Well, it could have in two respects.
No real sport on the weekend, the Orcas game was cancelled yet again, and the opening day was also cancelled. Major bummer as the weather was pretty good all weekend but the fields were too wet. I think we are all getting a stir-crazy with not being able to play our soccer. Only about five games left in the season now. All the kids were disappointed that we didn't get to have the re-match against the Tigers, including some of the Tigers.
Couldn't make it to Paul's game either, they had a draw against Dilworth.
However, in sport that does make it onto the telly and the radio, it was all on.
After a fizzle when Auckland was supposed to "black out" on Friday and hardly anyone showed up, the Saturday night was the big game. Most people in the crowd wore black. A few brave people wore Australian colours and were pelted whenever the AB's scored. The new advertising was used, where they lay in a picture with an ad over the live telecast. A cameraman walked in front of a sign that somehow stayed in front of him at one point. Anyway, the AB's dominated posession for the first half and were up virtually the whole game. The Australians did get a couple of tries towards the end, but didn't get very close. Final score was 34-15, I think. Happy day. Made up for lack of soccer in the morning, would have cried if we had lost.
Then over Saturday night, the Black Caps batted and the took four wickets to have the poms in a reasonably precairous position, with 6 wickets in hand and needing about 60 to make us bat again. Woke up this morning to hear we had won the test at Lords by 9 wickets. First time we have won at Lords out of 13 tests there and only the 3rd or 4th time we have won in England.
Sunday morning, lay in bed to watch the first half of the opening Confederation Cup game between All Whites and USA. We lost, but 2-1 was a pretty healthy score when playing a team ranked 80 places above us. Awesome final minute free kick by Chris Zorosich. We gave them two pretty soft goals, but Utting, our keeper, did some pretty good saves. Very happy with that result. Brazil beat Germany 4-0. We play them in our other two games, we don't have a hope of winning either of them, but at least they are playing real teams and getting experience.
The NZ Badminton team is leading 2-0 for the first time in 30 years in a three match series in Australia.
The Warriors came back from behind to beat the Rabbitohs, rather than going backwards from in front.
In other rugby yesterday, New Zealand A then beat the Australian Barbarians yesterday, and the NZ Universities beat Australian Universities.
So, probably the best weekends results we have had for some time.
Sooooo sick of Kennedy thing. No other news for days as a result. Nearly as bad as documentaries about ex-Spice Girls. Very sad that we stoop this low. At least they found them, burned them, and sent them back. Why bother finding them in the first place? You have to wonder.
Mike Moore will be WTO head honcho for three years, before other guy has three years. About bloody time. No time for a by-election for his electorate before the election, Helen Clark scoffed about that the other night. I can't stand these people, I really can't.
Big day on Wednesday. Lightening hit the Sky Tower 16 times, knocked out IHUG (internet company) transmitter, they are screwed on that front, week after owners were new entrant in Rich List.
Also on Wednesday, that well known local Christchurch lad, Geraldo Cruz, was rescued by Russian security forces, after being held hostage for two months by Chechen rebels.
An Otara person wants to turn the area into a tourist area. This is fair dinkum. Reckons it would give people a bit of colour and experience. I think it would work like a wild game park where tourists drive through a controlled area with chicken wire over the windows and are advised not to stop moving or roll down their windows.
Fallout over the WINZ $165,000 chartered flight for a conference continued during the week, I thought it was less than that. These guys are out of control. They have $12 ballpoint pens, etc, while they are trying to get people off the community wage (dole) and other benefits. There are other scary numbers as well, cost of new logo, advertising campaign, and so forth. Wankers.
Three men were charged with car-jacking a guy with cerebral palsy and who was also partially deaf, after he picked them up as hitch hikers.
Also, a tetraplegic was left on a floor for hours in a cell because prison staff could not care for him after he was arrested for growing marijuana. He could not shower or use the toilet for days. Strikes me as a bit of a sympathy thing. I wonder how much he was growing. If he is let off, then cripples will be able to get out there and produce the stuff in quantity.
A farmer who featured on many of the tv news articles about the flooding near Pokeno a year ago was found dead in a cowshed a few days ago and was buried yesterday. Again, not sure why it is news, but I suppose TV One felt it was important. And here I am repeating it, whoops.
The wall outside a gang headquarters was knocked down using new powers the police have to stop that sort of thing.
Caught sod all news over the weekend. Main fuss over spending by WINZ continues with figures suggesting the conference at Wairaki cost the taxpayer more than a quarter of a million dollars. Now, just about everything they do is coming under scrutiny, plus other conferences for other departments.
Gavin is now living his double-life, three days in Whangarei and four days in Auckland. It is kind of weird, but I guess we will get used to it. Means I get to use his IHUG account when he isn't in Auckland. Saw him briefly on Wednesday night on his way northward again.
On Thursday, Jeff Wilson and Josh Kronfeld went to Englefield (where Ross and Tania work). Ross managed to get Jeff to sign the thigh of "little Jeff" (the action man I gave Thomas). Jeff Wilson does not think they are very good and wishes that he had the biceps of the little Jeff. Now Thomas isn't allowed to play with it. Doh!
Picked Mum up from the airport on Friday night, eventually. A 3:00pm landing became a 6:20, then and 8:20. Met up with the family at Stanley Tools, and went down to the airport. Worst of all, Diana forgot my change of clothes so I had to hang around the airport dressed like a pillock in my suit. Looked like a real dork when I was on the snowboarding simulator in the arcade, I suspect.
Saw Thomas on Saturday night, where he proved that the rumour about crawling is more than rumour. He was pretty happy. Mum saw him. We only seem to be able to visit Thomas just before one of the kids breaks out in a communicable disease.
Oh, that reminds me, speaking of Mum
JOHN - YOU MUST READ THIS BIT - IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Mum said on Saturday that she thinks maybe she has enough jewellery now. Thought you should know. Obviously she is evolving as a person. Sadly, no clues as to what she wants for gifts in future. I'm thinking perhaps power tools? I tried, but could not get the admission in writing. Diana was in the car at the time, so there is a witness.
Now, what do I have to do to get Diana to reach this same conclusion? Probably buy lots more jewellery I suppose. Should Diana ever say anything about not wanting more jewellery to anyone who reads this, you have to tell me.
Hannah dazzled a mostly disinterested gallery at the swimming pool by doing a whole 25 metres with breathing and everything on Tuesday. After Rory's experience at the school races a while back we could have another solo swimmer on our hands. Her head swelled about four hat sizes as a result of the praise received.
Got my butt whipped at squash on Wednesday, had a game against Harry Hanham's Dad, Craig. Scored about 14 points in I think about 9 games. Hmmm. Good exercise though, walking from one side of the court to the other to receive the serves. My head shrank a similar percentage to Hannah.
Weather prevented training for the Orcas on Thursday,
Build up for Rory's birthday continues, with next weekend being the one. Real thing on Saturday, then party at the rocknasium on Sunday (wall-climbing thing). He actually went to school all last week, bit of a shock for him, really.
Went up to the land on Saturday (Mum and Johns retirement patch). Pond is more like a small lake, is man-made, wasn't there last time we visited, neither was the driveway. Caravan had a flat tyre, so we couldn't do sod all with it. Some bird life seems to have become attached to the little island in the middle, Mum is quite keen to have a family of ducks or something. It is a pretty nice spot.
After the excitement of the swimming earlier in the week, Hannah woke up yesterday with Chicken Pox, and is pretty miserable with it, has it worse than Rory did. Poor little bugger. Watched Grease and Anastasia most of yesterday. I had to take Rory to school this morning, and as George Hanham has them as well, picked up Harry too.
Managed to go on a couple of bike rides with the boy over the weekend, took him and Jared to the school yesterday. They disappeared while I was talking to Richard Stewart, and I found them on the roof of a storage shed. Little buggers.
Anyway, better go do some actualy work I suppose. Don't mind that it is monday, with all the good news. Just hope we get a game this weekend.....
19 July 1999
Well, nobody died this week, thankfully - 19/07/99
Well the funeral went down without any hiccups. I stood up and said a few shaky words. One piece of advice I give you all, free of charge, live a life that means they won't have to lie about you at your funeral. Not saying that anyone did, but some of the eulogies on the web I saw made pretty fictional reading. Thanks to those of you who offered your condolences. Logic is such a weird emotion. Even though you know it is a good thing, doesn't always feel okay. All done now, though.
Saw Penny off at the airport on Tuesday, after having lunch at Prego. I actually had a glass of wine! Wow. That would bring me up to nearly 15 drinks this year. Will have to drink that port on New Years Eve, it is a 1978 that I have been saving for about ten years, this means I can't completely go on the wagon yet.
Forgot to mention a while back that news came through that the Buzzy Bee wasn't actually an NZ invention. The widow of the guy that made them pointed out that he never said he invented it. He saw one brought in from the states and copied it. May still be an icon, but not really ours. The day of the lamb tariff announcement the US Ambassador opened his press conference with comments about a pre-emptive statement of impending litigation about the claims to the buzzy bee, which was kind of funny. He better not give up his day job.
Also, keep forgetting about a weird case down in the south island. Someone was cutting power pylons and taking pot-shots at a helicopter that was inspecting the lines. There was a risk that one would fall over if too many cuts were made. They arrested someone, think they were a disgruntled employee.
The Ben & Olivia trial continues monotonously. With something like 500 witnesses, we are already bored and the jury must be getting danger money by now. By now, there seems little doubt that the accused, Scott Watson, is a complete creep. He was drunk the night they disappeared, and either goosed, approached, insulted, or attempted one of Arnold Rimmer's never fail, guaranteed to get you in the sack, pick-up lines (example, Would you like a worm-do?) on every eligible, non-eligible, attractive, ugly, battleship mechanic, librarian, or super model, female (or could be mistaken for female) in the general area. Three women that were there were not approached, but they had been dead for years. A fourth dead woman was approached but she arose, and then turned him down, too.
However, being a complete jerk, creep, etc, does not make one a murderer. With the small number of conflicting stories from some people there must be sufficient doubt. All it would need is one other person who was in on it to provide some non-corroborating evidence and the whole thing will be a waste of time.
Allocations of money from Hillary Commission and Sports Foundation were announced this week, as were advertising budgets for political parties. Seems silly to give rugby any money when Adidas are giving them $90 million or so. Other more self-sustaining sports got money that don't seem to need it, like cricket and netball. Other sports that need help missed out. Soccer didn't do well. In the party thing, it seems we will have to stomach about an hour of free crap on telly from political parties. Shame it isn't all at once at 3am opposite an R18 movie.
News from Christchurch Health that a machine for cleaning a thing for looking through veins (forget the name of it) was not working and about 1200 people have a risk of being infected with HIV, tuberculosis, or hepatitis. Nice one.
Was a fatality on Grafton road Saturday before last that was interesting. Car hit a truck at the bit where they go up onto the motorway. Peter Smith (my business partner) saw it on the way to a client, well just afterward. Doug Lewis, the Canadian Fireman, was there trying to cut this guy out of his car. His last words were "I tried to beat the truck". Another Darwin award entry. Another free piece of advice, don't try to beat the truck.
It was revealed over the weekend that Temuera Morrison, who played Jake the Muss in Once Were Warriors, admitted guilt in a punch up with a teenager in a late night bit of argy bargy. A group of teenagers set fire to a real estate sign outside his house and he smashed this persons head into a fence. Not quite sure who is at fault, but I am fairly sure setting fire to stuff that isn't yours is a bad thing.
NZ First had their conference this weekend. Hmmm. All their voters attended.
Work and Income NZ (WINZ, formerly sort of dept of labour I suppose) had a scrap when an employee hired a jet for $65000 to take staff to a conference. Now it is revealed their latest ads are costing $1.3 million. Personally, I don't think any government department should advertise without approval from very high up.
Tommi Makinen won the rally of NZ, and two more finns came second and third. Possum Bourne came fifth, which was a pretty good showing for someone not in a works team.
Classic scene near Mt Eden prison I saw on Thursday. Three hoods hanging around on the street opposite, one on a cellphone. Lady at the place I was at (Paterson Trading, do taps) called the police. Turned out the car was the wrong colour for the number plate. Then, two raced across the road, over the fence, across the railway lines. Then one started throwing large 2 litre bottles over the wall. One got caught on the barbed wire and was leaking but they biffed it again anyway. Then they took off. Copcar arrived shortly afterward, then the police helicopter Eagle. No idea what was in the bottles, but probably some sort of booze I think.
Cops chased a suspected drunken driver onto the Cook St off ramp, killed himself reasonably quickly. Later on Saturday police announced they are looking at this as a new method for keeping jail numbers down. Sunday morning, some brilliant Massey man managed to run himself over. Car stopped, got out to look under the bonnet, was thinking to himself "did I put the handbrake on?". Last thing that went through his mind was the diff.
Samoan Minister of Works or something was assasinated in Samoa yesterday. Shot through the heart, the PM was there. Guarantee there was some fraud going on behind the scenes, having seen a lot of that sort of thing in Fiji, Tonga, and Tuvalu. The search for JFK junior's plane hit our 6pm news last night. Already knew about it from the web, my homepage has top ten news stories.
Watched the last couple of holes in the British Golf Open just now, with the Scot Paul (?) Lawrie winning. Jean Van Der Velde blew it big time, needed to get no worse than 2 over on the last hole to win and managed 3 over. Three-way playoff for the title. Local lad was very popular. Kept his cool despite having scratched a spot on his forehead and needing a towel to mop up the blood as he walked down the fairway of the 18th. Only interviewed from the other side.
Manchester United played Australia twice during the week. They beat them 2-0 and 1-0. Saw highlights of the first match and it looked reasonably relaxed. Watched Paul Chambers team play on Saturday, they went down to Rangitoto (Diana's old school) 3-0, all the goals were scored in about four minutes halfway through the first half. The NZ team lost 1-0 to Egypt, last game before the confederation cup that kicks off in about a week.
The Warriors lost to the co-leaders, the Sharks, by two points. The Roosters had a bye, the Warriors preferred method of getting two points. The Warriors Chief Executive has applied for the Warriors to have 20 byes next season.
Rory came down with Chicken pox on Monday night, so couldn't attend the funeral, and stayed off school all week. No sign of it on Hannah yet, but won't know for sure until the end of the week. He is back to school today.
Absolutely shocking night on Thursday, rained heaps, traffic Friday sucked. Ruined chances for soccer on Saturday. It was the big game, the Orcas against the Tigers, the only team that beat us last year. We had practice without Rory which seemed really weird. Glad we didn't have to play without him.
Saturday night was farewell party for Canadians. They said a few words. First time I ever saw Jan say less than Doug (common thing with most couples, from my experience). Missed half the rugby because of it, but wasn't a great loss (although it was for the Springboks who were handed their second worst loss, after last weeks. Now three in a row for them, having lost to Wales, NZ, and Australia (by more than England lost by), they must be about fifth in the world by now).
Soccer festivities for yesterday were also postponed to next Sunday. In the morning, went for a bike ride with Rory delivering birthday invitations, then we went to Allan & Jackie's and went for a walk around Titirangi through some old haunts of mine. Just managed to get outside on the rare occasions when it wasn't raining. Weather will need to improve considerably for any of the soccer to happen this weekend.
No missive could be complete without the big news of the weekend, Thomas crawled on Saturday!! Not in reverse this time, but forward. Obviously the gearbox is developing, and now Ross and Kath have higher gears to look forward to.
Hope everyone is happy
Saw Penny off at the airport on Tuesday, after having lunch at Prego. I actually had a glass of wine! Wow. That would bring me up to nearly 15 drinks this year. Will have to drink that port on New Years Eve, it is a 1978 that I have been saving for about ten years, this means I can't completely go on the wagon yet.
Forgot to mention a while back that news came through that the Buzzy Bee wasn't actually an NZ invention. The widow of the guy that made them pointed out that he never said he invented it. He saw one brought in from the states and copied it. May still be an icon, but not really ours. The day of the lamb tariff announcement the US Ambassador opened his press conference with comments about a pre-emptive statement of impending litigation about the claims to the buzzy bee, which was kind of funny. He better not give up his day job.
Also, keep forgetting about a weird case down in the south island. Someone was cutting power pylons and taking pot-shots at a helicopter that was inspecting the lines. There was a risk that one would fall over if too many cuts were made. They arrested someone, think they were a disgruntled employee.
The Ben & Olivia trial continues monotonously. With something like 500 witnesses, we are already bored and the jury must be getting danger money by now. By now, there seems little doubt that the accused, Scott Watson, is a complete creep. He was drunk the night they disappeared, and either goosed, approached, insulted, or attempted one of Arnold Rimmer's never fail, guaranteed to get you in the sack, pick-up lines (example, Would you like a worm-do?) on every eligible, non-eligible, attractive, ugly, battleship mechanic, librarian, or super model, female (or could be mistaken for female) in the general area. Three women that were there were not approached, but they had been dead for years. A fourth dead woman was approached but she arose, and then turned him down, too.
However, being a complete jerk, creep, etc, does not make one a murderer. With the small number of conflicting stories from some people there must be sufficient doubt. All it would need is one other person who was in on it to provide some non-corroborating evidence and the whole thing will be a waste of time.
Allocations of money from Hillary Commission and Sports Foundation were announced this week, as were advertising budgets for political parties. Seems silly to give rugby any money when Adidas are giving them $90 million or so. Other more self-sustaining sports got money that don't seem to need it, like cricket and netball. Other sports that need help missed out. Soccer didn't do well. In the party thing, it seems we will have to stomach about an hour of free crap on telly from political parties. Shame it isn't all at once at 3am opposite an R18 movie.
News from Christchurch Health that a machine for cleaning a thing for looking through veins (forget the name of it) was not working and about 1200 people have a risk of being infected with HIV, tuberculosis, or hepatitis. Nice one.
Was a fatality on Grafton road Saturday before last that was interesting. Car hit a truck at the bit where they go up onto the motorway. Peter Smith (my business partner) saw it on the way to a client, well just afterward. Doug Lewis, the Canadian Fireman, was there trying to cut this guy out of his car. His last words were "I tried to beat the truck". Another Darwin award entry. Another free piece of advice, don't try to beat the truck.
It was revealed over the weekend that Temuera Morrison, who played Jake the Muss in Once Were Warriors, admitted guilt in a punch up with a teenager in a late night bit of argy bargy. A group of teenagers set fire to a real estate sign outside his house and he smashed this persons head into a fence. Not quite sure who is at fault, but I am fairly sure setting fire to stuff that isn't yours is a bad thing.
NZ First had their conference this weekend. Hmmm. All their voters attended.
Work and Income NZ (WINZ, formerly sort of dept of labour I suppose) had a scrap when an employee hired a jet for $65000 to take staff to a conference. Now it is revealed their latest ads are costing $1.3 million. Personally, I don't think any government department should advertise without approval from very high up.
Tommi Makinen won the rally of NZ, and two more finns came second and third. Possum Bourne came fifth, which was a pretty good showing for someone not in a works team.
Classic scene near Mt Eden prison I saw on Thursday. Three hoods hanging around on the street opposite, one on a cellphone. Lady at the place I was at (Paterson Trading, do taps) called the police. Turned out the car was the wrong colour for the number plate. Then, two raced across the road, over the fence, across the railway lines. Then one started throwing large 2 litre bottles over the wall. One got caught on the barbed wire and was leaking but they biffed it again anyway. Then they took off. Copcar arrived shortly afterward, then the police helicopter Eagle. No idea what was in the bottles, but probably some sort of booze I think.
Cops chased a suspected drunken driver onto the Cook St off ramp, killed himself reasonably quickly. Later on Saturday police announced they are looking at this as a new method for keeping jail numbers down. Sunday morning, some brilliant Massey man managed to run himself over. Car stopped, got out to look under the bonnet, was thinking to himself "did I put the handbrake on?". Last thing that went through his mind was the diff.
Samoan Minister of Works or something was assasinated in Samoa yesterday. Shot through the heart, the PM was there. Guarantee there was some fraud going on behind the scenes, having seen a lot of that sort of thing in Fiji, Tonga, and Tuvalu. The search for JFK junior's plane hit our 6pm news last night. Already knew about it from the web, my homepage has top ten news stories.
Watched the last couple of holes in the British Golf Open just now, with the Scot Paul (?) Lawrie winning. Jean Van Der Velde blew it big time, needed to get no worse than 2 over on the last hole to win and managed 3 over. Three-way playoff for the title. Local lad was very popular. Kept his cool despite having scratched a spot on his forehead and needing a towel to mop up the blood as he walked down the fairway of the 18th. Only interviewed from the other side.
Manchester United played Australia twice during the week. They beat them 2-0 and 1-0. Saw highlights of the first match and it looked reasonably relaxed. Watched Paul Chambers team play on Saturday, they went down to Rangitoto (Diana's old school) 3-0, all the goals were scored in about four minutes halfway through the first half. The NZ team lost 1-0 to Egypt, last game before the confederation cup that kicks off in about a week.
The Warriors lost to the co-leaders, the Sharks, by two points. The Roosters had a bye, the Warriors preferred method of getting two points. The Warriors Chief Executive has applied for the Warriors to have 20 byes next season.
Rory came down with Chicken pox on Monday night, so couldn't attend the funeral, and stayed off school all week. No sign of it on Hannah yet, but won't know for sure until the end of the week. He is back to school today.
Absolutely shocking night on Thursday, rained heaps, traffic Friday sucked. Ruined chances for soccer on Saturday. It was the big game, the Orcas against the Tigers, the only team that beat us last year. We had practice without Rory which seemed really weird. Glad we didn't have to play without him.
Saturday night was farewell party for Canadians. They said a few words. First time I ever saw Jan say less than Doug (common thing with most couples, from my experience). Missed half the rugby because of it, but wasn't a great loss (although it was for the Springboks who were handed their second worst loss, after last weeks. Now three in a row for them, having lost to Wales, NZ, and Australia (by more than England lost by), they must be about fifth in the world by now).
Soccer festivities for yesterday were also postponed to next Sunday. In the morning, went for a bike ride with Rory delivering birthday invitations, then we went to Allan & Jackie's and went for a walk around Titirangi through some old haunts of mine. Just managed to get outside on the rare occasions when it wasn't raining. Weather will need to improve considerably for any of the soccer to happen this weekend.
No missive could be complete without the big news of the weekend, Thomas crawled on Saturday!! Not in reverse this time, but forward. Obviously the gearbox is developing, and now Ross and Kath have higher gears to look forward to.
Hope everyone is happy
12 July 1999
The agony and the ecstasy - 12/07/99
Or should that be "the pain and the morphine"
Well, no doubt about it, certainly a week of ups and downs.
Caught sod all in the way of news. Mostly crap as usual.
Missed the meteorite that came down over NZ on Wednesday, although Jan and Doug heard it from Ruapehu. Searching for the remains increased after stories were broadcast about it being worth thousands.
The US whacked up a 9% tariff on our lamb exports to them, as well as Australian exports. Not many people happy about that. All this mucking around with APEC and supposed "free trade" and they "yank" the carpet out from under it all. Lots of talking heads about we will do something. Major reaction to this, the road between Clinton and Gore (two actual places near each other) in Southland was going to be renamed presidential highway or something (after the Pres. and vice Pres.) but after the tariff, they are planning on changing that. Current options are:
* nazi scumbag road
* complete bloody liar and hypocrite street
and my personal favourite
* Gore Clinton! (please)
There was a report released about the use of "percussive therapy" on premature babies at National Women's. Video of what was apparently some of the gentler sessions showed what looked like some grown-up beating the living snot out of a what was little more than a foetus. The theory was that "tapping" the chest of newborns stimulated the lungs (while breaking a few ribs). These poor little buggers had eye coverings, and their arms would wave about violently. Some babies died and many others suffered brain damage, which is hardly surprising. It is done in other places around the world but usually by a qualified physio, not the tea lady or a pro-wrestler.
National Party conference went down over the weekend. Yawn. A tax cut promised next year of 1%. Of course the opposing talking heads all hate it. Do you think one day they will get the idea that the opposition always say the opposite of the government.
Massive build up all week with the big test against the Springboks at Carisbrook. We won, although it didn't feel like it was convincingly, the score was 28-0. Was 6-0 at half time. The 'boks only had two real opportunities for a try, and Don (my step-uncle) felt that one of them was a try that got disallowed. I thought it was definitely a knock-on, but anyway it is history now. Wilson and Cullen did well in their new roles. If they had lost, they were going to be knackered for the season. They had to beat a weakened SAF side at home, or they were not going to win anything.
Australia at Eden Park in two weeks time is the next one.
The NZ A team went down to the Australian Barbarians, and lost, about 25-15 or thereabouts. Didn't see it, didn't care too much. I think I am worried about the Australian team in a fortnight.
Brisbane downed the Warriors. Not a real shock, let's be honest. Absolutely no chance now of making anything other than perhaps supplying cheerleaders for the half-time entertainment at the Grand Final.
Koos missed the women's final due to rain coming down at Wimbledon.
The NZ cricketers lost to an up-beat Sri Lanka "A". They are playing a boring game against a county side, suppose the next test is this weekend. Dion Nash got in excess of a ton then 7 wickets, then high scored in the second innings with 62, without him we would have lost that game already.
Okay, enough with the up and down theme.
The Orcas weren't able to practice due to wet fields, but we played on Saturday beat the Moreporks 3-1 in a bloody good game. They are really starting to string some plays together, and Thomas completed an excellent run up the wing and centred it for Joseph to pop the ball into the goal, earning Thomas a well-deserved POD. Rory played well, as did most of the boys. Awesome passing and calling and everything. I really enjoy the soccer, and now we are more than half way through the season. I was pretty happy all day Saturday after that.We have two games this weekend, second is for the opening of the new clubhouse on Seddon Field.
Penny, my half sister Sarah, and Scott (her boyfriend) watched the game,which was good.
I lost my watch at the game, so had to go replace it later in the day. Got a G Shock. Really tried very hard to find a cheaper substitute (remember, Diana reads this now). It is big, but that kind of suits me.
I visited my grandfather on Wednesday, he wasn't getting a lot better. My father was there, he did his best for him, more than I expected I have to admit, my Uncle was useless - came to the room but couldn't go in. He was up to the eyeballs with morphine (not my father, Pop). He gave me heaps about my tie (a Southpark one). Definitely downhill from the week before, where we could have a reasonable conversation.
Penny (my sister) arrived on Thursday, to see Pop (my grandfather) before it was too late. In some ways it was. He knew she was there, she stayed the night at his house (he was in the care centre, down the hill). We all went down again on Saturday, with Diana and the kids. Wasn't sure about taking the kids, but it was a good thing to do. They could see that he was pretty sick. Hannah told him how Gran is a star and he will be next to her (this theory came from DragonHeart, an excellent movie). She and Rory then sang "twinkle, twinkle little star" to him (I asked her to sing a song, thought it would be the dreaded "happy, happy, etc" song). There were a few tears. I told him I tried to smuggle a brick in but they frisked me at the gate. I really didn't want him to be stuck in a coma-like limbo for long, and was seriously considering what I could do if he lasted until next weekend. Luckily, the need didn't arise. The kids just told him the sort of stuff they normally do. He will probably never know who jar-jar binks is, but what the heck.
He died the next morning, which was for the best really, but still made Sunday a sad day. About half an hour before we got the news, I said to Penny that it was a brisk cold day like today that Gran died. As Worf says on Star Trek, "Today is a good day to die". We were all together (Us and Penny) when we got the news, while we were on our way to Thomas' house. The memorial service is tomorrow. At least I don't have to worry about wondering if I should go visit him like I have virtually every day for the last fortnight or so. I really hope that some moves are made in the area of euthanasia before I get to that sort of age. It is good that Penny gets to finish the job, while she is here, and it is also good she came back. Couldn't really sleep last night. Weird, I know it had to happen and there was no other way out, but it is going to take a while to sink in and get used to. It isn't supposed to be like losing a parent, but it is such an end of an era that I think I may need a while to get used to it.
Charles, saw a number plate that just said "GLINKS" I figure it must belong to a relative of yours.
I gave Thomas his first Action Man yesterday, Jeff Wilson, who has scored more tries now than any other All Black.
We all wandered down to the Takapuna fleamarket (saw Cath & Don there) then had coffee by the lake. I ran into my old PC World editor and had a chat with him. Then we went off to meet with Philly, Terry, and Jacob at the Domain. Bumped into Jan with Ben and Max, plus Kate and her three (Chris S - don't remember her last name, as in formerly known as John & Kate). We saw Tania and Steve on the Friday night at the Goodins (kind of a ritual when Penny is here). Saw a picture of Ross, Barry, and their other handsome brother the other night. He later starred in many Planet of the Apes movies.
Rory was pretty happy with Penny, she gave him a Lego Anakin Pod Racer. I had to build another pod racer out of Lego and he tried to build a track. Hannah scored some more clothes, and now nearly has a complete leopard skin ensemble. Chloe from wherever will probably be jealous. Kids were a bit pissed off this morning, they went out to see Penny and she wasn't there (she was at Dad's).
Anyway, hope everyone has a good week. Bask in the joy of a good All Black win. Think of us tomorrow.
Well, no doubt about it, certainly a week of ups and downs.
Caught sod all in the way of news. Mostly crap as usual.
Missed the meteorite that came down over NZ on Wednesday, although Jan and Doug heard it from Ruapehu. Searching for the remains increased after stories were broadcast about it being worth thousands.
The US whacked up a 9% tariff on our lamb exports to them, as well as Australian exports. Not many people happy about that. All this mucking around with APEC and supposed "free trade" and they "yank" the carpet out from under it all. Lots of talking heads about we will do something. Major reaction to this, the road between Clinton and Gore (two actual places near each other) in Southland was going to be renamed presidential highway or something (after the Pres. and vice Pres.) but after the tariff, they are planning on changing that. Current options are:
* nazi scumbag road
* complete bloody liar and hypocrite street
and my personal favourite
* Gore Clinton! (please)
There was a report released about the use of "percussive therapy" on premature babies at National Women's. Video of what was apparently some of the gentler sessions showed what looked like some grown-up beating the living snot out of a what was little more than a foetus. The theory was that "tapping" the chest of newborns stimulated the lungs (while breaking a few ribs). These poor little buggers had eye coverings, and their arms would wave about violently. Some babies died and many others suffered brain damage, which is hardly surprising. It is done in other places around the world but usually by a qualified physio, not the tea lady or a pro-wrestler.
National Party conference went down over the weekend. Yawn. A tax cut promised next year of 1%. Of course the opposing talking heads all hate it. Do you think one day they will get the idea that the opposition always say the opposite of the government.
Massive build up all week with the big test against the Springboks at Carisbrook. We won, although it didn't feel like it was convincingly, the score was 28-0. Was 6-0 at half time. The 'boks only had two real opportunities for a try, and Don (my step-uncle) felt that one of them was a try that got disallowed. I thought it was definitely a knock-on, but anyway it is history now. Wilson and Cullen did well in their new roles. If they had lost, they were going to be knackered for the season. They had to beat a weakened SAF side at home, or they were not going to win anything.
Australia at Eden Park in two weeks time is the next one.
The NZ A team went down to the Australian Barbarians, and lost, about 25-15 or thereabouts. Didn't see it, didn't care too much. I think I am worried about the Australian team in a fortnight.
Brisbane downed the Warriors. Not a real shock, let's be honest. Absolutely no chance now of making anything other than perhaps supplying cheerleaders for the half-time entertainment at the Grand Final.
Koos missed the women's final due to rain coming down at Wimbledon.
The NZ cricketers lost to an up-beat Sri Lanka "A". They are playing a boring game against a county side, suppose the next test is this weekend. Dion Nash got in excess of a ton then 7 wickets, then high scored in the second innings with 62, without him we would have lost that game already.
Okay, enough with the up and down theme.
The Orcas weren't able to practice due to wet fields, but we played on Saturday beat the Moreporks 3-1 in a bloody good game. They are really starting to string some plays together, and Thomas completed an excellent run up the wing and centred it for Joseph to pop the ball into the goal, earning Thomas a well-deserved POD. Rory played well, as did most of the boys. Awesome passing and calling and everything. I really enjoy the soccer, and now we are more than half way through the season. I was pretty happy all day Saturday after that.We have two games this weekend, second is for the opening of the new clubhouse on Seddon Field.
Penny, my half sister Sarah, and Scott (her boyfriend) watched the game,which was good.
I lost my watch at the game, so had to go replace it later in the day. Got a G Shock. Really tried very hard to find a cheaper substitute (remember, Diana reads this now). It is big, but that kind of suits me.
I visited my grandfather on Wednesday, he wasn't getting a lot better. My father was there, he did his best for him, more than I expected I have to admit, my Uncle was useless - came to the room but couldn't go in. He was up to the eyeballs with morphine (not my father, Pop). He gave me heaps about my tie (a Southpark one). Definitely downhill from the week before, where we could have a reasonable conversation.
Penny (my sister) arrived on Thursday, to see Pop (my grandfather) before it was too late. In some ways it was. He knew she was there, she stayed the night at his house (he was in the care centre, down the hill). We all went down again on Saturday, with Diana and the kids. Wasn't sure about taking the kids, but it was a good thing to do. They could see that he was pretty sick. Hannah told him how Gran is a star and he will be next to her (this theory came from DragonHeart, an excellent movie). She and Rory then sang "twinkle, twinkle little star" to him (I asked her to sing a song, thought it would be the dreaded "happy, happy, etc" song). There were a few tears. I told him I tried to smuggle a brick in but they frisked me at the gate. I really didn't want him to be stuck in a coma-like limbo for long, and was seriously considering what I could do if he lasted until next weekend. Luckily, the need didn't arise. The kids just told him the sort of stuff they normally do. He will probably never know who jar-jar binks is, but what the heck.
He died the next morning, which was for the best really, but still made Sunday a sad day. About half an hour before we got the news, I said to Penny that it was a brisk cold day like today that Gran died. As Worf says on Star Trek, "Today is a good day to die". We were all together (Us and Penny) when we got the news, while we were on our way to Thomas' house. The memorial service is tomorrow. At least I don't have to worry about wondering if I should go visit him like I have virtually every day for the last fortnight or so. I really hope that some moves are made in the area of euthanasia before I get to that sort of age. It is good that Penny gets to finish the job, while she is here, and it is also good she came back. Couldn't really sleep last night. Weird, I know it had to happen and there was no other way out, but it is going to take a while to sink in and get used to. It isn't supposed to be like losing a parent, but it is such an end of an era that I think I may need a while to get used to it.
Charles, saw a number plate that just said "GLINKS" I figure it must belong to a relative of yours.
I gave Thomas his first Action Man yesterday, Jeff Wilson, who has scored more tries now than any other All Black.
We all wandered down to the Takapuna fleamarket (saw Cath & Don there) then had coffee by the lake. I ran into my old PC World editor and had a chat with him. Then we went off to meet with Philly, Terry, and Jacob at the Domain. Bumped into Jan with Ben and Max, plus Kate and her three (Chris S - don't remember her last name, as in formerly known as John & Kate). We saw Tania and Steve on the Friday night at the Goodins (kind of a ritual when Penny is here). Saw a picture of Ross, Barry, and their other handsome brother the other night. He later starred in many Planet of the Apes movies.
Rory was pretty happy with Penny, she gave him a Lego Anakin Pod Racer. I had to build another pod racer out of Lego and he tried to build a track. Hannah scored some more clothes, and now nearly has a complete leopard skin ensemble. Chloe from wherever will probably be jealous. Kids were a bit pissed off this morning, they went out to see Penny and she wasn't there (she was at Dad's).
Anyway, hope everyone has a good week. Bask in the joy of a good All Black win. Think of us tomorrow.
6 July 1999
Late, but no skimping on quality - 06/07/99
Well, firstly sorry for my tardiness, we were away until last night, so did not get an opportunity to mail until now.
All things being equal, even by Tuesday morning, I should be telling you of the progress of the first test, but alas, it was all over in a mere three days. 21 wickets fell on the second day, and even though most of those were English we lost the test in three days. All talk of us winning all four tests immediately became fodder for the ridiculous pile, and drawing the series now looks our best bet. What a pack of wallies.
In other news, Tank Commander Spice continued to try to match new shoes to her ear-rings (foot in mouth disorder remains uncured). She has been accused of breaching privilege a few times now, getting boring.
Police shot and killed a man last week after a chase of four men whose stole beer and a car, then crashed the car. No mention of whether they spilled the beer. The dead person waved a gun at the police. He was shot in one arm, then the other, and still waving the gun, was shot in the chest. The 18th person to be killed by police (notice this number is less than police killed in line of duty, should really be the other way around if you ask me). Turned out later the guy was a real bad-ass, had hurt himself really badly whilst crashing another stolen car some years ago. Broke his hip. He was about to launch a pressure group wanting more safety features for stolen cars. Turned out the gun he waved was a fake. What a guy, certainly Darwin Award material. Wave a plastic gun at police, and don't put it down after being shot in each arm and being asked to drop it. Doh!
The Warriors lost to Canberra, after being up at half time. Hopefully the woofters that started talking of making the semis will shut up now.
New Zealand A beat ACT in high scoring game I did not see. Some scuffle got three all blacks into problems with the fuzz, no charges were laid. We play South Africa in Carisbrook this weekend, the country is supposed to all wear black.
Pete Sampras beat Agassi, bit of a shame. Davenport beat Steffi, also a shame. Koos was there for the women's final, will forward any comments he has.
Peter Ellis, convicted Christchurch Crèche molester, appealed again. They (commentators and talking heads) widely seem to think he is innocent, and he refuses parole as he maintains his innocent.
Ben & Olivia trial continued. The jury went for a trip to the area of their disappearance. General feeling is that it could be hard to convict the guy without bodies.
We were allowed to go away because there was no soccer, due to school holidays.
We went away for the weekend, to Kath's parent's bach up at Coopers Beach. We haven't been since Rory was about four months old, and they have sold the original bach and half the section, and built a new one since. A nice bach, well appointed, with more gear than one would expect for what was described as a garage by some. Lesson I learned, don't take a torch up there. There was four I spotted around. Won't bother giving them a torch for a present, or perhaps I should. We supplemented facilities with a PlayStation and video, and needed it the first full day, it rained heaps. Saw a boat with a side knocked out up on hard in Mangonui Harbour. Looked pretty knackered. Had the obligatory fish and chips at Mangonui. Found a really nice restaurant at Taipa, believe it or not. Hannah dropped her dessert plate on the floor and it broke, Rory decided to snort pepper, much to his regret.
Sunday was the Big Adventure. Drove up to Cape Reinga, took photos at the lighthouse, then drove back down ninety mile beach. Was a few hairy moments. We walked around a few of the sand dunes, which were fun, then down a stream to the beach. We teamed up with another 4WD family from Hobart that were over here on contract for three years, for moral support. Had gone less than ten kms, gingerly, wallowing in sand here and there, until a bus screamed past. We followed him, and picked up speed. At least until we hit an incoming wave which just about ripped the wheels off. Learned our lesson and avoided deep water then. We got up to speeds of nearly 90k's. Afterward, we got off at the Awanui end (Ahipara is further south). We hosed the car down for $5 at a place which had five jets facing up on the ground, and sideways ones. Then hosed down the rest, car is still a bit sandy but we sprayed it heaps. We filled up with gas at Kaitaia, the pump attendant asked where we had been, and I told him. I mentioned how the bus went pretty fast. He goes "Phoaw, no speed cameras there, eh? Only the pipis and they won't tell anyone." Lovely guy.
Was utterly stuffed after the drive, was concentrating pretty hard during the drive on the beach, spent a bloody long time driving all weekend, except for the wet Saturday. We made it down to the actual beach once, and Hannah strip mined the beach of shells. Speaking of driving. We saw a cow killed by a trailer or after falling off one, couldn't tell. We saw a trailer that lost its load of roofing iron. We saw a whole bunch of coloured plastic balls like the kids play in down the side of the Northern Motorway. No major prangs. There were a massive pile of accidents this weekend, with about 23 being injured.
During the week, Hannah ripped a tooth out of Rory's mouth with a facecloth. So now we know it is possible. Assault with a dangerous piece of linen is now to be added to the list in the latest amendment to the crimes act.
My grandfather spent some time in hospital last week. I went to visit him on Wednesday. He was dosed up on morphine. Had to help him decide about treatment he was going to have. Was kind of yuck. Plan was to nuke an area of his spine to reduce pain. He has since discovered that much of his skeleton and marrow is cancerous, and they decided the radiotherapy was not a happening thing. So he has now made the big call about no resuscitation etc. Now it is just a matter of time. Getting pretty used to the idea now, I have to say. At least I should get a good 20 year break before I have to start worrying about my parents (or maybe more, Mum? You better look after yourself for a while).
The Goodin household is the new house of mucous, with poor baby Thomas suffering considerably. They took last week off and spent the whole time sick. Oh, welcome to our world, you guys. We have personally avoided the nasty Australian 'flu that has been racing around the countryside, and hopefully will do so completely with the holidays nicely placed to interrupt the spread.
Kids have been playing hard, being on holiday and all. A dazzling array of birthday parties, Rory went to circus school one day, learned to unicycle and juggle. Haven't seen the juggling yet, but he practiced in his room a lot the day he went.
Not really feeling like facing the new week. Have heaps to do, including the toy thing. Will be busy, I suspect.
Hope everyone is in better shape than my grandfather, although he is on morphine and therefore is probably having quite a lot of fun at times.
All things being equal, even by Tuesday morning, I should be telling you of the progress of the first test, but alas, it was all over in a mere three days. 21 wickets fell on the second day, and even though most of those were English we lost the test in three days. All talk of us winning all four tests immediately became fodder for the ridiculous pile, and drawing the series now looks our best bet. What a pack of wallies.
In other news, Tank Commander Spice continued to try to match new shoes to her ear-rings (foot in mouth disorder remains uncured). She has been accused of breaching privilege a few times now, getting boring.
Police shot and killed a man last week after a chase of four men whose stole beer and a car, then crashed the car. No mention of whether they spilled the beer. The dead person waved a gun at the police. He was shot in one arm, then the other, and still waving the gun, was shot in the chest. The 18th person to be killed by police (notice this number is less than police killed in line of duty, should really be the other way around if you ask me). Turned out later the guy was a real bad-ass, had hurt himself really badly whilst crashing another stolen car some years ago. Broke his hip. He was about to launch a pressure group wanting more safety features for stolen cars. Turned out the gun he waved was a fake. What a guy, certainly Darwin Award material. Wave a plastic gun at police, and don't put it down after being shot in each arm and being asked to drop it. Doh!
The Warriors lost to Canberra, after being up at half time. Hopefully the woofters that started talking of making the semis will shut up now.
New Zealand A beat ACT in high scoring game I did not see. Some scuffle got three all blacks into problems with the fuzz, no charges were laid. We play South Africa in Carisbrook this weekend, the country is supposed to all wear black.
Pete Sampras beat Agassi, bit of a shame. Davenport beat Steffi, also a shame. Koos was there for the women's final, will forward any comments he has.
Peter Ellis, convicted Christchurch Crèche molester, appealed again. They (commentators and talking heads) widely seem to think he is innocent, and he refuses parole as he maintains his innocent.
Ben & Olivia trial continued. The jury went for a trip to the area of their disappearance. General feeling is that it could be hard to convict the guy without bodies.
We were allowed to go away because there was no soccer, due to school holidays.
We went away for the weekend, to Kath's parent's bach up at Coopers Beach. We haven't been since Rory was about four months old, and they have sold the original bach and half the section, and built a new one since. A nice bach, well appointed, with more gear than one would expect for what was described as a garage by some. Lesson I learned, don't take a torch up there. There was four I spotted around. Won't bother giving them a torch for a present, or perhaps I should. We supplemented facilities with a PlayStation and video, and needed it the first full day, it rained heaps. Saw a boat with a side knocked out up on hard in Mangonui Harbour. Looked pretty knackered. Had the obligatory fish and chips at Mangonui. Found a really nice restaurant at Taipa, believe it or not. Hannah dropped her dessert plate on the floor and it broke, Rory decided to snort pepper, much to his regret.
Sunday was the Big Adventure. Drove up to Cape Reinga, took photos at the lighthouse, then drove back down ninety mile beach. Was a few hairy moments. We walked around a few of the sand dunes, which were fun, then down a stream to the beach. We teamed up with another 4WD family from Hobart that were over here on contract for three years, for moral support. Had gone less than ten kms, gingerly, wallowing in sand here and there, until a bus screamed past. We followed him, and picked up speed. At least until we hit an incoming wave which just about ripped the wheels off. Learned our lesson and avoided deep water then. We got up to speeds of nearly 90k's. Afterward, we got off at the Awanui end (Ahipara is further south). We hosed the car down for $5 at a place which had five jets facing up on the ground, and sideways ones. Then hosed down the rest, car is still a bit sandy but we sprayed it heaps. We filled up with gas at Kaitaia, the pump attendant asked where we had been, and I told him. I mentioned how the bus went pretty fast. He goes "Phoaw, no speed cameras there, eh? Only the pipis and they won't tell anyone." Lovely guy.
Was utterly stuffed after the drive, was concentrating pretty hard during the drive on the beach, spent a bloody long time driving all weekend, except for the wet Saturday. We made it down to the actual beach once, and Hannah strip mined the beach of shells. Speaking of driving. We saw a cow killed by a trailer or after falling off one, couldn't tell. We saw a trailer that lost its load of roofing iron. We saw a whole bunch of coloured plastic balls like the kids play in down the side of the Northern Motorway. No major prangs. There were a massive pile of accidents this weekend, with about 23 being injured.
During the week, Hannah ripped a tooth out of Rory's mouth with a facecloth. So now we know it is possible. Assault with a dangerous piece of linen is now to be added to the list in the latest amendment to the crimes act.
My grandfather spent some time in hospital last week. I went to visit him on Wednesday. He was dosed up on morphine. Had to help him decide about treatment he was going to have. Was kind of yuck. Plan was to nuke an area of his spine to reduce pain. He has since discovered that much of his skeleton and marrow is cancerous, and they decided the radiotherapy was not a happening thing. So he has now made the big call about no resuscitation etc. Now it is just a matter of time. Getting pretty used to the idea now, I have to say. At least I should get a good 20 year break before I have to start worrying about my parents (or maybe more, Mum? You better look after yourself for a while).
The Goodin household is the new house of mucous, with poor baby Thomas suffering considerably. They took last week off and spent the whole time sick. Oh, welcome to our world, you guys. We have personally avoided the nasty Australian 'flu that has been racing around the countryside, and hopefully will do so completely with the holidays nicely placed to interrupt the spread.
Kids have been playing hard, being on holiday and all. A dazzling array of birthday parties, Rory went to circus school one day, learned to unicycle and juggle. Haven't seen the juggling yet, but he practiced in his room a lot the day he went.
Not really feeling like facing the new week. Have heaps to do, including the toy thing. Will be busy, I suspect.
Hope everyone is in better shape than my grandfather, although he is on morphine and therefore is probably having quite a lot of fun at times.
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