12 July 2004

Bugger me, it's cold around here -12/07/04

As I write this, it is 0 degrees C outside (and in my office). I can not feel all my fingers or any of my toes. Weather has been very nice over the weekend, but no cloud cover means lower temperatures.

LOCAL NEWS

Some Tongan overstayers were upset with the way they were raided by immigration people. Apparently, you are supposed to raid a house by making an appointment, then phoning ahead to make sure all illegal immigrants have a chance to nip down to the KFC before you get there. I may sound unsympathetic but a raid is supposed to be a) successful, b) a surprise, and c) if it was pleasant, it would be called a visit and you would bring sticky buns (or KFC).

The National Party had their annual conference and the tone is markedly different from last year when Bill English was a dead man walking. Don Brash is not a charismatic leader but he seems to do it for the blue rinse nats.

The by-election for Tariana Turia was a complete waste of time and money. All week there was a fuss about how many polling booths there were. She polled around 6,000 votes, half what she got at the last election, but the nearest rival had less than 200. The major parties did not stand against her.

Meningicoccal disease has been in the news all week. The government announced a vaccination program mid-week. One toddler recently had all limbs partially amputated to fight the disease.

Another boatload of idiots got in trouble yesterday, although I don't know how - there was no wind and the sea was calm. Of course, they felt life jackets would hamper their ability to fish. Two were recovered, one wasn't.

Local rugby writer of some note, TP McLean, died this week. He wrote about rugby for 29 years, he was 90 years old.

A prominent stamp collector was found dead in his house on Friday night. His car returned about 24 hours later.

St John's ambulance were fundraising by getting a record number of people to do fire walking. It was a good idea for them to sponsor it because they were needed to treat 36 people for burns. It cost them more to treat the burn victims than they raised. Next time they should try spoon balancing.

Immigration rules have been relaxed a little to encourage immigration, skilled migrants are the problem. Maybe if they didn't make it so hard, it would be a problem.

WORLD NEWS

Tony Blair is rumoured to have considered resigning because of the lack of evidence in Iraq.

Two sharks killed a surfer near Perth.

REAL SPORT

There was no real sport this week, due to holidays, my life is empty. Should be back in action next weekend.

SPORT

The neballers completed the series with another win, although they were well down at half time (using the B team) they come back to win by a couple of points.

The All Blacks beat the Pacific Islanders team 41 to 26 without any major injuries.

The Black Caps thumped the West Indians in the final of the ODI tournament at Lords on Saturday. Daniel Vettori got his first five wicket bag and good old Chris Harris bagged his 200th wicket (he has 200 wickets and 4,000 runs).

There has been basketball between New Zealand and Australia, Australia won the series 2-1. They played three days in a row.

Golfer Michael Campbell came second in the Scottish Open, he's been playing crap lately so that's good that he did okay. British Open next week, let's see if Tiger can improve.

MY SAD LIFE

I don't think I have mentioned that my watch strap broke a couple of weeks ago. Diana took it to get repaired and they were unable to provide a temporary watch. The weekend we were in Christchurch I had to keep pestering Diana for the time, especially on the plane where I didn't even have my cellphone to tell me the time. It drove me nuts for the first week but slowly got out of the habit of looking at my wrist. Well, I finally got it back on Monday and I so used to not having a watch I forget to look at it. I now wonder why I bother wearing one. I forgot to put it on yesterday.

Rory continues to work on the dreaded science project. We shot more CDs on Saturday (low wind, sunny conditions, which helps). The end is in sight, it's due in a week. Things should start being printed off today.

Hannah spent Friday making cards (you know, birthday, Christmas, etc). She put a lot of effort into them, imitating a style used by Diana's friend Helena. She signs them with an H on the back (just like Helena, funnily enough, but a different style). She hopes to sell some to recover costs (our costs, but I don't think that matters).

The cats have figured out how to go out the cat-door when it is on in-only. We now have to block the exit after they are in for the night. Ollie now spends lots of time in Diana's car and on top of it. It is easy to catch Ollie, you just put a plastic bag on the floor and crinkle it and he can't resist it. Sad, really.

We went to the library on Saturday, and Rory had a look in the Guinness Book of World Records. I think that publication has lost it's way over the years. Setting records for spinning basketballs and eating tuna salad sandwiches just seems stupid. Despite it's stupidity, I will try to beat the record for spoon balancing on one's face - currently 7. But I won't tell them if I do, it will be our little secret.

I helped my friend Matt move house on Sunday. Got lots of practice backing with a trailer. Wasn't a lot to shift but was quite a bit of awkward and delicate stuff. It's quite a big house, but quite strange with bits added on all over (like a little dog house thing on the wall outside the kitchen for the dishwasher).

Kids are off to soccer thing this week, so house will be quiet in the mornings.
Diana and I might even manage a walk or two.

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