Boooooooooooom Boooooooooooom. It was an explosion that had changed all of our lifes forever. Life is never appreciated to its fully capacity. We would now appreciate the value of life as we had seen life been taken in front of us.
4 hours previously
The morning began not so differently from many of the others in that we had a little bit of breakfast and discussed what we all wanted to do for the day. Tom decided that the Harbour was worth a visit. We made our way down towards it. It was shockingly unimpressive to say the slightest. Industry was located along the harbour but that was the only positive to be taken from the trip down by the harbour. A brief stop at the Chinese gardens was had. It was reasonably attractive but we decided not to go in as it was starting to rain. Before we left Mike’s camera sustained a little damage. Could his day get any worse? The answer was yes!!!!!
Hunger was beginning to strike so we all wanted something soon. We ran to avoid the rain into the Black Dog restraint/café. Pancakes were on the menu which meant I had to order them. They were delicious as per usual. Banana and bacon is a great combination. We were walking through the Octagon when I noticed a large chess board. It was cool and another good photo opportunity that I couldn’t resist. I headed over to defeat the queen. This was a fun place.
All of a sudden in the midst of my fun I heard Boooooooooooom Boooooooooooom. I looked around to see had one of the guys been taken out in a minor explosion. Unfortunately what I witnessed was much more heartbreaking than that. Mike’s ball had been knocked down and rolled over by a giant Dunedin city bus. It lay lifeless on the side of the street. Tom had his hands covering his face in shock and Mike stood lifeless like a street sign. Gary had kicked the ball onto the road. We decided not to blame Gary as we knew what he was feeling would be punishment enough. As I recovered the body we reflected on what this ball had done.
This ball had achieved more than many only dream about. It had soared some of the highest and most beautiful peaks in the world- Sugar loaf, Christ Redeemer, Mount Victoria. It had seen many of God’s beautiful natural creations like the Iguaza falls, Thunder Creek, Rotorua’s Hot springs and Franz Josef Glacier but to name a few. It had visited some amazing countries like Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and New Zealand. It had dined in some of the finest restaurants the world has to offer. It had watched as we attempted some of the craziest things a man can do- Skydive, Sky Jump, cave tubing. It had met some amazing people along the way.
As we looked at the deflated corpse we could only think that part of us was left deflated forever. We knew we couldn’t repair it so we were forced to accept the inevitable, that nothing lasts forever. This ball definitely had lived a full life. The ball would not be forgotten.
The rest of the day was passed with a visit to the Otago Museum. It was hard to enjoy the museum fully given the day that we had been through. The museum was good with some cool exhibits like the satellites that allowed you to be heard from 25 metres away when you whispered. Gary met up with a football agent in the museum and learned a bit more about the industry. The agent was a great friend of Terry Phelan’s ex Ireland international. In the evening we went to see a movie called “Traitor”. We all taught it was a good film with lots of great acting.
RIP Mike’s ball,
Conor
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