Well, water continued to play it's part this week. More rain, more floods, waters up and down. Tamaki drive had a slip, more of state highway three had a slip. Pissed like buggery in Auckland on Tuesday night. Few very heavy showers Wednesday night. Thunder, lightening as well on Tuesday. One person I know had their basement flood Wednesday night, another had water running down the lounge wall. Waters rising in the Waikato all week, Smithy went to Hamilton Wednesday night. Haven't heard how that went yet but traffic was being diverted off the main drag so he may have had a long trip. They had to open floodgates at Taupo on Thursday so it didn't get any better for downstream areas.
We went down to see Gran and Pop in Te Kauwhata on Saturday. Water still over the road in two places on SH1. Streets behind Mercer underwater. Large lakes in numerous places where there used to be fields. After the visit, took the kids down to Huntly, where about 4000 acres were underwater at one stage. From some vantage points it looked like there was a harbour somewhere east of Huntly. We saw some houses that were little islands in the river. Heaps of houses that back onto the river in Huntly had their backyards under water, parts of the cemetary were afloat. We stopped at the visitors centre opposite the power station. We jumped onto a picnic table to see the water, the feet of the table were in the water. Then we went onto the deck at the centre, and we spotted the top of a picnic table that was about four inches below the water level. This really struck the kids, who then realised that there was considerably more water than there should have been. As it was, the level had dropped considerably in the two days since Thursday. Record rainfall for July by the 18th. Demand for garden hoses down heaps.
Me and Gavin were sorely tempted to take kayaks down to Waikato and go paddling. If we had taken them down Saturday I could have kayaked on SH1 but we didn't. In the end I decided we should do it on a more planned basis and instead built a new thing inside our bedroom wardrobe. Now have one full height rail and two half height, with some shelves for shoes in the middle. Took most of Sunday to do, well Sunday afternoon more accurately. Gavin assisted and got some thingies for the shelves from his work for us. Need a few more thingies and then all the shelves will be up. Need to biff some old shoes too. Diana keeps saying I am the male version of Imelda Marcos. I only have about twelve different pairs, which is not excessive I believe. Anyway, key thing is that the high areas are mine so that I am more likely to use them for putting things away.
For Penny mostly: Gran was pretty cheerful, seeing it was her 84th birthday. Was in a better state than I have seen her for a while. Memory even seems to be improving a little which is a good sign. I checked their smoke alarm on a whim and discovered there was no battery in it. Went and got one and checked it. With heaters running all day and Gran smoking it could get nasty without it. Pop has finished turning the carport into a garage, did a pretty good job. He says he has bugger all to do all day other than keep an eye on her. He had gone to Huntly to do the shopping in the morning we went down. He said water was higher than 1958.
With all the water, there was no soccer for THE TEAM on Saturday, hopefully we will get a game in next weekend. Only six games to go for the season. Due to the varsity rec centre being run by morons (or students), although our game was booked for 6:30 on Friday night they closed at 6:00pm. Real customer service success story that was. So game was postponed so stay tuned. Got all the protective gear I needed for it and everything. Official team photo Wednesday night.
Mercury Energy Chief Executive Wayne Gilbert had a heart attack and died in his office on Tuesday. He was the focus of the power collapse in March and they were going to release a report on the matter the next day, "Mercury fucked up big time under Wayne", but delayed it in respect to him and his family. They are using twink and are changing it to "Mercury f**ked up big time under Wayne" to soften the blow. . Some say they finally got power run to his chair, but that has not been confirmed.
Tau Henare, the man with the dirty dog sunnies, Minister of Maori affairs, was removed as Deputy Leader of NZ First on Tuesday (Tuesday was a busy day, believe me). Also on that day, he released a report which said the lot of Maori was getting worse. Six times more teenage pregnancies, and so on. More in prison, more truancy, less sit School C, etc. Compared it all to 1987 and they are certainly worse off. 50% earn less than $28,0000. All they need to do is increase the DPB and that would be fixed. Anyway, moves are afoot for all five NZ First Maori MPs to split and do it themselves. Boring.
Even worse, since his fall from grace, there have been incredible numbers of bad puns. Tau is pronounced "Toe", so we get everything from Tau gets the boot, failing to Tau the party line, stubbed Tau, and so on. Makes news headlines unbearable. AND they keep going on about the five NZ First Maori MPs being the "Tight Five". This may be what they are known as in prison, I don't know. So now we have headlines like "Tight Five are Loose Cannons" and so on. It just gets worse.
We finally sold the Corolla last week, so we no longer have a spare car. Kind of a bummer in a way but good to get it out of our hair. The savings on registration, insurance, etc, will be worthwhile.
New All Black team announced, Mehrtens is out, Joeli is out, Scott McLeod is out (he is a dork anyway). Carlos is in, Jonah is in (that is stupid - he's a waste of space now), Mayerhofler is in. We'll see. I have some doubts. They didn't play this weekend. This coming weekend they play South Africa. They narrowly beat the Wallabies in Perth. This year could be pretty close if you ask me. They say whoever can win away from home will win. That puts SA on the top at the moment. See what happens next weekend.
Given the fact that the Orcas have conceded less goals than Brazil this year and have a better win-loss ratio than the All Blacks, I think I am going to have a crack at coaching a national team. Haven't decided which one yet. Maybe even the Chicago Bulls seeing their coach is retiring.
Huge debate in our household about what we spend our discretionary income on. Diana did a budget thing on Bank Direct and it was willing to lend us $228,000 based on repayments of $2000 per month. Alternatively, it seemed to think we could afford to pay $2600 per month off our mortgage based on our "normal" expenditure. Needless to say, we don't pay that much. It is very hard to strike the balance between consumption now and saving. With all the crap the country is in with a distinct lack of balance between the two, I tend to favour the saving bit (which equates to reducing the mortgage for us). It is just that it is an awfully boring thing to do when it would be so much more exciting to put in a new wood burner or a wardrobe (hang on, did I say exciting? What I really mean is things like a new fibreglass kayak or a true mountain bike or a basketball hoop or a work bench or maybe me trying to paddle the Waikato - this week it would be really quick).
From my random thoughts department:
I glanced at an article on Viagra that was in one of Diana's intellectual magazines. It occurred to me that there are actually a number of reasons why men who need this product are unable to achieve a state required for a fulfilling life. These include blockages in the tubes that supply blood to the spongy tissue, problems with the spongy tissue, low blood pressure, a few mental reasons and then of course, the amount of alcohol in the bloodstream, and so forth. So, on that basis, how come Viagra can fix all that? I think it is crap and we are going to discover it was a big hoax and that all it contains is aspirin or vitamin B1 or something and Berocca's would do the same job. The article included comment from someone who tried it without actually needing it, which seemed utterly pointless. They also interviewed a number of men to see if they would "try" it. Like I said, an intellectual magazine.
Big milestone for Rory this week, he made his own bed. Then he made ours. Diana then pointed out the mistake he made. He guessed immediately and said "I know, I have to make it from now on". Interesting, the novelty of gaining new powers still outweighs the idea that he will have to make his bed for the rest of his life. He'll learn that bit too, soon enough. By the weekend he said he had forgotten his new knowledge.
He was very perky on Wednesday morning, as he seemed to be coming out of the illness. Almost a different kid Wednesday night from what he was earlier in the week.
They saw "The Borrowers" on Wednesday with Liam and Sandy. Liam is in the soccer team and Sandy is his Mum. She is a solo mum, and struggles a bit. She spends $80 a fortnight on food. I reckon I spend that much on Coco Pops per week (I worked out that I eat six of their "standard" servings per serving, which means I can eat a packet a day on my own). She is doing some sort of a course through Massey and finds it tough going. Diana thinks she and Gavin would hit it off. Could be interesting. Told Gavin and it sounds like he has volunteered to take some photos of the team playing a game, if it ever stops raining. Could be interesting. Gavin has a new flatmate so his finances are on a more even keel. Now all he needs is a keel for his kayak and he can stop worrying about falling out (I promise one day to stop going on about that, really I do).
I was in very bad shape on Tuesday, the gym just about killed me and I was a mess the rest of the day. A number of people cheerfully told me I looked like crap during the day. Finally went home and straight to bed. Didn't really feel sick, just very bloody tired. Have been sleeping about nine hours a night lately and am struggling to get to work at a decent time most days. Maybe I have the Tapanui Flu. I Don't really think so, but it is a worry. I still seem to get up at 6:30 on Saturdays, which is really annoying to everyone in the household including me.
On Friday I just about when mad and shot every courier in Auckland. After waiting all bloody afternoon for one to arrive on Thursday and eating breakfast in the office on Friday so I could get what I needed, then I get back after going to an appointment and discover that I have missed the bastard by six minutes. Oh, but that is not enough. To rub salt into the wound, I ring to tell them I am here, and am second in the queue. Then next in the queue. Then I get cut off. I redial and am second in the queue. Then I get cut off. Don't even get to next this time. Redial and am third in the queue. Then I get cut off. I ring the customer who is waiting for one of the packages and find out they can live without it today even though when they rang this morning they made it sound like their life was about to end. Then I ring again, am fifth in the queue. Then I hang up and find Courier Post's main number and call that and try very hard not to sound shitty, annoyed, pissed off, homicidal. I have been asking the courier to get the people across the hall to sign for stuff and they never bloody listen.
Kids are growing fast. Like about half an inch in two weeks. I measured them. Anyone who is interested, I think Action Man accessories may be the order of the day for Rory's birthday. I gave him one with all the moving bits the other day to gauge whether it would be played with more than the stupid one he has (with stiff arms and hardly any joints). Seems to be hot property. Got the gyro copter outfit with his pocket money the other day. Let me know if you have any queries.
He is having a D party for his birthday, wants to go as Dracula, I think all the kids will. He wants a soccer ball cake. Hannah wants a cake with Barbie and some flowers and a little baby and a tea set and ...... you get the idea. Saw a picture of a Roswell-like photo of someone operating on a teletubby - excellent!
See you all later, by next Monday you might have finished this.
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