The weather continues to provide some entertainment. It's getting cold (not like England which is very hot right now).
The house of sickness has continued, although we are seeing some recovery.
LOCAL NEWS
It isn't just us that are suffering from ill-health. Schools have been closing, classes have been reporting 50% absentee rates, and it is just as bad at some workplaces.
A couple of local astronomers helped find a far-away planet using a method called microlensing which relies on a second star being almost directly behind the one being studied. A planet at the near star distorts the light focusing effect and means that star has planets. The extent of the distortion gives clues to planetary size. It's all a bit too much deduction and not enough proof for me, but it excited the local media. The planet is named OGLE-2005-BLG-071, affectionately known as 071 (sad, isn't it, how could you have affection for an object many light years aware that you cannot see but can only deduce by a star going a funny shape?).
The first 20 year sentence on Friday was handed out to Antony Dixon, the twit with the funny eyes that hacked off hands with a samurai sword then shot a man (fatally) to provoke a confrontation with police. He said something incredibly intelligent and witty like "bring back the electric chair". The defence is appealing conviction and sentence, which is a complete waste of court time.
The last surviving person from the van that crashed last week died, making it the second worst traffic event in New Zealand's history. No news on cause yet.
A car accident in Ruatoria killed six, one car, a Honda Integra. How the heck do you fit six people into an Integra? They ran into a tree, in fog, at speed, and nobody was wearing their seat belt. One assumes the driver had never heard about driving to the conditions. A sad example of Darwinian evolution. Police are making noises about toughening laws on seatbelts but fail to realise that people silly enough not to use them are unlikely to pay attention to a tougher law (given that they ignore the existing one).
Road works on Whangaparoa have been causing fun, there was a queue one day last week that was 15 kilometres long. Koos stayed home and watched the rugby (Lions v Argentina).
Three men who tried beat up a woman who was pregnant (the girlfriend of one of them, a nice bunch of guys) in an effort to force a miscarriage (they failed) have done their time and now want to play League again. Diana reckons they shouldn't be allowed to, but if they weren't League players when they did the crime would we see it any differently? Would it be reported if they wanted to play tennis now?
Someone shot a bullet through the window of a Carterton policeman's house, but nobody was injured. Seems to be a bit of a warning for something. Now all police in Carterton are under guard (which seems kind of strange, police under guard).
An elderly couple were found dead in their house in Feilding, a murder investigation is underway.
The British and Irish Lions arrived this week, a great deal of fuss has been made. Yes, it is reasonably exciting, but I am not sure it warrants the media coverage we are getting. The Barmy Army wants to use an old America's Cup base as party central for six weeks, and the neighbours aren't too pleased (six weeks is a long time to have drunken rugby yobbos hanging around, you have to admit).
WORLD NEWS
Schapelle Corby was the second 20 year sentence to be handed out on Friday. Better than a death sentence but she wasn't too pleased. Her sister read a prepared statement which lost a lot of impact by her screaming at people incomprehensibly between paragraphs. We were given the run-down the whole day and got it live on about three channels when the decision was handed down. I read somewhere that her father had been found guilty of some small-time drug thing, which does make you wonder. However, if you consider how you would feel if someone actually put an illicit substance in your bag after it left your care, then you have to wonder whether such a system of law is actually justice. Whilst if they let her off then you might see considerably more people looking for that excuse, you wonder if it actually puts people off going to Bali rather than trafficking drugs. It is pretty sad when you consider that court cases would be considerably shorter and justice would be more even if people couldn't actually lie.
While there were calls for chemical castration of paedophiles in New Zealand, the US discovered that Medicare is funding viagra for more than 700 sex offenders. An interesting conundrum, given that not all would reoffend but it could be less likely without the little blue pill. This has an interesting parallel in the local league-player story.
The Italians are going to build a bridge across to Sicily. That seems like a very long way (over three kilometres). Wonder when Godzilla will have a crack at it? Or will the family behind the ferry company beat him to it?
REAL SPORT
We knew the water polo game was not going to be tough. They were playing St Marys 1, a team that beat Ponsonby's weakest team 4-3. Even worse, I knew two girls in the opposition team (Chelsea played in Hannah's soccer team last year, and Holly was playing for us the next day). I was expecting something like 12-0 win. I wasn't looking forward to scoring it. We were right, it wasn't pretty, they were 7-0 up at the end of the first quarter, then 13-0, 18-0 (higher than highest score last year), and final score was 24-0. That is also the highest score so far in the competition this season, and given that a game lasts 20 minutes they scored a goal every fifty seconds. At least the St Marys 2 team came on afterward and beat Ponsonby Gold 9-0.
Hannah couldn't play for her soccer team, in fact we were missing five of our regular players. We got some ring-ins from another team but not surprisingly we didn't do well. It was a niggly match, the other team was aggressive but not that good. Our girls got a bit overwhelmed. They lost 0-3, we played them only a couple of weeks ago and lost 0-2, but I reckon we could beat them with a full strength team.
Rory couldn't play for his team either, woke up on Saturday with a 38+ temperature. The team was going to be pretty low on numbers. They lost 0-5.
SPORT
The Lions had an unlikely draw against Argentina in Wales before leaving for New Zealand.
In State of Origin I, Queensland were up 19-0 before NSW clawed back with 20 unanswered points. Queensland equalised then won in extra time. It was a fairytale with a sad ending.
Liverpool were munted at 0-3 down to AC Milan in the first half in the Champions League final. They conceded one goal in 1st minute and then two more in last five minutes. They started the second half with little hope, but managed to score three goals in six minutes, and AC Milan could not score another. It ended after extra time at 3-3 and they went to a penalty shoot-out that Liverpool won easily. This was the fairytale with a happy ending.
The Magic beat the Force in the first netball semi-final. The Force get to play the Sting after they beat the Diamonds. The winner play the Magic in the final.
The Crusaders beat the Waratahs reasonably convincingly 35-25 in the Super 12 final. The Waratahs came back quite a lot in the last 20 minutes but were down about 35-6 when the Crusaders eased off a bit but the Waratahs never really looked like snatching the win.
MY SAD LIFE
Hannah's sore hip turned out to be some sort of growth-related problem impacting the hip joint. She's had to be careful with it. Rory stayed home from school Monday and Tuesday. He watched all five star wars movies on DVD in two days, and Empire Strikes Back nearly made him fall asleep (it works every time for me). Diana wasn't well on Thursday. We are improving but it hasn't been a lot of fun.
Hannah has a dance exam on Wednesday but she hasn't been able to go to the last three classes and I am not sure she will sit the exam, because of her hip. We measured her on Sunday and found she has grown about two centimetres in the last month or so and is only a centimetre shorter than Diana. Diana said she would be the shortest in the family by Christmas, I think Christmas is coming early this year.
We've had a couple of home invasions over the weekend, a grey fluffy burmese cat. Olly had it cornered this morning, and was very proud of himself (Apparently Olly is spelled with a "y", not "ie", Hannah was reading this over my shoulder and told me off). It's bloody annoying when we get woken up in the middle of the night by our own cats, let alone foreign ones.
The inorganic collection is finally upon us. This is when the neighbourhood dumps all unwanted items on the kerbside, and eventually a truck comes and takes it all away. In the meantime, as a testament to the saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure", a bunch of generally unsavoury people cruise around slowly in dodgy vehicles grabbing what they think is of value. With the help of Gavin, we took a bunch of things to the road on Sunday. One box was requested by a guy still in his car before Rory had got it out of the trailer (we used a trailer for transport in bulk down the drive). A few years ago, we threw out a sewing machine and someone knocked on the door and asked if we had the pedal. It really bugs me when they take neatly stacked piles and spread them everywhere in their search. They dumped a bag of small children's books out which blew around in the breeze and wrecked an old TV for what looks like one connector. The garage is looking considerably better, but it would be nice to sort it out even more, hopefully I will have time this coming week.
I went with Rory to St Kentigern College for his interview on Friday. He was offered an academic scholarship, we didn't realise we would know that quickly. We have three concerns about him going to St Kentigern College: 1:even with a scholarship the first year will cost nearly $15,000 and five years would cost nearly $50,000. 2:it's a bloody long way to go and activities outside school hours will be problematic. 3: Chris thinks it would be a really bad idea (as many of you already know). We are still officially thinking about it but at this point I think it is looking very, very unlikely. We would have to fund the fees out of the mortgage and given that we couldn't spend that sort of money on Rory and then not on Hannah, that's a large dollop onto the mortgage.
The Goodins spent time sorting out their shift of stores in Rotorua over the weekend, living the dream.
I haven't heard from Charles, despite sending him a personal email about ten days ago (rude bugger).
Paul is still in Kiev. Not sure when he is back. Olwyn tells me he is texting and it seems like his mail server had died.
Gavin leaves for Ekatarenberg (or is it Ekatahuna) a week tomorrow. He hasn't got any foreign money yet.
Koos popped in with Sjaan, who we haven't seen for quite a while. They'd been shopping in St Lukes all afternoon, the poor buggers.
I took the kids swimming last night, all of us were pretty careful (I have somehow hurt my right arm). The kids were definitely both feeling better, they had a lovely time and were very noisy when we got home.
It is Queen's Birthday Weekend this coming weekend, so we get Monday off (hooray). We are hoping to be well and able to have some fun.
30 May 2005
23 May 2005
Now is the winter of our discontent - 23/05/05
Apologies to Mr Shakespeare, but winter seems to have struck with a vengeance this week. There has been plenty of rain, my office roof is leaking in two places, we've all been sick this week, and we still have a month until the shortest day.
At least this week it's on time, I have discovered they go faster if you hit the button that says "send".
LOCAL NEWS
A lesson in driver responsibility. If you are driving a van full of people, be careful. A rented tour van lost control on a corner and ploughed into a logging truck killing eight of nine passengers. The driver of the logging truck was basically uninjured physically, but an emotional wreck. This is one of the worst fatal accidents in New Zealand's history. Most of the dead were tourists (Indians, Americans, a Thai), the driver was a 66 year old New Zealand man, who was a very experienced tour van driver which makes you wonder whether he suffered a heart attack or something which may have caused him to lose control. It was on a corner, but a very gentle one on a straight road.
Associate Minister of Education, David Benson-Pope, has been suffering in the media from accusations he bullied pupils as a teacher in the 1970's. Evidence from pupils, now adults, suggests he did go further than was appropriate but given that it was in an era where caning was acceptable things are different now. It hasn't been good for the Labour Party.
Tauranga entered a state of emergency on Wednesday with heavy rain causing flooding. It washed out both ends of a bridge on the road to Whakatane (we went on that road in January with Paul) near Matata. A number of houses there were washed away, and heaps were flooded. There were pensioners in emergency accommodation everywhere (Tauranga is a popular retirement centre). The rain has continued ever since and things are not really improving yet, estimates of houses unsafe to live in are approaching 100.
The budget was little more than promises of future pointless tax cuts ($6 a week in three years time) and bugger all else. Some stupid saving thing to come in future years where the government gives you $1000 to start off a superannuation scheme (and that's it, no tax breaks on contributions or anything). One good thing is that tax rate levels will increase with inflation, which will reduce fiscal drag, but no mention of the fact that inflation has pushed everyone up into higher tax rates for the last twenty years.
The New Zealand Rugby Union have made a pitch for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Tickets for the final would cost $735. Hardly makes it accessible for many.
National Party leader Don Brash has promised tax cuts by Christmas if they come to power at the election. Not sure if that will boost their chances. The electorate hasn't been overwhelmed by the promise of $6 off per week in three years time.
WORLD NEWS
The Islamic world, in all fairness, seemed to overreact to the Newsweek article. You shouldn't believe everything you read (I mean, let's be honest, I don't believe everything I write).
Poor old Saddam was caught with his pants down. Not sure that the pics should have been published, to be honest. Nobody looks their best in just their jocks.
Kylie Minogue's breast was in the news rather more than was necessary. It was announced she has breast cancer, that Danii was flying to be with her, that Madame Tussaud's were prepared to make any adjustments, and then that it was successfully removed. I am just waiting for the lump to be sold on eBay (no, I don't want to bid on it). I am surprised there hasn't been a piece somewhere on the how the lump is doing fine after having a malignant Kylie removed from it.
REAL SPORT
We finally got to see a water polo game this week. It seems like a very long time since he played. There are grading games for the first few weeks but I think it will become clear for most teams pretty quickly. We thought we were playing Rangeview 3, which theoretically meant a pretty weak team (assuming 1 & 2 were better teams). Was a bit of a shock when they scored first in the first quarter (Rory was off for the first quarter) I was a bit worried. They came back and scored two to finish the quarter 2-1. Rory came on and stayed on for the rest of the game. He scored two goals, both of which involved him swimming away from the defenders and popping the ball in from short range (he said he wanted to make sure he didn't miss). He is definitely faster than most out there and he could swim away from anyone trying to catch him, he did slow down a bit in the fourth quarter but did play three in a row. The final score was 7-2, and afterward we discovered it was actually Rangeview 1 so that made the score a lot better. Ponsonby had two wins and two losses in the first round.
Hannah had pulled a groin muscle and wasn't expected to play soccer but came in her gear in case we were short. She ended up playing in goal for most of the game giving the goalies a break from goal. The other team wasn't real strong and we were ahead 2-0 at half time, was a bit worried that uphill in the second half that two goals might not be enough. It was, and we scored three more in the second half for good measure to win 5-0. Hannah was so sore I had to carry her off the pitch at the end, was pretty gutsy, she only had to touch the ball about three times but every step she took hurt (it seems better today). The girls have done enough to stay in Division 1 for the season.
Rory's team played at the same time as Hannah's so I didn't see them. They played with only ten players, but worked very hard, Diana reckons the hardest they have so far. They lost 2-1, which is pretty damn good for playing short.
SPORT
Man Utd lost the FA Cup final to Arsenal, despite being all over them for most of the match. Rio Ferdinand had a goal disallowed and I can't see why, to be honest. It ended after half an hour of extra time in a goal-less draw and penalty shootouts.
The Crusaders thumped the Hurricanes 47-7 and the Waratahs beat the Bulls 23-13 in the other semi-final. Somehow the Brumbies still have a mathematical chance of making the final (it feels like it, they did have for weeks and kept losing but somehow still had a chance).
MY SAD LIFE
We went off to the Charity Premiere of Episode III on Monday night. It started badly when Gavin had an accident about 200 metres from our house. He wasn't hurt but the car was. Anyway, we got there in time, it got really crowded as it got closer to kick-off. Rory and I had seats with plenty of leg room in a VIP cinema. There were free beers and champagne, but I only managed to get one just before we went into the movie. Got a shot of Rory with two of the people in the movie (both blink and you miss it parts). We caught up with Gavin afterward and met Koos at the Burger King across the road. Koos said it was a night of queuing - to get in to the building, into the theatre, out of the theatre, get your cellphone (they checked them in to prevent piracy, although you can't record a whole movie on a cellphone yet), queue to pay for your parking ticket, then leave the car park (the car park was chaos when I tried to leave about 11:30, it was bizarre, the machine wouldn't accept notes for payment any more and tickets were "expiring" because you need to leave within ten minutes). Movie was good, haven't seen it again yet, Rory has.
* The lads dressed up as storm troopers have appeared in about five newspapers (in front section, entertainment, and business sections), on TV about three times, and in the Women's Weekly.
Hannah went to school sick on Monday, delivered her speech, and came home and went to bed for two days. We found out on Wednesday that she came second, which is pretty good for someone who could barely stand up. Shame she wasn't in better shape, but she was still happy with the result. I got there just as she finished her speech, which was a bummer. We found out Friday that she qualifies to go off to the inter-school competition, she's pretty happy (despite earlier protestations). This means she can have a crack at doing it even better.
Rory had to take 1920s style clothing to school on Tuesday, we found this out on Monday night. Not sure about you, but despite the fact that my wardrobe is not exactly the latest fashion, I am pretty sure there isn't anything that dates back to the '20s. It was for a photo for the musical they are doing at school. Diana wants Rory to audition for it, and I think he probably should too. He's not so keen, but we shall see. I have volunteered to make props (Thomson sub-machine guns), the musical is Bugsy Malone. He was supposed to be attending a re-shoot today.
Hannah has started calling Rory "Doris" when he is being wimpy, which is kind of funny. He doesn't like it.
Rory has an interview at St Kentigern College on Friday, he has made the short list for a scholarship, but I think even if he gets one the chances are pretty low that he will go (so don't worry, Chris). Even qualifying for a scholarship means fees of $8000 per year plus buying a notebook PC for $5000 (you have got to be kidding about that one, the price is outrageous, and we are not a Toshiba family).
Paul G has been quiet, I figure he is floating around in Kiev right now.
Gavin hasn't had a lot of luck this week. After the crash on Monday, he got something in his eye, and after two trips to the A&E went to Auckland Hospital on Saturday. It is recovering, but he was pretty uncomfortable Friday and Saturday night. To add to his difficulties, he borrowed Diana's old car and the bloody thing over-heated again.
Rory is home sick today, with a temperature and other things. I thought I was improving yesterday but today I am not very clever. Diana is staying home with him as I have a meeting all morning.
At least this week it's on time, I have discovered they go faster if you hit the button that says "send".
LOCAL NEWS
A lesson in driver responsibility. If you are driving a van full of people, be careful. A rented tour van lost control on a corner and ploughed into a logging truck killing eight of nine passengers. The driver of the logging truck was basically uninjured physically, but an emotional wreck. This is one of the worst fatal accidents in New Zealand's history. Most of the dead were tourists (Indians, Americans, a Thai), the driver was a 66 year old New Zealand man, who was a very experienced tour van driver which makes you wonder whether he suffered a heart attack or something which may have caused him to lose control. It was on a corner, but a very gentle one on a straight road.
Associate Minister of Education, David Benson-Pope, has been suffering in the media from accusations he bullied pupils as a teacher in the 1970's. Evidence from pupils, now adults, suggests he did go further than was appropriate but given that it was in an era where caning was acceptable things are different now. It hasn't been good for the Labour Party.
Tauranga entered a state of emergency on Wednesday with heavy rain causing flooding. It washed out both ends of a bridge on the road to Whakatane (we went on that road in January with Paul) near Matata. A number of houses there were washed away, and heaps were flooded. There were pensioners in emergency accommodation everywhere (Tauranga is a popular retirement centre). The rain has continued ever since and things are not really improving yet, estimates of houses unsafe to live in are approaching 100.
The budget was little more than promises of future pointless tax cuts ($6 a week in three years time) and bugger all else. Some stupid saving thing to come in future years where the government gives you $1000 to start off a superannuation scheme (and that's it, no tax breaks on contributions or anything). One good thing is that tax rate levels will increase with inflation, which will reduce fiscal drag, but no mention of the fact that inflation has pushed everyone up into higher tax rates for the last twenty years.
The New Zealand Rugby Union have made a pitch for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Tickets for the final would cost $735. Hardly makes it accessible for many.
National Party leader Don Brash has promised tax cuts by Christmas if they come to power at the election. Not sure if that will boost their chances. The electorate hasn't been overwhelmed by the promise of $6 off per week in three years time.
WORLD NEWS
The Islamic world, in all fairness, seemed to overreact to the Newsweek article. You shouldn't believe everything you read (I mean, let's be honest, I don't believe everything I write).
Poor old Saddam was caught with his pants down. Not sure that the pics should have been published, to be honest. Nobody looks their best in just their jocks.
Kylie Minogue's breast was in the news rather more than was necessary. It was announced she has breast cancer, that Danii was flying to be with her, that Madame Tussaud's were prepared to make any adjustments, and then that it was successfully removed. I am just waiting for the lump to be sold on eBay (no, I don't want to bid on it). I am surprised there hasn't been a piece somewhere on the how the lump is doing fine after having a malignant Kylie removed from it.
REAL SPORT
We finally got to see a water polo game this week. It seems like a very long time since he played. There are grading games for the first few weeks but I think it will become clear for most teams pretty quickly. We thought we were playing Rangeview 3, which theoretically meant a pretty weak team (assuming 1 & 2 were better teams). Was a bit of a shock when they scored first in the first quarter (Rory was off for the first quarter) I was a bit worried. They came back and scored two to finish the quarter 2-1. Rory came on and stayed on for the rest of the game. He scored two goals, both of which involved him swimming away from the defenders and popping the ball in from short range (he said he wanted to make sure he didn't miss). He is definitely faster than most out there and he could swim away from anyone trying to catch him, he did slow down a bit in the fourth quarter but did play three in a row. The final score was 7-2, and afterward we discovered it was actually Rangeview 1 so that made the score a lot better. Ponsonby had two wins and two losses in the first round.
Hannah had pulled a groin muscle and wasn't expected to play soccer but came in her gear in case we were short. She ended up playing in goal for most of the game giving the goalies a break from goal. The other team wasn't real strong and we were ahead 2-0 at half time, was a bit worried that uphill in the second half that two goals might not be enough. It was, and we scored three more in the second half for good measure to win 5-0. Hannah was so sore I had to carry her off the pitch at the end, was pretty gutsy, she only had to touch the ball about three times but every step she took hurt (it seems better today). The girls have done enough to stay in Division 1 for the season.
Rory's team played at the same time as Hannah's so I didn't see them. They played with only ten players, but worked very hard, Diana reckons the hardest they have so far. They lost 2-1, which is pretty damn good for playing short.
SPORT
Man Utd lost the FA Cup final to Arsenal, despite being all over them for most of the match. Rio Ferdinand had a goal disallowed and I can't see why, to be honest. It ended after half an hour of extra time in a goal-less draw and penalty shootouts.
The Crusaders thumped the Hurricanes 47-7 and the Waratahs beat the Bulls 23-13 in the other semi-final. Somehow the Brumbies still have a mathematical chance of making the final (it feels like it, they did have for weeks and kept losing but somehow still had a chance).
MY SAD LIFE
We went off to the Charity Premiere of Episode III on Monday night. It started badly when Gavin had an accident about 200 metres from our house. He wasn't hurt but the car was. Anyway, we got there in time, it got really crowded as it got closer to kick-off. Rory and I had seats with plenty of leg room in a VIP cinema. There were free beers and champagne, but I only managed to get one just before we went into the movie. Got a shot of Rory with two of the people in the movie (both blink and you miss it parts). We caught up with Gavin afterward and met Koos at the Burger King across the road. Koos said it was a night of queuing - to get in to the building, into the theatre, out of the theatre, get your cellphone (they checked them in to prevent piracy, although you can't record a whole movie on a cellphone yet), queue to pay for your parking ticket, then leave the car park (the car park was chaos when I tried to leave about 11:30, it was bizarre, the machine wouldn't accept notes for payment any more and tickets were "expiring" because you need to leave within ten minutes). Movie was good, haven't seen it again yet, Rory has.
* The lads dressed up as storm troopers have appeared in about five newspapers (in front section, entertainment, and business sections), on TV about three times, and in the Women's Weekly.
Hannah went to school sick on Monday, delivered her speech, and came home and went to bed for two days. We found out on Wednesday that she came second, which is pretty good for someone who could barely stand up. Shame she wasn't in better shape, but she was still happy with the result. I got there just as she finished her speech, which was a bummer. We found out Friday that she qualifies to go off to the inter-school competition, she's pretty happy (despite earlier protestations). This means she can have a crack at doing it even better.
Rory had to take 1920s style clothing to school on Tuesday, we found this out on Monday night. Not sure about you, but despite the fact that my wardrobe is not exactly the latest fashion, I am pretty sure there isn't anything that dates back to the '20s. It was for a photo for the musical they are doing at school. Diana wants Rory to audition for it, and I think he probably should too. He's not so keen, but we shall see. I have volunteered to make props (Thomson sub-machine guns), the musical is Bugsy Malone. He was supposed to be attending a re-shoot today.
Hannah has started calling Rory "Doris" when he is being wimpy, which is kind of funny. He doesn't like it.
Rory has an interview at St Kentigern College on Friday, he has made the short list for a scholarship, but I think even if he gets one the chances are pretty low that he will go (so don't worry, Chris). Even qualifying for a scholarship means fees of $8000 per year plus buying a notebook PC for $5000 (you have got to be kidding about that one, the price is outrageous, and we are not a Toshiba family).
Paul G has been quiet, I figure he is floating around in Kiev right now.
Gavin hasn't had a lot of luck this week. After the crash on Monday, he got something in his eye, and after two trips to the A&E went to Auckland Hospital on Saturday. It is recovering, but he was pretty uncomfortable Friday and Saturday night. To add to his difficulties, he borrowed Diana's old car and the bloody thing over-heated again.
Rory is home sick today, with a temperature and other things. I thought I was improving yesterday but today I am not very clever. Diana is staying home with him as I have a meeting all morning.
16 May 2005
Winston strikes paydirt while the other type of foot and mouth causes plenty of grief - 16/05/05
LOCAL NEWS
Winston Peters found another dodgy Iraqi. He has struck gold, this will get him through the election and could even elevate him to a kingmaker role.
The local news service went wild on Tuesday when a threat was made to release foot and mouth disease on Waiheke Island. When it was released (the news), theoretically the disease had been released but there was a high chance it was a hoax. Given that it cost the country $1 million per day for some poor vets to spend their days poking thermometers into the nasty end of sheep and cows (and plenty more besides) I have to say suggestions of amnesty for the perpetrator to come forward and admit it was a hoax are quite disagreeable. Such a person should be found and punished to the full extent of the law. Holding the country to ransom (this could eliminate some $10 billion worth of exports per year for more than one year if true) is not funny. By the end of the weekend it was looking more likely to be a hoax.
There was a really cheap-shot article about how the Nelson Chronic Fatigue support group were too tired to do anything for International Chronic Fatigue Awareness Day. It's a bit like nobody showing up to the Apathy Sufferer's AGM.
A couple were convicted of stealing a plant pot that contained the remains of a foetus. They were upset that they had stolen such a thing, and claimed that they thought the house was unoccupied and the pot had been abandoned.
Lesley Martin, the euthanasia campaigner who was jailed for euthanasing her mother (at a time that appeared to be prematurely, without agreement of anyone else in her family) was ironically consulted by her family (ironic, isn't it) about her brother who was brain damaged in an accident a couple of weeks ago and they had to turn the machine off.
Some local person made news by listening to the voice mail of prominent people's cellphones (when they had used the standard access pin numbers). It wasn't very exciting, really.
Latest polls give Winston Peters a shot at becoming PM, if we aren't thoroughly careful.
Some Auckland guy stood on a railing, then fell 20m into a hole. He called rescue services on his mobile and told them when their siren sounded loudest so they could find him. Amazing how you sober up fast when you are suffering multiple contusions and a dislocated elbow.
True story - the residents of West Coast town Blackball were dismayed to hear a paroled paedophile was coming to live in their small community. There was a massive uproar, they were on the telly and I think the whole town pretty quickly figured out who it was (the police wouldn't tell them). He has now left. I think it is fair to say he was blackballed.
WORLD NEWS
Koos pointed out that the mystery of the exploding toads in Germany was explained when someone discovered crows were pecking out their livers and when the toads eventually realised they were under threat they would deliberately blow themselves up and without their liver and a hole in their skin they would over-inflate their lungs and burst. That's evolution for you.
I think the Uzi must have been named after Uzbekistan, where 500 protestors have been inhumed by riot police. Wonder when the US will step in. It's very confusing when the President is called Islam and he blames Islamists. Are they followers of Islam the religion or the person?
REAL SPORT
No water polo, it starts next week. What a rotten trick to play on us.
The girls struggled a bit on Saturday, against a pretty handy team, but we conceded a goal in the first half and were down 0-1 at half time (first time we've been down at half time this season). Hannah played really hard and at one point touched the ball about five times in a row clearing the ball from the penalty area and working it all the way to half way without anyone else doing a thing. It was like there were nine spectators on the field in green and white hoops. In the second half I had to put her in goal, we needed a solid goalie and our B goalie isn't really solid. Hannah let one in but it went over her head but I am not sure I would have reached it, but she did some good clearance kicks and just thumped one away very convincingly. Final score was 0-2, Hannah got player of the day and really deserved it.
Rory's team were without Rory and playing a team that hadn't had a win, so they needed to play well. They were playing with a new approach to defence which made me a bit nervous but it was better to try it against a weaker team than a tough one. We scored twice in the first half, and although they had to defend a bit there wasn't too much pressure. In the second half the opposition were going uphill, and really struggled to get out of their half. We scored twice again in the second half to finish with a 4-0 win, which makes them now three wins from six games and pretty certain to stay in Div 1.
SPORT
You know, I haven't really got a clue what's happened in the sporting world. I think the Super 12 semi-finalists are Waratahs playing Bulls and Crusaders playing Hurricanes.
Man Utd scored three goals to give them a 2-1 win over Southampton. Arsenal lost 1-2 to Birmingham. Nobody cares, Chelsea won the premiership. Southampton is relegated, as is Crystal Palace and Norwich. I think Sunderland are coming up, West Ham doesn't look like they will.
Tiger missed the cut for the first time in 146 matches.
MY SAD LIFE
Diana had a really evil idea last week. Hannah has been complaining about too much dancing, although we suspected it was more of an attention-seeking device than a real issue. Finally, Diana told her to make up her own mind and decide for herself (which was effectively what Hannah seemed to want). However, that really threw Hannah and she took a couple of days to think about it, and finally decided to give up hip-hop dancing, a very responsible decision but not what she had asked to give up previously. I suspect this may become a bit of a regular approach for us, and actually give the kids a bit more control (within reason) of some of the decisions that need to be made. The bonus is that they can't complain afterward when they chose in the first place.
Hannah has been working hard on her speech, and delivered it to the class with positive results mid-week. She came home on Friday with news that she was going on the final that is today, where they speak to the whole assembly. She spent yesterday in bed, sick, which is a concern but she seems better and should be okay to do the speech.
Rory won a story writing competition with his story of the trip to Glinks Gully the year before last. He won $150 and it was read out on a radio station by John Campbell (TV3 person). I was woken up by voices and wondered what was going on at about ten to seven and then realised they were getting ready to listen to the show. We all sat in the lounge with the radio going and had to wait about forty minutes for it to come up, even had to listen to Abba's "Dancing Queen" (sometimes the price you pay is just too high). Finally it came on, and although I had read it quite a while ago it seemed different. I think Rory was happier about the dollars than the fact that his story was read on the radio.
Rory went off to inter-school wrestling and hurt his knee. I am pretty annoyed because he has been doing lots of inter-school things just to get out of spending time at school. However, getting injured doing something you don't really care about kind of mucks things up when you want to play the sport you do care about. It seems to be getting better but he has a school soccer trial today.
Star Wars Episode III opens this week. (Sorry, Brett, but that is kind of newsworthy.) A saga that began in 1978 (for us in New Zealand) will now be complete. For Episode I, I took Rory to a special screening where we got given an ice cream in our seats, Rory wanted to see if he could ask for another one (he was six). For Episode II, Rory got the day off when it opened and we went to see it at 10am, the day Diana and I flew out for a trip to Melbourne and Sydney, Rory was nine. I vividly remember that on the way home from the movie we talked about how old he would be when Episode III came out and him saying "Wow, nearly thirteen, that's a long way away." We are going to the charity premiere tonight, a few days before the official opening. It will include a few New Zealanders who have minor parts in the film who will say a few words (Jay Lagaia, Keisha Castle-Hughes, and Bodie Taylor - Temuera Morrison is overseas). The 501st Legion are doing lots of stuff wandering around in Stormtrooper outfits, etc, in conjunction with 20th Century Fox, my friends Chris and Matt have been very busy with interviews and things. Fox have flown troopers from all over the country for tonight, there will be 23 people in costume. It should be a lot of fun.
Paul is off to Kiev, might be there by now. He was meeting Ian and Maureen somewhere, Paris I think.
May the force be with you, always.
Winston Peters found another dodgy Iraqi. He has struck gold, this will get him through the election and could even elevate him to a kingmaker role.
The local news service went wild on Tuesday when a threat was made to release foot and mouth disease on Waiheke Island. When it was released (the news), theoretically the disease had been released but there was a high chance it was a hoax. Given that it cost the country $1 million per day for some poor vets to spend their days poking thermometers into the nasty end of sheep and cows (and plenty more besides) I have to say suggestions of amnesty for the perpetrator to come forward and admit it was a hoax are quite disagreeable. Such a person should be found and punished to the full extent of the law. Holding the country to ransom (this could eliminate some $10 billion worth of exports per year for more than one year if true) is not funny. By the end of the weekend it was looking more likely to be a hoax.
There was a really cheap-shot article about how the Nelson Chronic Fatigue support group were too tired to do anything for International Chronic Fatigue Awareness Day. It's a bit like nobody showing up to the Apathy Sufferer's AGM.
A couple were convicted of stealing a plant pot that contained the remains of a foetus. They were upset that they had stolen such a thing, and claimed that they thought the house was unoccupied and the pot had been abandoned.
Lesley Martin, the euthanasia campaigner who was jailed for euthanasing her mother (at a time that appeared to be prematurely, without agreement of anyone else in her family) was ironically consulted by her family (ironic, isn't it) about her brother who was brain damaged in an accident a couple of weeks ago and they had to turn the machine off.
Some local person made news by listening to the voice mail of prominent people's cellphones (when they had used the standard access pin numbers). It wasn't very exciting, really.
Latest polls give Winston Peters a shot at becoming PM, if we aren't thoroughly careful.
Some Auckland guy stood on a railing, then fell 20m into a hole. He called rescue services on his mobile and told them when their siren sounded loudest so they could find him. Amazing how you sober up fast when you are suffering multiple contusions and a dislocated elbow.
True story - the residents of West Coast town Blackball were dismayed to hear a paroled paedophile was coming to live in their small community. There was a massive uproar, they were on the telly and I think the whole town pretty quickly figured out who it was (the police wouldn't tell them). He has now left. I think it is fair to say he was blackballed.
WORLD NEWS
Koos pointed out that the mystery of the exploding toads in Germany was explained when someone discovered crows were pecking out their livers and when the toads eventually realised they were under threat they would deliberately blow themselves up and without their liver and a hole in their skin they would over-inflate their lungs and burst. That's evolution for you.
I think the Uzi must have been named after Uzbekistan, where 500 protestors have been inhumed by riot police. Wonder when the US will step in. It's very confusing when the President is called Islam and he blames Islamists. Are they followers of Islam the religion or the person?
REAL SPORT
No water polo, it starts next week. What a rotten trick to play on us.
The girls struggled a bit on Saturday, against a pretty handy team, but we conceded a goal in the first half and were down 0-1 at half time (first time we've been down at half time this season). Hannah played really hard and at one point touched the ball about five times in a row clearing the ball from the penalty area and working it all the way to half way without anyone else doing a thing. It was like there were nine spectators on the field in green and white hoops. In the second half I had to put her in goal, we needed a solid goalie and our B goalie isn't really solid. Hannah let one in but it went over her head but I am not sure I would have reached it, but she did some good clearance kicks and just thumped one away very convincingly. Final score was 0-2, Hannah got player of the day and really deserved it.
Rory's team were without Rory and playing a team that hadn't had a win, so they needed to play well. They were playing with a new approach to defence which made me a bit nervous but it was better to try it against a weaker team than a tough one. We scored twice in the first half, and although they had to defend a bit there wasn't too much pressure. In the second half the opposition were going uphill, and really struggled to get out of their half. We scored twice again in the second half to finish with a 4-0 win, which makes them now three wins from six games and pretty certain to stay in Div 1.
SPORT
You know, I haven't really got a clue what's happened in the sporting world. I think the Super 12 semi-finalists are Waratahs playing Bulls and Crusaders playing Hurricanes.
Man Utd scored three goals to give them a 2-1 win over Southampton. Arsenal lost 1-2 to Birmingham. Nobody cares, Chelsea won the premiership. Southampton is relegated, as is Crystal Palace and Norwich. I think Sunderland are coming up, West Ham doesn't look like they will.
Tiger missed the cut for the first time in 146 matches.
MY SAD LIFE
Diana had a really evil idea last week. Hannah has been complaining about too much dancing, although we suspected it was more of an attention-seeking device than a real issue. Finally, Diana told her to make up her own mind and decide for herself (which was effectively what Hannah seemed to want). However, that really threw Hannah and she took a couple of days to think about it, and finally decided to give up hip-hop dancing, a very responsible decision but not what she had asked to give up previously. I suspect this may become a bit of a regular approach for us, and actually give the kids a bit more control (within reason) of some of the decisions that need to be made. The bonus is that they can't complain afterward when they chose in the first place.
Hannah has been working hard on her speech, and delivered it to the class with positive results mid-week. She came home on Friday with news that she was going on the final that is today, where they speak to the whole assembly. She spent yesterday in bed, sick, which is a concern but she seems better and should be okay to do the speech.
Rory won a story writing competition with his story of the trip to Glinks Gully the year before last. He won $150 and it was read out on a radio station by John Campbell (TV3 person). I was woken up by voices and wondered what was going on at about ten to seven and then realised they were getting ready to listen to the show. We all sat in the lounge with the radio going and had to wait about forty minutes for it to come up, even had to listen to Abba's "Dancing Queen" (sometimes the price you pay is just too high). Finally it came on, and although I had read it quite a while ago it seemed different. I think Rory was happier about the dollars than the fact that his story was read on the radio.
Rory went off to inter-school wrestling and hurt his knee. I am pretty annoyed because he has been doing lots of inter-school things just to get out of spending time at school. However, getting injured doing something you don't really care about kind of mucks things up when you want to play the sport you do care about. It seems to be getting better but he has a school soccer trial today.
Star Wars Episode III opens this week. (Sorry, Brett, but that is kind of newsworthy.) A saga that began in 1978 (for us in New Zealand) will now be complete. For Episode I, I took Rory to a special screening where we got given an ice cream in our seats, Rory wanted to see if he could ask for another one (he was six). For Episode II, Rory got the day off when it opened and we went to see it at 10am, the day Diana and I flew out for a trip to Melbourne and Sydney, Rory was nine. I vividly remember that on the way home from the movie we talked about how old he would be when Episode III came out and him saying "Wow, nearly thirteen, that's a long way away." We are going to the charity premiere tonight, a few days before the official opening. It will include a few New Zealanders who have minor parts in the film who will say a few words (Jay Lagaia, Keisha Castle-Hughes, and Bodie Taylor - Temuera Morrison is overseas). The 501st Legion are doing lots of stuff wandering around in Stormtrooper outfits, etc, in conjunction with 20th Century Fox, my friends Chris and Matt have been very busy with interviews and things. Fox have flown troopers from all over the country for tonight, there will be 23 people in costume. It should be a lot of fun.
Paul is off to Kiev, might be there by now. He was meeting Ian and Maureen somewhere, Paris I think.
May the force be with you, always.
9 May 2005
Happy Mother's Day and watch out for falling metroliners - 09/05/05
Happy Mother's Day to all Mums reading this, especially those who are first time Mother's Day Mums (or Grandmas).
I was trying to do this week's email without sarcasm. I am not sure I managed it. No prizes will be awarded for highlighting any sarcastic elements.
LOCAL NEWS
It was revealed by professional stirrer Winston Peter, that an Iraqi diplomat who served under Saddam Hussein has been living in NZ for a year. His visitor's permit was revoked by the immigration service. Then, on Tuesday, Winston revealed the man's name under privilege in Parliament. Funny thing was, when Winston named him, he wasn't who they thought he was. This meant there were TWO dodgy Iraqis floating around, and possibly more. The Government reacted by closing the office in Bangkok that seemed to be issuing visas to just about anybody, but was under pressure over their inability to prevent this happening and undertook a review of the last two years visas issued.
The number of dodgy Iraqi immigrants increased to about five during the week. Meanwhile the whole local Iraqi community were divided between those who felt like victims of a new witch hunt and those that didn't want the instruments of Saddam in New Zealand, the place they came to in an effort to escape those very people. Two were subsequently found to be kosher. Winston then announced one of them was a former Palace Guard. It has to be said that this was the money shot for Winston, he is getting heaps of profile and it is likely to ensure he returns to Parliament and may even be an influence in the next government.
A Dunedin policeman boosted the profile of the force when he rescued two children and their mother from a house fire. The Fire Service were a little bit miffed and are considering their options, including responding to 111 police calls (it would be easier for them to beat the police to most of them).
A post plane crashed over Taranaki on Tuesday night (a metroliner), which was somewhat disturbing for me flying to Wellington with that news on the radio. It sounds like it exploded mid-air.
A six day bus strike started in Auckland on Thursday. The roads and trains were very busy.
Our favourite MP, John Tamihere, left two young cats behind when he moved house and eleven days later they were rescued by the SPCA and had to be put down. So not only is he a loud mouthed braggart, but he doesn't care about animals either. Yet again it becomes obvious this man is utterly selfish and has no regard for others.
Former Red Squad Commander and MP, Ross Meurant, put his dreaded long baton on trademe for sale with a starting price of $10,000 - which was just silly. It got lots of publicity, then the auction was withdrawn.
An arsonist dwarf was jailed for two and a half years (one year per foot of height). His main defence for causing $400,000 worth of damage at two Waikato schools was that people would stare at him and that hurt his feelings. Perhaps that would have happened less if he didn't cross-dress or suffer from Tourette's syndrome.
A New Zealander was arrested in connection with the Bali nine from Australia (drug smugglers).
It was revealed this week that a new asthma inhaler has enough alcohol in it to create a false positive in a drink driving test. It wears off pretty quickly but could cause some problems.
Duck hunting season started, with a father shooting his son (but only just, one shotgun pellet got the boy in the face, near the eye). The man's license and gun have been taken, but given that birdshot has about 20-30 pellets, you have to wonder if one pellet ricocheted or something. Another man drowned whilst trying to recover the duck he had shot, call that one a draw or perhaps a small victory for the ducks.
A fisherman was so excited about catching two fish at the same time that he slipped and fell into the water and drowned whilst trying to haul them in.
WORLD NEWS
The election in England continued to get coverage. The explosion at a UK embassy in New York seemed to be a bit of a non-event, nobody was hurt. Then Tony Blair was re-elected on his birthday, isn't that sweet.
This really upsets me. New research says that hydro-power dams emit more greenhouse gases than oil-powered generation. The reason is that rising and falling lake levels cause vegetation to rot, which then releases CO2. Firstly, not all hydro dams are in places like Brazil with vegetation to the waterline (many NZ ones are up high in barren mountains where there is very little flora) but this ignores the fact that most dams are in places where there were lakes anyway and the rotting would happen anyway because lake levels can go up and down naturally and well-managed dams don't vary the water level much more. The whole idea of suggesting that we should use petrochemical generation in favour of hydro is bizarre.
This week, another Metroliner went down in North Queensland, with passengers on board, a few days after the one in Taranaki. Fifteen people died. I wouldn't fly in one of them right now.
Japan has started making beer from dried peas to avoid taxes and make the beer a lot cheaper.
It is sixty years since the end of the war in Europe. GW managed to offend the Russians, I suppose it must be their turn.
REAL SPORT
The girls were absolutely shocking at training this week, so chatty it wasn't funny. It made me nervous about the game. They did okay in the first half, but only 0-0 at half time. They faded again in second half and conceded two pretty soft goals. Final score 0-2 and they really aren't playing up to where they were a couple of weeks ago. I am wondering if they could end up second div, which would be a real shame.
The boys were playing away, but just down the road from the girls and two hours later so I had time to get there to see the whole game. I handled subs and strategy and moved a couple of players into different positions to see how they would go. 0-0 at half time, same as Hannah's game. We broke through and scored in the second half and pressured them hard. Billy missed two shockers that he should have got, then Rory put a large one over his head, Billy went around the goalie then just escorted it in to the goal. He knew that if he touched the ball it was likely to go flying into our goal at the other end so Rory got his first goal of the season (from about half way). Final score 2-0 win, and a good result, they needed the win. They had an official ref, who pinged people for calling "mine" which drove us nuts (but is the rule).
Rory's first school water polo game is this Friday. We enrolled him for club water polo on Sunday. The starts in June.
SPORT
Liverpool beat Chelsea to meet AC Milan in the Champs League final later in the month. Man Utd drew with West Bromich Albion 1-1, what a crap team. Everton beat Newcastle 2-0, Chelsea beat Charlton 1-0, Man City beat Villa 2-1, Fulham beat Blackburn 3-1 and both teams had a man sent off. Same thing happened in Crystal Palace Southampton game (two sent off at same time) but they drew 2-2.
Hurricanes beat the Blues (for the first time ever, in their 9th encounter) 22-10, the Blues are effectively out of running for semis and the Hurricanes are in. The Waratahs beat the Reds for the first time in Super 12, 27-8. The Crusaders beat the Highlanders 27-13 so Crusaders are in the semis. The Brumbies must be really crap this season because they had a 28-28 draw with the Chiefs who are crap (I think they both made the semis last season).
Johnny Wilkinson is now coming with the Lions.
MY SAD LIFE
There was a power cut in our area on Monday night. It was first one for quite some time, not sure the kids even remember having one. Much more impact at night. We lit a couple of candles but it was still dark. Must have tried to turn on lights as I went into rooms about three or four times, despite knowing the power was off. Hannah and I went swimming, first I rang the pool and they still had power. It gave us a chance to see how widespread it was, was basically all of Pt Chevalier and Mt Albert to New North Road. The traffic lights were out at the end of Pt Chev Road, which was interesting. It came back on soon after we got home. Diana and Rory were lying on the bed listening to HHGTTG on the iPod with one earphone each, as they couldn't read.
There was another power cut for some houses on Saturday night, when a youth munted a power pole on Pt Chev Road, it didn't affect us, but the power pole isn't too happy.
Baycorp is a local company that tracks your credit worthiness in New Zealand. The law has changed and people are now allowed to check their credit records to check what they contain. I printed off the form and sent it off a while back. This week I found out who has checked up on me and what they have on me. It was largely correct, although it had some iffy information about my address. At least in my case, big brother hasn't got things wrong.
Vodafone announced free texting on weekends for the next year or so. As a result, all day Saturday was a constant stream of text noises from phones wherever I went. The kids went mad and I think Rory sent me more than fifty (most saying the same thing). I am sure Vodafone will regret the move, I know I do.
We went to Allan and Jacqui's for dinner on Saturday, got a reasonably rare chance to talk with Paul and Emma as well (and Rachel made a very brief appearance). Even our kids stayed in the room, rather than disappearing to watch telly or do something on a computer, which was nice.
Instead of taking the Mums out to lunch for Mother's Day, the kids and I made lunch at home. We made a menu, Rory was the waiter, Hannah was supposed to be the lead cook, but I ended up doing most of the cooking (it wasn't very complicated). We offered things we knew we could do, plus something that we couldn't (but we had run out of). It was nice, although the weather wasn't quite up to it and it was a bit cold on the deck. For dinner, Hannah made the pancakes we were planning on having at lunchtime, and that was really nice.
Rory is home sick today.
My trip to Wellington went well, after I got home I looked up the Minister on the internet and found out who he was (he was addressed as "Minister" the whole sodding time. I was very careful with my coffee on the plane and refused to eat anything for lunch on the basis that I might spill something on my nice new white shirt. The presentation went well, and was largely uneventful until the trip home, which you can read about now in:
WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU CROSS A SENIOR MOMENT WITH A BLONDE MOMENT?
A: About fifteen minutes of sadness. On Wednesday, on my way home from Wellington, I got to the airport early and wanted to bump my flight to one earlier. The lady looked at my ticket and helpfully pointed out that an hour earlier would still be eleven months from now. Turned out that while I did fix the date of the flight down, I failed to notice the return flight was for the 4th of April (2006). My excuse was that the session timed out and I had to re-do it twice while I looked for my airpoints card. The good news was that I was well outside the 24 hours minimum to change my ticket. Anyway, while I was trying to sort this out, I couldn't find my cellphone. I had been on the phone in the taxi, then got off it and while paying I had my wallet, credit card, pen, receipt, and all out at once and in the confusion I think the phone must have slipped out of my pocket as I was getting out. So I was thinking about tracking down the taxi, the receipt didn't have the company name on it, and I didn't remember the name on the cab or the name of the driver. I rang the phone, didn't hear it, so figured I didn't have it. Rang it again so the driver could answer it. Then I realised the taxi probably went down below to pick up another fare, so once my ticket was sorted I was going to go looking for the taxi. Then, I remembered that I had put the phone on vibrate after the call, so the driver wouldn't hear it. I worked through how I could just go to the Vodafone store in the airport, get a new phone and sim, and it would back to normal by the time I landed in Auckland. I was going through the implication of losing all the phone numbers stored in my phone as well, which was going to be a mission. Once I got my new boarding pass (this was going on with paying for new ticket and getting seat near Susan (a fellow presenter who thought the whole thing to be hilarious) I realised that if it was on vibrate, it could actually be in my bag, so I looked harder and there the bloody thing was. We went to the bar, I bought Susan a wine as hush money, and got myself a beer. I think I had earned it, sort of.
ANOTHER SENTENCE I WASN'T EXPECTING TO SAY
"Excuse me, where would I find some black tights? Not for me, they are for a friend."
(don't ask)
Have a good week, make sure you check any flights you booked on the internet.
I was trying to do this week's email without sarcasm. I am not sure I managed it. No prizes will be awarded for highlighting any sarcastic elements.
LOCAL NEWS
It was revealed by professional stirrer Winston Peter, that an Iraqi diplomat who served under Saddam Hussein has been living in NZ for a year. His visitor's permit was revoked by the immigration service. Then, on Tuesday, Winston revealed the man's name under privilege in Parliament. Funny thing was, when Winston named him, he wasn't who they thought he was. This meant there were TWO dodgy Iraqis floating around, and possibly more. The Government reacted by closing the office in Bangkok that seemed to be issuing visas to just about anybody, but was under pressure over their inability to prevent this happening and undertook a review of the last two years visas issued.
The number of dodgy Iraqi immigrants increased to about five during the week. Meanwhile the whole local Iraqi community were divided between those who felt like victims of a new witch hunt and those that didn't want the instruments of Saddam in New Zealand, the place they came to in an effort to escape those very people. Two were subsequently found to be kosher. Winston then announced one of them was a former Palace Guard. It has to be said that this was the money shot for Winston, he is getting heaps of profile and it is likely to ensure he returns to Parliament and may even be an influence in the next government
A Dunedin policeman boosted the profile of the force when he rescued two children and their mother from a house fire. The Fire Service were a little bit miffed and are considering their options, including responding to 111 police calls (it would be easier for them to beat the police to most of them).
A post plane crashed over Taranaki on Tuesday night (a metroliner), which was somewhat disturbing for me flying to Wellington with that news on the radio. It sounds like it exploded mid-air.
A six day bus strike started in Auckland on Thursday. The roads and trains were very busy.
Our favourite MP, John Tamihere, left two young cats behind when he moved house and eleven days later they were rescued by the SPCA and had to be put down. So not only is he a loud mouthed braggart, but he doesn't care about animals either. Yet again it becomes obvious this man is utterly selfish and has no regard for others.
Former Red Squad Commander and MP, Ross Meurant, put his dreaded long baton on trademe for sale with a starting price of $10,000 - which was just silly. It got lots of publicity, then the auction was withdrawn.
An arsonist dwarf was jailed for two and a half years (one year per foot of height). His main defence for causing $400,000 worth of damage at two Waikato schools was that people would stare at him and that hurt his feelings. Perhaps that would have happened less if he didn't cross-dress or suffer from Tourette's syndrome.
A New Zealander was arrested in connection with the Bali nine from Australia (drug smugglers).
It was revealed this week that a new asthma inhaler has enough alcohol in it to create a false positive in a drink driving test. It wears off pretty quickly but could cause some problems.
Duck hunting season started, with a father shooting his son (but only just, one shotgun pellet got the boy in the face, near the eye). The man's license and gun have been taken, but given that birdshot has about 20-30 pellets, you have to wonder if one pellet ricocheted or something. Another man drowned whilst trying to recover the duck he had shot, call that one a draw or perhaps a small victory for the ducks.
A fisherman was so excited about catching two fish at the same time that he slipped and fell into the water and drowned whilst trying to haul them in.
WORLD NEWS
The election in England continued to get coverage. The explosion at a UK embassy in New York seemed to be a bit of a non-event, nobody was hurt. Then Tony Blair was re-elected on his birthday, isn't that sweet.
This really upsets me. New research says that hydro-power dams emit more greenhouse gases than oil-powered generation. The reason is that rising and falling lake levels cause vegetation to rot, which then releases CO2. Firstly, not all hydro dams are in places like Brazil with vegetation to the waterline (many NZ ones are up high in barren mountains where there is very little flora) but this ignores the fact that most dams are in places where there were lakes anyway and the rotting would happen anyway because lake levels can go up and down naturally and well-managed dams don't vary the water level much more. The whole idea of suggesting that we should use petrochemical generation in favour of hydro is bizarre.
This week, another Metroliner went down in North Queensland, with passengers on board, a few days after the one in Taranaki. Fifteen people died. I wouldn't fly in one of them right now.
Japan has started making beer from dried peas to avoid taxes and make the beer a lot cheaper.
It is sixty years since the end of the war in Europe. GW managed to offend the Russians, I suppose it must be their turn.
REAL SPORT
The girls were absolutely shocking at training this week, so chatty it wasn't funny. It made me nervous about the game. They did okay in the first half, but only 0-0 at half time. They faded again in second half and conceded two pretty soft goals. Final score 0-2 and they really aren't playing up to where they were a couple of weeks ago. I am wondering if they could end up second div, which would be a real shame.
The boys were playing away, but just down the road from the girls and two hours later so I had time to get there to see the whole game. I handled subs and strategy and moved a couple of players into different positions to see how they would go. 0-0 at half time, same as Hannah's game. We broke through and scored in the second half and pressured them hard. Billy missed two shockers that he should have got, then Rory put a large one over his head, Billy went around the goalie then just escorted it in to the goal. He knew that if he touched the ball it was likely to go flying into our goal at the other end so Rory got his first goal of the season (from about half way). Final score 2-0 win, and a good result, they needed the win. They had an official ref, who pinged people for calling "mine" which drove us nuts (but is the rule).
Rory's first school water polo game is this Friday. We enrolled him for club water polo on Sunday. The starts in June.
SPORT
Liverpool beat Chelsea to meet AC Milan in the Champs League final later in the month. Man Utd drew with West Bromich Albion 1-1, what a crap team. Everton beat Newcastle 2-0, Chelsea beat Charlton 1-0, Man City beat Villa 2-1, Fulham beat Blackburn 3-1 and both teams had a man sent off. Same thing happened in Crystal Palace Southampton game (two sent off at same time) but they drew 2-2.
Hurricanes beat the Blues (for the first time ever, in their 9th encounter) 22-10, the Blues are effectively out of running for semis and the Hurricanes are in. The Waratahs beat the Reds for the first time in Super 12, 27-8. The Crusaders beat the Highlanders 27-13 so Crusaders are in the semis. The Brumbies must be really crap this season because they had a 28-28 draw with the Chiefs who are crap (I think they both made the semis last season).
Johnny Wilkinson is now coming with the Lions.
MY SAD LIFE
There was a power cut in our area on Monday night. It was first one for quite some time, not sure the kids even remember having one. Much more impact at night. We lit a couple of candles but it was still dark. Must have tried to turn on lights as I went into rooms about three or four times, despite knowing the power was off. Hannah and I went swimming, first I rang the pool and they still had power. It gave us a chance to see how widespread it was, was basically all of Pt Chevalier and Mt Albert to New North Road. The traffic lights were out at the end of Pt Chev Road, which was interesting. It came back on soon after we got home. Diana and Rory were lying on the bed listening to HHGTTG on the iPod with one earphone each, as they couldn't read.
There was another power cut for some houses on Saturday night, when a youth munted a power pole on Pt Chev Road, it didn't affect us, but the power pole isn't too happy.
Baycorp is a local company that tracks your credit worthiness in New Zealand. The law has changed and people are now allowed to check their credit records to check what they contain. I printed off the form and sent it off a while back. This week I found out who has checked up on me and what they have on me. It was largely correct, although it had some iffy information about my address. At least in my case, big brother hasn't got things wrong.
Vodafone announced free texting on weekends for the next year or so. As a result, all day Saturday was a constant stream of text noises from phones wherever I went. The kids went mad and I think Rory sent me more than fifty (most saying the same thing). I am sure Vodafone will regret the move, I know I do.
We went to Allan and Jacqui's for dinner on Saturday, got a reasonably rare chance to talk with Paul and Emma as well (and Rachel made a very brief appearance). Even our kids stayed in the room, rather than disappearing to watch telly or do something on a computer, which was nice.
Instead of taking the Mums out to lunch for Mother's Day, the kids and I made lunch at home. We made a menu, Rory was the waiter, Hannah was supposed to be the lead cook, but I ended up doing most of the cooking (it wasn't very complicated). We offered things we knew we could do, plus something that we couldn't (but we had run out of). It was nice, although the weather wasn't quite up to it and it was a bit cold on the deck. For dinner, Hannah made the pancakes we were planning on having at lunchtime, and that was really nice.
Rory is home sick today.
My trip to Wellington went well, after I got home I looked up the Minister on the internet and found out who he was (he was addressed as "Minister" the whole sodding time. I was very careful with my coffee on the plane and refused to eat anything for lunch on the basis that I might spill something on my nice new white shirt. The presentation went well, and was largely uneventful until the trip home, which you can read about now in:
WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU CROSS A SENIOR MOMENT WITH A BLONDE MOMENT?
A: About fifteen minutes of sadness. On Wednesday, on my way home from Wellington, I got to the airport early and wanted to bump my flight to one earlier. The lady looked at my ticket and helpfully pointed out that an hour earlier would still be eleven months from now. Turned out that while I did fix the date of the flight down, I failed to notice the return flight was for the 4th of April (2006). My excuse was that the session timed out and I had to re-do it twice while I looked for my airpoints card. The good news was that I was well outside the 24 hours minimum to change my ticket. Anyway, while I was trying to sort this out, I couldn't find my cellphone. I had been on the phone in the taxi, then got off it and while paying I had my wallet, credit card, pen, receipt, and all out at once and in the confusion I think the phone must have slipped out of my pocket as I was getting out. So I was thinking about tracking down the taxi, the receipt didn't have the company name on it, and I didn't remember the name on the cab or the name of the driver. I rang the phone, didn't hear it, so figured I didn't have it. Rang it again so the driver could answer it. Then I realised the taxi probably went down below to pick up another fare, so once my ticket was sorted I was going to go looking for the taxi. Then, I remembered that I had put the phone on vibrate after the call, so the driver wouldn't hear it. I worked through how I could just go to the Vodafone store in the airport, get a new phone and sim, and it would back to normal by the time I landed in Auckland. I was going through the implication of losing all the phone numbers stored in my phone as well, which was going to be a mission. Once I got my new boarding pass (this was going on with paying for new ticket and getting seat near Susan (a fellow presenter who thought the whole thing to be hilarious) I realised that if it was on vibrate, it could actually be in my bag, so I looked harder and there the bloody thing was. We went to the bar, I bought Susan a wine as hush money, and got myself a beer. I think I had earned it, sort of.
ANOTHER SENTENCE I WASN'T EXPECTING TO SAY
"Excuse me, where would I find some black tights? Not for me, they are for a friend."
(don't ask)
Have a good week, make sure you check any flights you booked on the internet.
2 May 2005
Late, no real excuse, quite embarrassing, sorry - 02/05/05
Sorry this is late. Bit distracted, work got in the way. For those of you who asked, no you haven't missed it, your email is still working. To make it less daunting, cut it in half and send it to your self in pieces.
* On Wednesday, it is 4th of May, depending on which side of the fence you sit, either remember to say "May the fourth be with you" or try not to. (the asterisk was for Brett)
LOCAL NEWS
It rained today, properly, but only for about half an hour. Don't know what to do in it, weather has been pretty good, even if colder in recent weeks.
Not sure if Christchurch is hoping to gain a reputation, but this week they had a body show up on a street. This follows a couple of other murders recently, in fact there has been five in the last two months. It's not the place to be. It turned out to be a gang guy, and arrests began to follow.
A 55 year old woman died when she was hit by the trailer her husband was backing and fell into a river. Apparently the husband was very unhappy, but really you'd have to be pretty stupid to stand behind a reversing trailer. No explanation has been given, but police are treating it as a tragic accident. It wasn't in Christchurch, it was in Kaipara. Later, a story revealed there was no trailer, but the account of the accident was beyond my comprehension and sounded very strange.
It was the tenth anniversary of the Cave Creek disaster this week (where a DOC viewing platform collapsed, killing nearly everyone on it in about a hundred foot fall). Recently the survivor said they were fooling around and jumping up and down, which was interesting.
Wellington Hospital has an infection floating around in the neo-natal unit that has killed three prem babies and they have stopped accepting new arrivals until they have it sorted. Lots of coverage of this, questions like why are they accepting more babies in there when there is such a danger. They gave a bollocks story about explaining the risks to people.
The Civil Union thing began on Friday. The question was asked as to what Civil Union partners are to be called. TV3 suggested instead of "married" they could be "civilised" or "unionised". I suppose you could introduce your civil union partner as your "civilian" or "unionist", but I suppose spouse, wife, and husband would work fine. Still don't really understand why regular couples would choose this method of formalising their relationship, as compared to gay couples who cannot yet legally marry, but apparently eight hetero couples did understand why and did it on the first day, along with about 31 gay couples..
MP Dover Samuels urinated in a hotel corridor in front of a hotel staff member who was trying to open his hotel room. Sounds like he was pretty pissed (cheap pun, I apologise). There's no excuse for it, if he needed to go, I am sure there were public toilets and things elsewhere and he could have gone before he went to sort out the problem with his key. It was later revealed he is suffering from prostate issues, but even so there are plenty of toilets in a hotel. Been a lot of news about inappropriate emptying of the bladder by people lately, I have spared you most of it.
Helen Clark was taking some flak because former Police Commissioner Peter Doone seemed to be reconsidering suing a newspaper that broke the story and suing Clark instead. It was all over him saying "that won't be necessary" to a rookie cop who wanted to breathalyse his partner. The fact is that he did say it, and he shouldn't. Who blew the whistle or told someone about it is irrelevant. If it was untrue, he might have a point.
A woman was found dead in her car in a car park outside the Warehouse in New Lynn.
A ten year old boy was shot by a six year old boy in a hunting accident. No, they weren't out hunting on their own, their clever fathers had raced off to get something they shot and left their loaded guns behind with the two boys. Nice plan. The ten year old is in deep trouble but still alive and it appears he will recover. The high-powered round went right through his body at very close range.
An Auckland man committed three robberies on Friday, and has committed thirteen in total - mostly in central West Auckland. His photos have now been well publicised. He started using a gun on Friday. Police and banks are trying to track the bugger down and be prepared for more.
WORLD NEWS
Doesn't seem like much has been going on overseas, apart from usual stuff about the election in England, exploding Iraqis, and the new Pope.
One thing that caught my eye was that an Oregon man is suing the Hair Club for not telling his there was a nasty growth on his head. He would regularly visit to have his hairpiece reglued over ten years and finally somebody told him. I can sort of see where he is coming from on this, even though it sounds bizarre. If the only people to ever see the top of your head don't tell you, who will?
REAL SPORT
Hannah's team were playing third on the table thing, we worked hard and kept them out uphill for the first half. However, despite having a few chances the opposition scored a goal (that was offside, but it was our ref so we couldn't complain) and we didn't manage to equalise. Our first real loss of the season. We were missing a star winger and one of our key defenders so it wasn't too bad.
Rory's team had the better of the team they played and had about three good chances and about four marginal ones but the other team scored very late in the game from a throw in and they lost 0-1 as well.
SPORT
Chelsea drew 0-0 with Liverpool in their Champs League semi-final. Liverpool fans were whinging that they could win the Champs League and not make it in to next year's competition. It hasn't yet, don't hold your breath, scouses.
Chelsea then beat Bolton 2-0 to clinch the premiership. Man Utd beat Charlton 4-0, Spurs beat Villa 5-1, Fulham upset Everton 2-0, Liverpool drew 1-1 with 'borough. The battle for relegation is very tight, with Norwich, West Brom, Southampton, and Crystal Palace all at the bottom within 1 point of each other. Southampton are playing Palace next weekend and will be a key match.
The Crusaders whupped the Sharks 77-34, the Waratahs popped the Highlanders bubble and beat them 41-20. The Hurricanes played the Brumbies who seem to be in trouble this season, (there were some spectacular tries from the Hurricanes in the second half, the highest score against the Brumbies, ever). The Blues lost to the Bulls 24-38. The Chiefs beat the Stormers 37-34 but are well out of contention. Two games left in round robin, four NZ teams have a chance, but room for three at most. Waratahs are definitely in semis.
Thomas got player of the day in his game, but I don't know if they won, I suspect they didn't.
Not sure when Rory's water polo games start but he has first training with his new school team tomorrow, which he is looking forward to.
MY SAD LIFE
The kids did a few holiday things this week, including ice skating and snowboarding (at Snow Planet, an indoor snow thing near Silverdale).
Diana and the kids also met Sasha 2.0 whilst at Snow Planet, who slept the whole time. Sasha 1.0 still isn't talking.
The family went to see the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie on Saturday night, even Hannah enjoyed it. Rory seemed to really enjoy it, he has read the first book and everyone has heard some of the radio play because I have it on my iPod. I think they did a pretty good job of the movie, tweaked the story quite a bit, but I think Douglas Adams would have been happy with it. It is very definitely in a position to move on to a sequel or two, although I suspect it will depart further from the book (let's be honest, the radio play, book, and TV show all contain a number of differing elements in them, so difference is okay).
I did try to give Koos the chance to come with us to the movie, but he left his mobile on the table while he was off shopping for cars with Sjaan. Not sure he quite understands what a mobile is for.
Gavin is planning a trip to Russia. So is Paul. Paul is going first on 20th May or so, to Kiev (I wonder if he will try the local Chicken Kiev, or do they call it Chicken Brisbane?). Gavin is going on June 7th or something to Ekatarenburg or something like that, via Moscow. Bambi went years ago with Lisa. It's a pretty big country, da?
There are workmen doing drain-like work near our house. One of them whistled at Hannah. Not sure anyone in the family is ready for that, just yet. She is only ten.
Saw the Goodins for the first time in absolutely ages. They were away for a week or so, but last time we saw them I didn't (I was in Wellington).
I am off to Wellington on Wednesday to demonstrate some software to a bunch of people. Could be a bit interesting. Kids are most surprised that I am going again, so soon after last trip. Just found out that this includes the Minister. Not sure which Minister (sad, isn't it). Everything I know about LMNP in ten minutes or less. Clothing crisis. Haven't worn a suit for work in years. Only wear it to funerals, don't want to wear it on a plane.
Diana did most of the crossword this week, without me. She did very well, only about seven items not completed. We usually do it together over coffee when the kids are at school, and I do tend to hog it. I finished it off (we don't normally finish it, so that was good).
Diana is back into work this week, first proper week of it. Kids are back to school today. The house is strangely quiet.
RANDOM STUFF THAT ESCAPED MY CRANIUM, ORALLY (AND NOW IN WRITING)
I am not sure that anybody should read this bit, even I think it is just silly.
From the "Even if you thought it, you shouldn't admit it to anybody" department. I apologise for the excessive use of speech marks in this, but it can't be helped.
Remember the "never lose sight of your rubber dog pooh" thing, well this phrase got me thinking :
"Oh, they're from Guam. That's why they're wearing pajamas."
It's another one that you wouldn't really expect to hear more than once. If you say something that you think is unique in the world, search on Google for it (in speech marks). If you don't find it, then you could be a) the first person to say it, or at least b) the first person to search for it on Google. I wonder if you could somehow copyright these sentences and charge people who subsequently use it. Can't see many people wanting to use "Oh, they're from Guam. That's why they're wearing pyjamas" very often, but who really knows. Try and use this in polite conversation, without other participants thinking you are bonkers. I might give a prize to someone who can.
FUN WITH GOOGLE
The lateness of the email today and concern from a number of people reminds me of an old joke. Google search on the words tapeworm, boiled egg, and joke if you want to know what I mean,
* On Wednesday, it is 4th of May, depending on which side of the fence you sit, either remember to say "May the fourth be with you" or try not to. (the asterisk was for Brett)
LOCAL NEWS
It rained today, properly, but only for about half an hour. Don't know what to do in it, weather has been pretty good, even if colder in recent weeks.
Not sure if Christchurch is hoping to gain a reputation, but this week they had a body show up on a street. This follows a couple of other murders recently, in fact there has been five in the last two months. It's not the place to be. It turned out to be a gang guy, and arrests began to follow.
A 55 year old woman died when she was hit by the trailer her husband was backing and fell into a river. Apparently the husband was very unhappy, but really you'd have to be pretty stupid to stand behind a reversing trailer. No explanation has been given, but police are treating it as a tragic accident. It wasn't in Christchurch, it was in Kaipara. Later, a story revealed there was no trailer, but the account of the accident was beyond my comprehension and sounded very strange.
It was the tenth anniversary of the Cave Creek disaster this week (where a DOC viewing platform collapsed, killing nearly everyone on it in about a hundred foot fall). Recently the survivor said they were fooling around and jumping up and down, which was interesting.
Wellington Hospital has an infection floating around in the neo-natal unit that has killed three prem babies and they have stopped accepting new arrivals until they have it sorted. Lots of coverage of this, questions like why are they accepting more babies in there when there is such a danger. They gave a bollocks story about explaining the risks to people.
The Civil Union thing began on Friday. The question was asked as to what Civil Union partners are to be called. TV3 suggested instead of "married" they could be "civilised" or "unionised". I suppose you could introduce your civil union partner as your "civilian" or "unionist", but I suppose spouse, wife, and husband would work fine. Still don't really understand why regular couples would choose this method of formalising their relationship, as compared to gay couples who cannot yet legally marry, but apparently eight hetero couples did understand why and did it on the first day, along with about 31 gay couples..
MP Dover Samuels urinated in a hotel corridor in front of a hotel staff member who was trying to open his hotel room. Sounds like he was pretty pissed (cheap pun, I apologise). There's no excuse for it, if he needed to go, I am sure there were public toilets and things elsewhere and he could have gone before he went to sort out the problem with his key. It was later revealed he is suffering from prostate issues, but even so there are plenty of toilets in a hotel. Been a lot of news about inappropriate emptying of the bladder by people lately, I have spared you most of it.
Helen Clark was taking some flak because former Police Commissioner Peter Doone seemed to be reconsidering suing a newspaper that broke the story and suing Clark instead. It was all over him saying "that won't be necessary" to a rookie cop who wanted to breathalyse his partner. The fact is that he did say it, and he shouldn't. Who blew the whistle or told someone about it is irrelevant. If it was untrue, he might have a point.
A woman was found dead in her car in a car park outside the Warehouse in New Lynn.
A ten year old boy was shot by a six year old boy in a hunting accident. No, they weren't out hunting on their own, their clever fathers had raced off to get something they shot and left their loaded guns behind with the two boys. Nice plan. The ten year old is in deep trouble but still alive and it appears he will recover. The high-powered round went right through his body at very close range.
An Auckland man committed three robberies on Friday, and has committed thirteen in total - mostly in central West Auckland. His photos have now been well publicised. He started using a gun on Friday. Police and banks are trying to track the bugger down and be prepared for more.
WORLD NEWS
Doesn't seem like much has been going on overseas, apart from usual stuff about the election in England, exploding Iraqis, and the new Pope.
One thing that caught my eye was that an Oregon man is suing the Hair Club for not telling his there was a nasty growth on his head. He would regularly visit to have his hairpiece reglued over ten years and finally somebody told him. I can sort of see where he is coming from on this, even though it sounds bizarre. If the only people to ever see the top of your head don't tell you, who will?
REAL SPORT
Hannah's team were playing third on the table thing, we worked hard and kept them out uphill for the first half. However, despite having a few chances the opposition scored a goal (that was offside, but it was our ref so we couldn't complain) and we didn't manage to equalise. Our first real loss of the season. We were missing a star winger and one of our key defenders so it wasn't too bad.
Rory's team had the better of the team they played and had about three good chances and about four marginal ones but the other team scored very late in the game from a throw in and they lost 0-1 as well.
SPORT
Chelsea drew 0-0 with Liverpool in their Champs League semi-final. Liverpool fans were whinging that they could win the Champs League and not make it in to next year's competition. It hasn't yet, don't hold your breath, scouses.
Chelsea then beat Bolton 2-0 to clinch the premiership. Man Utd beat Charlton 4-0, Spurs beat Villa 5-1, Fulham upset Everton 2-0, Liverpool drew 1-1 with 'borough. The battle for relegation is very tight, with Norwich, West Brom, Southampton, and Crystal Palace all at the bottom within 1 point of each other. Southampton are playing Palace next weekend and will be a key match.
The Crusaders whupped the Sharks 77-34, the Waratahs popped the Highlanders bubble and beat them 41-20. The Hurricanes played the Brumbies who seem to be in trouble this season, (there were some spectacular tries from the Hurricanes in the second half, the highest score against the Brumbies, ever). The Blues lost to the Bulls 24-38. The Chiefs beat the Stormers 37-34 but are well out of contention. Two games left in round robin, four NZ teams have a chance, but room for three at most. Waratahs are definitely in semis.
Thomas got player of the day in his game, but I don't know if they won, I suspect they didn't.
Not sure when Rory's water polo games start but he has first training with his new school team tomorrow, which he is looking forward to.
MY SAD LIFE
The kids did a few holiday things this week, including ice skating and snowboarding (at Snow Planet, an indoor snow thing near Silverdale).
Diana and the kids also met Sasha 2.0 whilst at Snow Planet, who slept the whole time. Sasha 1.0 still isn't talking.
The family went to see the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie on Saturday night, even Hannah enjoyed it. Rory seemed to really enjoy it, he has read the first book and everyone has heard some of the radio play because I have it on my iPod. I think they did a pretty good job of the movie, tweaked the story quite a bit, but I think Douglas Adams would have been happy with it. It is very definitely in a position to move on to a sequel or two, although I suspect it will depart further from the book (let's be honest, the radio play, book, and TV show all contain a number of differing elements in them, so difference is okay).
I did try to give Koos the chance to come with us to the movie, but he left his mobile on the table while he was off shopping for cars with Sjaan. Not sure he quite understands what a mobile is for.
Gavin is planning a trip to Russia. So is Paul. Paul is going first on 20th May or so, to Kiev (I wonder if he will try the local Chicken Kiev, or do they call it Chicken Brisbane?). Gavin is going on June 7th or something to Ekatarenburg or something like that, via Moscow. Bambi went years ago with Lisa. It's a pretty big country, da?
There are workmen doing drain-like work near our house. One of them whistled at Hannah. Not sure anyone in the family is ready for that, just yet. She is only ten.
Saw the Goodins for the first time in absolutely ages. They were away for a week or so, but last time we saw them I didn't (I was in Wellington).
I am off to Wellington on Wednesday to demonstrate some software to a bunch of people. Could be a bit interesting. Kids are most surprised that I am going again, so soon after last trip. Just found out that this includes the Minister. Not sure which Minister (sad, isn't it). Everything I know about LMNP in ten minutes or less. Clothing crisis. Haven't worn a suit for work in years. Only wear it to funerals, don't want to wear it on a plane.
Diana did most of the crossword this week, without me. She did very well, only about seven items not completed. We usually do it together over coffee when the kids are at school, and I do tend to hog it. I finished it off (we don't normally finish it, so that was good).
Diana is back into work this week, first proper week of it. Kids are back to school today. The house is strangely quiet.
RANDOM STUFF THAT ESCAPED MY CRANIUM, ORALLY (AND NOW IN WRITING)
I am not sure that anybody should read this bit, even I think it is just silly.
From the "Even if you thought it, you shouldn't admit it to anybody" department. I apologise for the excessive use of speech marks in this, but it can't be helped.
Remember the "never lose sight of your rubber dog pooh" thing, well this phrase got me thinking :
"Oh, they're from Guam. That's why they're wearing pajamas."
It's another one that you wouldn't really expect to hear more than once. If you say something that you think is unique in the world, search on Google for it (in speech marks). If you don't find it, then you could be a) the first person to say it, or at least b) the first person to search for it on Google. I wonder if you could somehow copyright these sentences and charge people who subsequently use it. Can't see many people wanting to use "Oh, they're from Guam. That's why they're wearing pyjamas" very often, but who really knows. Try and use this in polite conversation, without other participants thinking you are bonkers. I might give a prize to someone who can.
FUN WITH GOOGLE
The lateness of the email today and concern from a number of people reminds me of an old joke. Google search on the words tapeworm, boiled egg, and joke if you want to know what I mean,
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