow the steps by selecting a password, and a display name for the Roff report. Write all of this stuff down somewhere including your password for future reference.

Step 6. Get blogging! Or alternatively, if you get stuck, ring Adam on 0433 501 827 and I will try and help. The computer geniuses in your immediate family might be able to help too.

Good luck people. Don't give up, the Roff Report Needs You!

The lost generation

Adam
Have you noticed that the contribution level from the Roffs around Australia has dropped off with the notable exception of Melbourne and you? I think it's because the procedure for making both comments and entries has changed since we registered on the new system and there is a lost generation who are reading but can't speak. Stuart tells me he is in the same situation. Rowan assures me that you have provided the information about the new procedures before but we can't find it. For the sake of the "lost generation" could you tell us how we now
(a) make comments
(b) make entries

Sorry to be a pain but we love the blog and would appreciate your help.

Ash (via Rowan)

Fair play to you, Adam.

I would like to insult the Grant Roff/Kearton clan and nominate them for the dodgiest family (as well, it seems, as the drunkest), but I will not do any such thing because I may need a favour.

I have a job interview in Melbourne coming up, set down for some time later in this month or early next month, and would like to spend the time outside of the interview with family members, as well as being able to enjoy either the weekend after or weekend before the interview savouring the sights, sounds and smells of Australia's second best place. (The first being without question Port Augusta.) I'll give people precise dates when I know them but was just hoping someone would be willing - or brave enough, as the case may be - to put their hand up now. I'm generally pretty good. Just make sure any cheese you keep in your fridge is cut straight.

While I'm at it, I'll also need accommodation in Canberra on the 24th of this month, if at all possible. Once again, it is for a job interview, but unlike my trip to Melbourne I'll try to avoid the chance of realising the truth of that oft-repeated anecdote:
Person 1: "I haven't seen Daniel for a while, is he dead?"
Person 2: " Worse, he's in Canberra."

Goodbye.

I'm never drinking again.

I disgraced myself in style on the weekend at our friends (Monika and Gabe's) engagement party. I started the night being helpful and polite but quickly degenerated into a madman.

But I ask the doubters... What's the point in having a spa if you can't use it? Full clothed. With champagne.

Surprisingly my antics went down without offence and Monica and I had a great time. But we are off the booze until further notice.

Monica (left) looking beautiful and behaving herself impecably.

Me looking less beautiful and behaving myself mildly well.

Attempting fulfill my life long ambition of pouring champagne on girls in bikinis (no joy).

Passing the point of no return when you think doing belly flops into a pool full of people is a great idea. It's a cross between a water slide park and stage diving. Neither of which are really a good idea in the first place. Not considered good behaviour in any culture.

Melbourne gossip

We're just back from a weekend in the goldfields area of Victoria which is very pretty country with a rich history, much of which is still visible. Dom, Jules and I spent the night with an old work mate who now lives in Maldon. Yesterday afternoon we scouted the town of Dunolly which hosts a number of bike trails we'll try to use later in the year. We had a beer in the roughest pub in town and held the pool table for four games - not a bad effort and a bit of an education for young Dom.
We had to come back early today because his first soccor game of the season was on. The sport season in Victoria has been delayed for around a month because the sports grounds were in such poor condition due to the drought. We've had good rain for the past week or so, though, and the bee-keepers in Dunolly reckon the bees have waxed themselves this year, something they only ever do if it's going to be wet. Fingers crossed. Dom's team (Manningham) is playing in the A-league this year and it's a bit of a jump up in standards so all games are expected to be tough. They went down 2-1 today against one of the fancied teams so it should give them a bit of confidence for the rest of the season. Annika is just working and partying this year and seems to be doing a lot of both. Departure date for the big, overseas adventure is July. Nick has two shifts in a row today at the Mereweather RSL - he won't know what to do with the money. Amanda is preparing for her overseas adventure as well. Paris and Spain. The Spanish bit sounds particularly appealing: a house in the south on the coast for a few weeks which should allow for substantial immersion in the culture. I don't know where the money is coming from but Jules and I fly out to Vietnam in about a month for about a month. Dom will join us in the last two weeks. In the meantime, though, it's back to essay marking...

Wu Tang Cran

I forgot to test dancing at the test shoot last night so Monica's workmates helped. I don't know what they were doing at work in the middle of the night but they were going nuts.

No Beach Trauma Here

I've also spent some time at the beach recently. I went away over the weekend to Blairgowrie on the Mornington Peinsula with a bunch of mates from high school.
We stayed in a beautiful beach house, snuggled in amongst the sand dunes, that slept sixteen of us in loft style accomodation and came complete with an open fire place and four different balconies from which to admire the views...
...which were spectacular. It was a very relaxing and civilized weekend and lovely chance to catch up with old friends and to see how much we have all grown up.

For the most part anyway.

Quiet Times in the Blog-a-sphere

Hi everyone. It's been a bit quiet on the blog lately. What are you all up to? I'm licking my wounds after a big surfing accident on the weekend. I was waiting out the back resting and a freak wave came that looked surfable. It was about 7 foot high (which means the front of the wave was about two storeys high, looked like a terrace house). I'm not that fit at the moment so I was happy to paddle next to it and watch it break on its own. But I was the only one in the right spot and everyone in the surf started yelling, "Do it!", "Woo", etc. So I just started paddling without really looking at the wave by the time it caught up it was breaking. I tried to take off and grab the rail of my board at the same time but I didn't have enough speed to make it down the wave. It should have looked like this:

But it looked more like this:

I landed on my surfboard fins in one foot of water and got held under for about two waves. It's very pretty under there. You keep your eyes open in big waves, even under water. And when I finally surfaced my arm was flapping around like a tennis ball in a sock. My friend Sam was in the perfect spot to watch me get tubed but instead reports that everyone in the break (around 50 people) went "AAhhhhhhhrrrrgggggg", in unison when I hit the reef.

The other cool news is that I am shooting a film clip for the paper scissors this weekend. I'm really nervous about how it is going to turn out. Fingers crossed.

Don't ask about the rest of my life. If it was going well I would have told you about it.

Philosophy and Soccer

Thanks Spannerman

As the winter draws closer in melbourne, i feel the need to install a driver's side window in the Camry. It's cold. And my periferal vision whilst driving is impaired by the amount of parkers I have to wear to keep warm in the car. Windows or no, the Camry endures.
I believe no other family has showed such devotion to white, late 80's Camry station wagons, having had 3 in our branch, with special mention to Daniel Roff for his contribution.
The one and only reason my Camry is alive today, is the work of one man, and that man is Spannerman. Starter motors, tyres, radiators, brakes or no brakes......or brakes that have fused together into a metal lump, thanks Dad, you've really been there for me on this one. I will bring the Camry to Box Hill in the morning. I know you have nothing better to do than work on my car.
And on this subject, thanks to Julia for rescuing me, my crew, and thousands of dollars worth of recording equipment when we broke down in Ringwood.
Vive le Camry!

Anzac Day

What mercy that Anzac Day has fallen on a Wednesday where I can get out of a two hour lecture and a two hour tutorial. I know that Poppa's father served at Gallipoli and I presume his medals are with the Seages. Aunty Betty has an amazing photo album of snaps taken by Neil's father on the way to Turkey via Egypt. Poppa, of course, served in the '39 - '45 war and was in Darwin during most of the bombing. I think John has most of his medals but I'd like to know what they are and what they were for. Might be a bit hard for John to respond to this at the moment (where exactly are you?) but I'm sure he'll get to it in due course. Does anyone else have any of Neil's war memorabilia?

Visitors

We've had William and Pam Holley visiting over the weekend. William's family was great mates with the Murray family and William and Cathie spent a lot of time together while they were growing up. William and Pam's kids, Seamus and Liam, were the same ages as Amanda and Adam and the young Roffs and Holleys spent many happy years growing up together. Cathie's uncle, John, eventually married William's sister, Barbara, further uniting the families. William, despite not being all that bright, is a doctor. He failed the last year of the leaving certificate prior to the change to six years of high school and was allowed to repeat the leaving while all his classmates had to do year 11. This meant that for one year, the only graduates from high school were the small handful in William's situation and they were able to walk into any uni programme they liked. Medicine might have been in the blood, though, as his father was the GP in West Wallsend for about 40 years, his brother, James, was a doctor and two of his sisters were nurses. Marianne worked with James at the Mater hospital in Newcastle for a while. William has a practice in Dungog and they live on a beautiful farm just out of town. We get to visit every time we're returning from Lismore.
We all went to see "Keating - the musical" yesterday and it really is very good. The rest of the audience was the same age as us so perhaps it wouldn't make as much sense to younger generations. See it if you get the chance.

Belated Bluesfest Pics

Ever since I got back from the Bluesfest I've been stupid busy with work and uni. But a couple of times a day I find myself zoning out, imagining I've got a Langos in one hand and a Jim Beam in the other, and I'm just about to navigate my way through the mud to see an awesome blues act.

Here are some pictures I took on the Saturday:


A hastily assembled panorama of the view out towards the Mojo tent.




This picture is like a Where's Wally, but you have to find Rowan instead.




We enjoyed making friends with some of other Bluesfest attendees :)




Amos Lee: too perfect for his own good.




The Soulman. This guy's a Jamaican based in Perth, so Geraldton Roffs should check him out if they get the chance. My recollection (admittedly dulled by time and the Jim Beam I'd consumed on that day) is that he was pretty good.




Ozomatli parade through the audience. Best moment of the fest?

Slayer Gig Via Amanda's Camera Phone

She swears it was awesome. I can't make heads or tails of the video. Maybe if you put your head to the side?

a day in the life of harry

A day in the life of harry appears to be no where near as exciting as K Eight's, but its still pretty decent.
I live in the centre of christchurch in a two bedroom shoe box- by myself- i can cook(im still eating left over rogan josh from two nights ago), and clean, sort of- don't ask marianne's opinion and we will get along fine. The maids dont clean the kitchen, only the bathroom and change my bed sheets- life is very easy.
The location is very good- Joe might no where it is- about one hundred meters from the holiday inn (where the footy players stay when the come to play the crusaders. (the force worked out in the gym i use, i felt very small that day), I am close to Jade stadium where i cheer for any Aussie team that goes there and wins (not the force).
Transportion to and from work is provided with a lancer- not as doof doof as rowans but it does the job, although didnt like the mountains when i took it to queenstown.
Work is going well, i am much happier here as my supervisors leave me to do my job and basically trust me to do it, there is no constant pressure on me but in saying that i have a higher responsibility and have to cop it if make a mistake- fine by me. The year long contract seems to be extending further an further into next year and at times other cities and in one case a small town on the west coast.
As a work function last week we were taken to dirt go-karting. Madness. the cars had a lot of power and no traction- despite all this i managed to win both rounds with fastest laps in both heats aswell. it was an awesome night finished with a bbq and free flowing beer- how could any one complain.
One day i will buy a camera and do a real day in the life of but for now this will have to do.
P.S. if anyone wants flights to nz- talk to me first- i may be able to arrange something

thought for the day

Following the recent massacre at Virginia Tech the Gun Lobby in the U.S. proposed that had there been more guns on campus the extent of the tragedy could have been avoided.

I can't see any holes in that reasoning...

Anniversary antics

Jules and I celebrated 23 years tonight with a counter meal (Fritto Mixto at the Stork Hotel - only Amanda and Annika will understand), an hour lecture on community television with the Centre for Media and Democracy, a show at the Commedy Festival (Best of the Edinburgh Festival - four performers with Eddie Iffe being the pick) and then an ice cream from 7-Eleven on the way home. That's how you get 'em to stick, fellas - just show them a good time. We're going to another event at the festival on Saturday (Keating - The Musical) as guests of our old mates William and Pam Holley who are flying down from Newcastle for the weekend. Dom is away on a school camp for four days so it's a bit quiet around the house with just us and coffee-girl. I hope the trip overseas is worth the effort she's putting in. I'm off to the "All British" motorcycle rally on Friday for one night which I'm looking forward to although I'm riding a BMW. Nobody mention the war...

domestic duties

nick, you are now the owner of a brand new ironing board. well its actually only half an ironing board and it doesn't have full legs, just little stumpy things that you put on a table or bench. none the less if its good enough for the swedes ( i got it from ikea) then it will be good enough for you. happy ironing xx

ps. i blogged!!!

Official Slayer Report

As i am unable to gloat about any recent festival experiences, i hope you will all be jealous that i went to see "Slayer" the world famous metal band at voda phone arena on sunday night. 5000 bogans wearing army pants and slayer shirts accompanied me, and they made the 40 minute line up for beers very entertaining indeed, with their witty comments such as "ahhrrg" and their all too audible mouth breathing. The concert itself closely resembled what i imagine a combat situation would be like, i spent a great deal of time avoiding flying bodies, as i was blinded by huge sweeping lights and deafened by screaming noises and double kick drum. All in all a very interesting excursion. The best songs were "post-mortem", "reign in blood" and the classic "angel of death".
In other music news, i am still working on my tropical tribute album, and have had some top melbourne musicians contributing on vibes, bass xylaphone, congas and theremin. We have downloaded some wave sounds, also some tropical bird and rain noises to get the right atmosphere. In the 40's and 50's when most of the songs we are are covering were originally recorded, they hired guys who specialised in doing bird calls to come into the studio and make weird screeching sounds in the background- totally cool. And then to promote the album they would train large multi coloured parrots to say the name of the album and whistle a few bars, and them place them in tropical theme restaurants and lounge bars around the city. This was back in the golden era ofHollywood though. These days you would be lucky to get a stuffed budgie into JB Hi Fi.

West Coast Blues and Roots

Ok, so i know its a rip-off of the Byron Bay one, but damn the concert was awesome! I ended up working in on of the bars, as a fridge stocker, for the event which meant free entry!! The folks i worked for were really awesome as well, and would let everyone take their breaks whenever there was a band that we wanted to see was on, so that was great! From the bar you could see the stage anyway, and as a fridge stocker you are not all that busy, so most of the time was spent chekcing out bands like The Waifs, Missy Higgens, Bob Evans, JohnButler Trio, John Meyer, Ben Harper, Cat Empire, Ben Kweller, and a stack more! Wolfmother was there, which was poor form i thought becasue a) theyre crap and b) dont really have a place at a "blues and roots" gig i rekon! So were all these bands at the East Coast one? sounds like everyone had a good time!

Other Blues Fest Gossip

Just quietly, Kasey was really good (see Adam's comments below - she is such a sweet girl, and he has so many derogatory comments about her)! She did an A Capella version of "I still cry for baby Jesus" with her dad and base player which was really beautiful. Admittedly I was sucking on my smuggled hip flask through her set, so I think even Normie Rowe would have sounded good...

Other great moments;

Three girls debating whether they should smack Andrew on the arse - I leaned over and said "He loves a smack" - so they gave him a short, sharp whack.

CW Stoneking muttering to the crowd that tuning the guitar is "not one of my skills, so give me 30 seconds"

Ben Harper hushing his band (and the crowd), discarding the mike, and singing a verse of 'power of prayer' to a crowd of 10,000 (the mike picked up enough of the sound for the crowd to hear)

Guest singers - Bernard Fanning on a Kasey song, John Butler on a Ben Harper song, and Jack Johnson on a passionate version of 'Masters of War' with Ben.

Rowan dragging Glenn into the middle of the mosh pit of a cool Reggae band.

Glenn being at the festival.

Taj Mahal proving himself as the most lecherous old blues man around - He likes 'critical mass in the back field', and uses dirty old man voices in his songs.

Ash discovering all of the 'easy access' routes to the fronts of the crowd - "There's one through the portable toilets near the crossroads stage, and there's one near the main stage beer tent. People stay clear of that area to avoid the drunks spilling out of the tent!"

The 'Flogging Molly' lead singer (Loud Punk / Traditional Irish Band) cracking his second Guinness, saying "Ahh, a freshy - this one's for the hangover!"

I'm with Ad. I really enjoyed the camaraderie, and the music was just special. I definitely recommend it to anyone for future years (especially while the Woodlawn ball rolls on!)

Following is a selection of pictures that punters may or may not have seen.

Official Blues Fest Report

So we've just gotten back from the Byron Bay Blues festival. As you can see by the photo's Jake has posted below, it is a festival steeped in culture, with a very communal vibe.

My highlights musically were 'Ozamatli' (which had a kind of spanish hip-hop/blues thing going), the 'Sunshiners' (some polynesian and french guys who played 80's songs reggae style with ukelelees), and 'The Fumes' (an Australian 2 piece blues band with driving steel guitar and a drummer).

Lee Scratch Perry was pretty scarey, what with his loosley cast voodoo and hobo demeanor. Jake was the only one who made it to Kasey Chambers so feel free to mention that to him. And ask him how 'The Fumes' were too. He missed them because I wanted to go for a swim at Woodlawn. Hahhahahha. C.W. Stone King and the Kill Devil Hills are both worth looking up and are sure to tour to your neck of the woods as they live on the road.

My social highlights were getting to knock around with Jake each day and soak in the atmosphere (see the photos again below), hitting the dancefloor at a reggae show with Andrew and Rowan and almost finding spiritual and emotional enlightenment, and sharing a beer with Ash and Keith and Bryce at the end of the night in front of the cricket on the big screen.

Thanks to Leo for pouring me and Jake into the car each night and getting us home, thanks to Glenn and Sue for having us and providing breakfast every day, and thanks to Kelly and Lachie for lending us Jake for a few days.

My only regrets were dragging Andrew away from some gorgeous girls who wanted to chill with him and taking him to Paul Kelly (he got there and said' f%$* Paul Kelly and left after 5 minutes... but by then the other stage was packed and he couldn't reach the girls), dropping the 2000 Shiraz I brought for Glenn in the loading bay at Woodlawn (mopping up wine and glass at 2am was a great way to end a day that featured 8 hours of solo driving on 3 hours sleep, and 12 hours at the festival), and not getting enough time with Lachlan, Kelly, and Glenn and Sue. But all up a great time was had. There is no better place in the world to stay than Woodlawn.

Official Blues Fest Report

Due to the sponsorship of the festival by Jim Beam (and our support of said product), we couldn't remember much about the music. According to the reviews, it was a really special festival. We did however get some shots with the Jim Beam girls.

Adam's cousin Leo got the most attention damn it..

If we remember any of the musical moments, we will report as it comes to us.

Easter Update from Aunty Betty and Uncle Ken

A topical message from the soon to be itinerant Betty and Ken. Check it out at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO9PScabh54

Rated G.
Hoping you all had a happy Easter, as did we.
Brendan

Thank Christ Lent is Over

I'll be able to drink again in a little over an hour. Woo-Hoo.

Do I go to hell for a title like that?

Fun in the rain

Lachlan, checking the weather for Ash, Egg, Rowan and Ad on day two of the blues festival.

Blues gossip

I called Sue Roff last night regarding Adam's request for accommodation at Woodlawn over the Byron Blues and Roots Festival but it was already too late. Sue was dragged from a table where Ash, Andrew, Rowan and two of their friends were already seated and she'd already heard from Adam who was bringing a cousin up from Newcastle for the event. How gracious is Lismore hospitality. Watch this space for reports on the festival...

Results of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey"

Pictured is the winner. He was either sober, or a cheater. I was neither. Mine is second from the right. Far right. But despite that, I highly recommend this game.

Party time for Annika

There were pirates...

Damian made a surprise guest appearance.

Lots of glamour: Annika with Julia's sister, Venita.

The guests were very attentive during the speeches.

Julia tells Annika's life story.

I'ts about 10.30am on Sunday morning. I've just finished compiling the list of stolen items for the insurance company and now all I have to do is complete the police report and go apologise to the neighbours. Approximately 8000 people turned up and the result was as you'd expect. Annika's friends were a mix of her old friends from Emerald and her new mates from her two years at uni, plus the entire cast from "Pirates of the Caribbean". Among older guests were many Keartons including Julia's siblings Robert, Adrian and Venita, Robert's son Matthew and his wife and kids, Adrian's family including his son, Michael and Venita's beautiful daughter, Tahnee. Dave Morley turned up as front door muscle and Semples and Allensons (family friends from Emerald) added to the crush. Julia and I made short speeches and Annika responded not in the traditional manner of thanking her parents but by telling the guests to "get down and boogie!". Dom and Annika had put a play list on a laptop and I'd made the mistake of plugging it in to my old band's 160W PA. I spent most of the night turning it down. The ping-pong table was heavily used, as was the outside fire. Annika organised a game of "Pin the tail on the Donkey" at about 1.30am and had a surprising number of starters. The police arrived around two and those who weren't already asleep left relatively quietly. I'm with you, Ash, when you say "never again" but I guess you only get the chance to do it once. Annika had a brilliant time which, I suppose, was the whole point of the exercise...