It has been quite cold. I can't say I am sad about the end of the Olympics, they suck you in and you can't escape.
NEWS
A Napier farmer was found shot dead on his farm on Friday. No news on killer yet. His name was Jack Nicholas. Every time I see or hear a headline I think that Jack Nicholson or Jack Niclaus has died, it is very confusing.
Lots of snow about, including Dunedin being bathed in snow for a couple of days. According to meteorologists (I will never understand why that isn't the study of meteors) it was a very cold July and August. It was 1 degree in parts of Auckland yesterday, which is pretty unusual. Not much rain lately, though.
Controversy continues about the dreaded "destiny" church, who's protest at Parliament about the civil union bill included a bunch of men wearing matching black shirts and doing dodgy-looking salutes. Students at a Wellington school the church uses on Sunday's in Wellington have signed a petition suggesting they should worship elsewhere. The church seems to be quite anti-gay.
Another man was killed in Kawerau, police have apprehended someone for that one.
In another darwinian move, a New Zealander has died when he jumped onto an electrified train track in Boston to get 11c that he was lying there. No wonder Americans think we wear grass skirts over here.
A Hamilton 55 year old woman is expecting a child. A product of in-vitro fertilization, at least the child won't think they were an accident. She was already the holder of the oldest mother record in New Zealand when she had a boy two years ago.
Six people were rescued with mild hypothermia from their swamped waka (canoe) in the Manukau Harbour. They were not wearing life jackets (although I don't think they prevent hypothermia).
News this week that the current government has managed to extract some 40% more money from taxpayers without changing tax rates. This could be quite a damaging thing, as those that pay tax feel they are being continually gouged as new interpretations of existing rules are invented.
WORLD NEWS
An African man shot his fiancée then himself after an argument, but the wedding is going ahead anyway (despite the bride and groom being dead). Apparently the families want to think of them as a happy couple despite what I would call an irreconcilable difference. I guess they had a non-refundable deposit for the venue, and they do save on wedding presents.
REAL SPORT
Water polo was cancelled due to a problem with a goal. Seems poorly organised to me.
Hannah's team played a team that beat them 1-0 with a late goal in the grading round. The girls played really well but an offside was not given and a goal was scored. Then they kept the first half going (we were going up hill) for about ten minutes longer than they should have and scored a goal in the 38th minute. This gave us less than twenty minutes going downhill (it makes a difference, we were all over them in the second half). We scored one goal, but had to stop short to let the next game come on. Final score 1-2 loss. I am not saying the ref from the other team cheated, but he certainly loaded things against us and it seemed to be quite dubious. Hannah had a heck of a game, attacked this time. Two other girls, Savannah and Miranda were so solid in defence, they repelled (nearly) everything and kept us going back on attack.
After the game, we went to Cox's Bay and had a barbecue next to the house of one of the players in the team. They had a good time, and I was presented with a photo montage of the girls which was really nice.
At Rory's practice on Thursday, I retrieved a ball and booted it back into play with a very high kick (I would say a good sixty to eighty feet in the air). My son decided to stand under it and head it on the full, he did put it in the goal, but he couldn't walk straight for about five minutes afterward. The next time he went to head a ball, I yelled out "No, Rory, you are supposed to keep us in our retirement".
Rory's team played their final game against Fencibles. According to the coach, Rory got every ball he went for. No water polo seems to be a factor in his play, if he doesn't play water polo he plays better soccer. They won their game 2-1.
Forgot to mention what happened at Rory's soccer game the week before last. Stephen (a Samoan boy) was late, apparently had felt sick and when his Dad found him playing on his x-box he said "if you can play x-box you can play soccer" and took him to the game (not entirely sure I agree with his logic, but bear with me). At the game, Stephen scored a hat-trick (so sickness can't have been too bad). Meanwhile, his Mum bought a magic envelope (fund raising thing, like an instant raffle, mostly you win $5 off a hair cut or buy two sausages get one free at the butcher's). Anyway, she won a VCR. So then she got the last of Dad's change and got another ticket and she won a trip for two to Vanuatu! So it was quite a good result for the whole family, that Stephen was well enough to play (not to mention the team).
SPORT
Huge result in triathlon for New Zealand with a 1st and 2nd at Olympics. Disappointment in kayaking with only a silver. Not best ever result for New Zealand in Olympics but pretty good with three golds and two silvers.
Waikato completely thumped Auckland in the NPC 59-11, Canterbury beat Otago 42-7, Taranaki beat BOP 58-14, Southland beat Northland 54-26. Wellington beat North Harbour 18-16. Taranaki stay top of the table and looking pretty good.
The Warriors are getting closer and closer to the wooden spoon.
MY SAD LIFE
Well, after a bit of drama with an engine and diverting to LA, Paul made it to Auckland late on Friday night. He wanted to surprise his parents so I wasn't allowed to mention it before now (he made me do it, I accept no responsibility). It was pretty funny, he rang them to make sure they were home (and to wish his Dad a happy birthday). Then we went around to drop him off and nobody was home! We popped over to Gavin's for a short visit then came back and they were back, much to Paul's relief. I was a little worried we would be driving over there every hour for the whole weekend.
No news on Tap exam results for Hannah yet. Should get them tomorrow.
Koos, got your message. Send me an email or something.
Homework continues to dominate weekends, with what is really only a trickle of work that needs to be done. He is improving slowly but could still get it done a lot quicker.
We went out to dinner with the Goodins on Saturday night without any children. It was the first time since we did that with Charles back in January. We went to a pub owned by Ross' co-coach. The food was very reasonable, semi-traditional English food (run by a German).
We went off to One Tree Hill on Sunday and walked up it from the car park. We took a circuitous route, via lots of cute lambs, one stillborn one, and the cone full of rocks that people spell things with. Some of the work is very well done (there was a car, and Olympic logo, and heaps of other stuff), Rory spelled his name in letters about two metres high, I put little serifs on them to change the font (which Rory said was sad). Hannah made a smiley. We then went up to the top where it was very windy. We took a more direct route down. It was a nice thing to do, saw a few things I had never seen there before. There still isn't a tree on top of the hill, though.
Wednesday will be the first day of spring, and it will be six years since my grandmother died.
Father's Day next Sunday in New Zealand, so don't forget to phone home.
Three weeks until we go to California. Not sure whether I will manage to do these during our time away, I probably will.
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