Well, action packed weekend. Todd Blackadder named last night as the next All Black captain. Also known as "the Toddfather", the captain of the Crusaders helped them to win the Super 12 final on Saturday night, their third in a row, their third away final. The threepeat. The triple crown. Was a tight match, the Brumbies didn't get in front until about ten minutes to go, then Crusaders got back in front 20-19 and hung on for dear life. They worked very hard in defence, forced the Brumbies backwards at every phase, but were running out of steam in the second half.
The new all black squad includes two Auckland players, Craig Dowd and Doug Howlett (a winger). Two North Harbour players, Troy Flavell and Ron Cribb. Four Wellington backs (Cullen, Umaga, Lomu, Ieremia), nobody from Waikato at all, eight from Otago (too many), and ten from Canterbury.
Other news all over the place.
Murder suicide near Napier, with two kids left sleeping.
No teachers in NZ were shot in the face by a pupil.
Some Maori support the Fiji coup.
Helen Clark starting to lose her popularity tag quite well, especially after not having a baby recently. Shipley is considering that as an option to get a boost in the polls.
Warriors lose, how that is news I don't know.
Petrol prices rising all over the place.
Exchange rate crashes to point where you sods would be mad to send money home unless you intend to come home to spend it.
All Whites lose 1-0 in South Africa, not a bad result.
England draws 1-1 with Brazil after Brazil beat well known footballing nation Wales 3-0. Wales had some issues with the Welshness of a few players. They tried to convince FIFA that one boyo's grandfather was welsh (the grandfather was Pele).
Well, Fiji, eh? Phoooaww. Not going now, not sure where we are going but not Fiji. Main decision for me was running out of time to find an alternative. Shootings over weekend didn't make me regret the call. Utterly ridiculous, replacing parliament with non-democratically elected people. I would think the Indians are going to start getting mighty pissed off sooner or later. NZ says don't go. Fiji Tourism says "everything fine, Bula, come visit". Like hell. A policeman was basically assassinated last night and the TV station destroyed. Welcome to Fiji, Bosnia of the South Pacific.
Big news that John Hawkesby has bought into a vineyard. Really? Slow news day. We also got coverage of Liz and Hugh's breakup about three days in a row. Good grief.
A couple and baby got killed when a bus ran into them. I would say the driver of the car wasn't being careful, was an intersection near Otorhonga on the main drag. A bloody local who feels that through traffic doesn't count. Well that bus bloody counted. Two kids survived.
The Minister of Corrections wanted conjugal visits for prisoners and children to stay until five years old. Well, what a prize prick. I suspect it was brought up to divert attention from something else. Fell short of supplying working girls for those who didn't have someone to visit.
Two ten year old girls who were swapped at birth in Timaru both want to stay with the same parenets, and the Cildren's Commissioner says they have a right to choose. Pity for the woman who raised the wrong kid for eight years and now has none.
Vitriol continues over Coutts and Butterworth leaving Team NZ. Becoming something of a standing joke.
Friday morning was the Juniors cross country. As some of you already know, Hannah was the first girl home in all of the year ones, which is about five classes full. Given that there are more girls than boys as well, not a bad effort. She came 6th or 7th overall, no other girl was near her, she blitzed them. I got some shots of her in action and her website has been updated (hannahclarke.8m.com) with a couple of shots. Was a very happy girl. Saturday she got some new clothes including a bonus shoulder bag for her efforts and she were them as much as she could.
The Orcas lost 2-0 to Central Smit (dumb name) on Saturday, very unlucky, two very dribbly goals and we missed a couple including one that Rory should have got that was just cleared. Didn't see the 11th graders, had to go to Macdonalds with the Orcas after their game (do it once a season). Still no rain cancelling play.
On Saturday we commenced work on the climbing wall, which was completed yesterday. The kids can now climb up about 2.5 metres into the air up a sheet of tanalised plywood with bits of four by two bolted on. Hannah was all over it, thought it would be just for Rory for while. Rory climbed it this morning before school, said he could see the Harbour Bridge from the top. I made them both help me, pass me tools, Rory put in some of the bolts, drilled some holes, they both sat on pieces of wood, tested it as we went with each handhold. They both got scraps and nailed and drilled them. Rory tried to cut a piece of old four by two with his toy saw, he managed to scratch it. Was stuffed at the end of the day, did all the woodcutting with a handsaw. The whole swing frame structure that we used is now considerably stronger with the bracing that has been added.
Saw baby Thomas twice during the week. He visited on Wednesday when the kids were asleep, then we babysat him Saturday night but he was asleep practically the whole time. Kids were very pissed off, but the climbing wall distracted them. By the way, Kath is pregnant but I wasn't allowed to tell, until now. About 19 weeks gone I think. She has been very rash lately and quith scratchy. Some sort of hormone reaction, not enjoying it at all. I pointed out that there was a leper colony in the Solomons where she would fit right in.
And good news this morning, Fiji lost to Argentina in the quarter finals in Paris in the sevens and NZ won 60 something to 10 against South Africa in the final so we won the world sevens championship (needed to win with Fiji beaten in semi at best). An excellent result, it looked like the only way they could win was if the NZ team threw a game to beat Fiji early on themselves. Glad they didn't cheat, but suspect they lost some key players to the Pac Rim tournament and perhaps their morale was low with the coup. Sevens stalwart Eric Rush was out with injury.
Got a Palm V last week, been playing with it, getting there slowly. typing on keyboard is faster than character recognition by about 33%. Will use on my travels (it was free).
Finally got the network going in the house so Diana can print and email without harassing me (been like that since we moved the computer out of the bedroom). Bought a crimper and did it myself (twice, wrong way around the first time).
Well, a busy week I suppose. No prizes won, but Hannah won her race.
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