LOCAL NEWS
By Tuesday morning police had arrested a fourteen year old boy over the concrete throwing incident and charged the bugger with murder. They were onto it pretty quickly.
Donna Awatere-Huata was found guilty of fraud and immediately held in custody, awaiting sentencing.
There was also a nasty road rage incident where the guy pulled a truck driver out of his seat and whacked him repeatedly with a hammer. It was all seen on camera and he was arrested the next day. His name was suppressed because he is related to a top level rugby player (this reason seems ridiculous to me, it hardly infers guilt on the rugby player and he wasn't too concerned about consequences when he attacked the driver).
The election continues to dominate news, with the big day about three weeks away.
The newspapers and other press seemed obsessed with the new haka that the All Blacks did. That's just silly. Nothing wrong with the old one.
Mark Ellis was named as the other "celebrity" drug person. He was found to have five ecstasy tablets on him. Not that I intend to take the stuff but it doesn't seem that bad to me.
WORLD NEWS
Tonga continues to fester. It stems around a strike by public servants and rumours of lost gold.
Been some bad weather in Europe, and a typhoon is coming to the US east coast.
REAL SPORT
I looked after the soccer teams at primary interschool on Thursday. They lost one game, one goal scored by a dodgy player who should have been sent off about four time (he tore the captain's armband off one player, a proper one, which is now wrecked, it was mine). They won one other game and drew three others. They came fourth. The B team won their tournament.
Hannah's water polo team got thumped about 14-0. It wasn't pretty but she played really well and was one of the better players, I think.
Last game of the season for Hannah's soccer team. The team they were playing had done well against some teams but only won one game. About ten minutes into the second half Hannah slapped a scorcher into the top right corner from the edge of the eighteen yard box to put the girls ahead. It looked like they might score a few more, but couldn't in the first half. In the second half, the other team equalised early on and the parents of the other team went mental. You couldn't hear yourself think on the sideline. It was a very tense second half but finished as a 1-1 draw. On Paul's recommendation, I gave Hannah player of the day. She worked very hard and the goal was one of the most spectacular of the season. The Furies lost their game 0-5 which put the Sirens one point clear of them and ahead by about 16 goals on goal difference. The finish the season sixth of eleven teams, with three wins, three draws, and four losses, with a +1 goal difference.
Rory's water polo team went to Rotorua and lost more games than they won. Diana said the team suffered when Rory and David weren't in the water.
SPORT
New Zealand utterly thumped Zimbabwe in first ODI, Lou Vincent got a record 174 runs. In the second one against India, New Zealand were looking shaky at 36/5 but slammed a few runs to get to 215 or so. The Indians were then taken apart by Shane Bond who got six for 19 off nine overs.
The poms were in good shape in the Ashes test after day two with Australia 99/5. Australia then followed on for the first time in about 16 years. The Aussies did make England bat again, but it wasn't enough and England clinched the win with three wickets to spare.
The All Blacks beat the Springboks, just, in a very close game about 31-27.
Man Utd beat Newcastle 2-0, Everton lost 0-1 to Fulham, Chelsea beat Spurs 2-0. Sunderland are bottom of the table and Newcastle are second from bottom with one draw from four games.
MY SAD LIFE
Despite have Rory and Diana away, it was a very busy weekend. I hoped that it would be a bit low key compared to last weekend but it was pretty full on.
We went to water polo Friday night, then soccer Saturday. Popped in to see the Goodins on the way home, they had just returned from their trip and were pretty tired. Then we had the girls over for a movie night. Hannah was very excited about it, and tidied the place. Gavin and Koos came and hid with me in the other room and watched the rugby.
Sunday, we went to the flea market then went swimming. We had about an hour at home then went to move the sets for the production. It took four hours, we had to disassemble them to get them into the tiny truck. Hannah was very patient and helpful. She now knows the headmaster at Ponsonby Intermediate very well having spent four hours with him on a Sunday. The production begins this week on Wednesday, we are going on Thursday.
Rory said he saw Billy Walker at school on Friday. Welcome back, Walkers.
At the backpackers, where the water polo team stayed, they were offered free pool (8 ball pool) if they folded a bunch of washing. Apparently the boys did it with great gusto and played heaps of pool. Rory and another player beat their two coaches in game with lollies riding on it. I think they really enjoyed the trip, despite the lack of sleep and the disappointing results.
THE LEGEND OF THE LOONEY LOLLY LADY
During water polo tournaments, it has become traditional to give the players some lollies at half time. The extra sugar gives them a bit of a lift that they need to get them going again. During the tournament, Diana went to give the boys some lollies. She rummaged around in her bag, found them, then started handing them out. The parents behind her were making a bit of noise. The boys were just taking one or two each, and a strange lady said thank you (she didn't recognise her, assumed she was an official). Then she realised that she was handing them out to the wrong team. Rory was mortified that Diana was not only consorting with the enemy, but giving away lollies! (an offence worse than most) The parents, kids, and coaches, all thought it was hilarious and poor Diana got a bit of a razzing about it for the rest of the weekend. It does remind me about the old adage of having to turn the forwards around at half time in rugby.
22 August 2005
I apologise if this seems boastful or immodest - 22/08/05
August continues to be very busy. A huge week last week and not much respite coming. The Real Sport section seems rather large today, sorry.
LOCAL NEWS
There was a case this week where a woman was charged with spiking her fiancée's drinks because he wanted "relations" five times a day. I guess he knew that after they were married it was probably going to be five times a year. He was 51, so he is obviously in good health. I don't think anyone would argue that five times a day is perhaps a little excessive. When would you get time for the housework? And five times on a work day? Did he go home for lunch? (and morning and afternoon tea?).
Election bribes continue. The books were opened mid week. Labour are now tossing money at people with lots of kids and lowish incomes. Benefits 11% of the population (being a small percentage of voters and their many children). Election ads were run for the first time. The National advert is a pisstake of the Labour party to the tune of "thank you very much for your kind donation", changing donation to taxation. I thought it was a fair crack at Labour's spending and taxing and other issues. However, the leader of the Labour Party told us National were appealing to the stupid voter. That means that he called me stupid. So he has now alienated voters that don't consider themselves stupid (most people) that liked the advert. A silly move, you would think.
TV One are worried about news ratings, they are losing ground to TV3.
A man died on the southern motorway when someone dropped an 8kg piece of concrete from an overbridge. I hope they get the moron. Police seem to be doing their best. A completely random act of mindless violence, which is somewhat akin to terrorism.
The head boy from Avondale College (the school Koos, Heidi, Gavin, and I went to) collapsed and died during a soccer match for the school on Saturday. It was asthma related. He had seen a doctor earlier in the week who told him to take it easy, perhaps he shouldn't have played.
A girl died and another was injured when the car they were in went off Mt Wellington on an unplanned basis. Sounds like something funny was going on.
WORLD NEWS
Things are getting tense in Tonga. People broke into the King's grounds to show their displeasure at the regime. The king himself is well past it now, the crown prince runs things. It is not a democracy, interestingly.
The move out of Gaza by the Israelis has been saturating news, as has follow ups on the Brazilian that was shot by London police and the associated massaging of the facts.
There have been reports of disorderly behaviour in Singapore, in nightclubs and restaurants, mostly involving a woman who's husband and child are overseas. Shyn denies any involvement, although her typing seems to be a bit slurred.
REAL SPORT
On Thursday I took the two Pt Chev interschool soccer teams for a practice session. There are three girls playing this year, and I think they are all good enough to be in the A team. The tournament is this Thursday.
First up on Friday night was Hannah's first ever game of water polo. They were overwhelmed by the team they played, and it was the first game for a couple of them, but they tried very hard. Hannah got sent off for accidental offence but it showed she was giving it a go. Final score 1-8. She was fizzing afterwards.
Rory's first game was against Waitakere Invitational 1, theoretically the best team in the league. Rory was playing for Blue team, who were low on numbers and it was never going to be easy. Rory worked really hard for all four quarters. They lost 0-8, but without Rory's efforts it would have been double that.
Playing for Red against Rangeview, Rory scored first within 15 seconds of the start (and they have to swim to the middle of the pool first). That gave the other team a fright. Rory only played three quarters, he was buggered after the earlier game. Final score was 10-2 win.
Hannah's soccer team was up against the top of the table team, who beat the Furies 10-0. I stacked the defensive line with my four strongest defenders (including Hannah) and they worked very hard. 0-0 at half time, and we were down hill in the second half. We threw plenty of attacks at them but couldn't manage to score, however they didn't score either. Final score 0-0, a great result against a team that has scored 24 goals in the championship. Hannah has one game left, one training.
Rory's team were playing the bottom team, they scored very early, but seemed to lose momentum after the first ten minutes and the other team equalised then scored again. Billy scored a goal with his face to equalise with about five minutes to go, but the opposition scored again to win 3-2, a disappointing result for Rory's last game of the season. The team has one game left but there are heaps of players that won't make it.
Rory has a water polo tournament in Rotorua this weekend, Diana is going with him, Hannah and I are staying home for soccer.
SPORT
The Springboks beat the Wallabies in Perth narrowly 22-19. Springboks look like the team to beat, although the Wallabies will want a win when they come to New Zealand.
Can't remember when the second test against Zimbabwe finished, but New Zealand won by an innings again. They are having an ODI tri-series with India.
The next ashes test starts this week.
Man Utd beat Villa 1-0, Arsenal lost 0-1 to Chelsea, a crappy goal. Liverpool won 1-0 over Sunderland, Newcastle drew with lowly West Ham. Everton won.
Auckland beat Otago, Canterbury beat BOP, North Harbour beat Wellington, Waikato beat Southland. Not many people seem interested in NPC rugby at the moment, we still have two tri-nations tests to come in the next two weeks.
MY SAD LIFE
Rory was not only busy but reasonably successful this week. He got credit (like a minimum pass) in the NSW computer exam, which was something of a drop from last year's high distinction. Then on Thursday he went off to interzone netball (they rejigged the team after the interschool tournament and Rory got upgraded to the A team) and he played Wing Defence. He must have done okay because they didn't lose a game, and won the final. Don't think he's ever been in a team that won interzone before.
He then had Mathex on Thursday night, where they run around a solve maths problems. They were doing well for a while but got stuck on one problem and didn't feature in the placings. He was completely knackered on Friday morning.
Hannah also had to finish a project for school and she largely nailed it on Thursday night with little help from me. It looked really good.
Friday was the school speech final. No pressure, with Rory defending his title, we really felt that making the finals was good enough. After Hannah's result at interschool we figured you can never really predict what the judge is looking for so no matter how good we think it is we should expect to be surprised. Well, we were and the little bugger won it, which was a huge result to manage it twice in a row. He was pretty pleased with himself, and rightly so. Diana was there for it, I was busy at work. Interschool speech competition is tomorrow at his school. Hannah and I will go for support. He got third last time, so we shall see whether singing and dancing wins it this year.
We had an absolutely flat out weekend. Three hours at water polo Friday night, left the house at 9:30 Saturday morning, home at 5:30 (after watching the Boomers beat the Tall Blacks in Manukau). Roger popped in and we had a chat, then we left about 6:30 for Michelle Smith's 40th birthday party. Made it home by 11pm absolute wrecks. Sunday we had water polo training from 9 to 11 (Hannah first then Rory) then we went to visit Nanny who is house-sitting for the Goodins. We got home from that about 3pm and collapsed (except that Rory had an essay due in today and some maths homework).
Given how busy the weekends are at the moment, I am beginning to change my view of the week. Monday now feels like the first day of a five day weekend. Weekdays are generally so much less stressful. I mean, on Thursday I only found some problems with $70,000 worth of invoices for a customer. That's nothing compared to getting 14 girls organised to go on the field in a soccer game. At least that is all over after next Saturday, it feels like it has been a long season.
So we saw Roger, although no evidence of Ben, I suspect grandma is quite happy to care for him on Roger's absence. He is 15 months old, and an energetic lad from the sound of it (as he should be). Was funny when Roger confessed that one is a handful, and we speculated on what it would have been like with three boys in the house.
Diana's new job seems to be going well. She is happy to be back teaching, I think.
So Hannah is busy planning a weekend at home, including possibly a movie night with some friends.
LOCAL NEWS
There was a case this week where a woman was charged with spiking her fiancée's drinks because he wanted "relations" five times a day. I guess he knew that after they were married it was probably going to be five times a year. He was 51, so he is obviously in good health. I don't think anyone would argue that five times a day is perhaps a little excessive. When would you get time for the housework? And five times on a work day? Did he go home for lunch? (and morning and afternoon tea?).
Election bribes continue. The books were opened mid week. Labour are now tossing money at people with lots of kids and lowish incomes. Benefits 11% of the population (being a small percentage of voters and their many children). Election ads were run for the first time. The National advert is a pisstake of the Labour party to the tune of "thank you very much for your kind donation", changing donation to taxation. I thought it was a fair crack at Labour's spending and taxing and other issues. However, the leader of the Labour Party told us National were appealing to the stupid voter. That means that he called me stupid. So he has now alienated voters that don't consider themselves stupid (most people) that liked the advert. A silly move, you would think.
TV One are worried about news ratings, they are losing ground to TV3.
A man died on the southern motorway when someone dropped an 8kg piece of concrete from an overbridge. I hope they get the moron. Police seem to be doing their best. A completely random act of mindless violence, which is somewhat akin to terrorism.
The head boy from Avondale College (the school Koos, Heidi, Gavin, and I went to) collapsed and died during a soccer match for the school on Saturday. It was asthma related. He had seen a doctor earlier in the week who told him to take it easy, perhaps he shouldn't have played.
A girl died and another was injured when the car they were in went off Mt Wellington on an unplanned basis. Sounds like something funny was going on.
WORLD NEWS
Things are getting tense in Tonga. People broke into the King's grounds to show their displeasure at the regime. The king himself is well past it now, the crown prince runs things. It is not a democracy, interestingly.
The move out of Gaza by the Israelis has been saturating news, as has follow ups on the Brazilian that was shot by London police and the associated massaging of the facts.
There have been reports of disorderly behaviour in Singapore, in nightclubs and restaurants, mostly involving a woman who's husband and child are overseas. Shyn denies any involvement, although her typing seems to be a bit slurred.
REAL SPORT
On Thursday I took the two Pt Chev interschool soccer teams for a practice session. There are three girls playing this year, and I think they are all good enough to be in the A team. The tournament is this Thursday.
First up on Friday night was Hannah's first ever game of water polo. They were overwhelmed by the team they played, and it was the first game for a couple of them, but they tried very hard. Hannah got sent off for accidental offence but it showed she was giving it a go. Final score 1-8. She was fizzing afterwards.
Rory's first game was against Waitakere Invitational 1, theoretically the best team in the league. Rory was playing for Blue team, who were low on numbers and it was never going to be easy. Rory worked really hard for all four quarters. They lost 0-8, but without Rory's efforts it would have been double that.
Playing for Red against Rangeview, Rory scored first within 15 seconds of the start (and they have to swim to the middle of the pool first). That gave the other team a fright. Rory only played three quarters, he was buggered after the earlier game. Final score was 10-2 win.
Hannah's soccer team was up against the top of the table team, who beat the Furies 10-0. I stacked the defensive line with my four strongest defenders (including Hannah) and they worked very hard. 0-0 at half time, and we were down hill in the second half. We threw plenty of attacks at them but couldn't manage to score, however they didn't score either. Final score 0-0, a great result against a team that has scored 24 goals in the championship. Hannah has one game left, one training.
Rory's team were playing the bottom team, they scored very early, but seemed to lose momentum after the first ten minutes and the other team equalised then scored again. Billy scored a goal with his face to equalise with about five minutes to go, but the opposition scored again to win 3-2, a disappointing result for Rory's last game of the season. The team has one game left but there are heaps of players that won't make it.
Rory has a water polo tournament in Rotorua this weekend, Diana is going with him, Hannah and I are staying home for soccer.
SPORT
The Springboks beat the Wallabies in Perth narrowly 22-19. Springboks look like the team to beat, although the Wallabies will want a win when they come to New Zealand.
Can't remember when the second test against Zimbabwe finished, but New Zealand won by an innings again. They are having an ODI tri-series with India.
The next ashes test starts this week.
Man Utd beat Villa 1-0, Arsenal lost 0-1 to Chelsea, a crappy goal. Liverpool won 1-0 over Sunderland, Newcastle drew with lowly West Ham. Everton won.
Auckland beat Otago, Canterbury beat BOP, North Harbour beat Wellington, Waikato beat Southland. Not many people seem interested in NPC rugby at the moment, we still have two tri-nations tests to come in the next two weeks.
MY SAD LIFE
Rory was not only busy but reasonably successful this week. He got credit (like a minimum pass) in the NSW computer exam, which was something of a drop from last year's high distinction. Then on Thursday he went off to interzone netball (they rejigged the team after the interschool tournament and Rory got upgraded to the A team) and he played Wing Defence. He must have done okay because they didn't lose a game, and won the final. Don't think he's ever been in a team that won interzone before.
He then had Mathex on Thursday night, where they run around a solve maths problems. They were doing well for a while but got stuck on one problem and didn't feature in the placings. He was completely knackered on Friday morning.
Hannah also had to finish a project for school and she largely nailed it on Thursday night with little help from me. It looked really good.
Friday was the school speech final. No pressure, with Rory defending his title, we really felt that making the finals was good enough. After Hannah's result at interschool we figured you can never really predict what the judge is looking for so no matter how good we think it is we should expect to be surprised. Well, we were and the little bugger won it, which was a huge result to manage it twice in a row. He was pretty pleased with himself, and rightly so. Diana was there for it, I was busy at work. Interschool speech competition is tomorrow at his school. Hannah and I will go for support. He got third last time, so we shall see whether singing and dancing wins it this year.
We had an absolutely flat out weekend. Three hours at water polo Friday night, left the house at 9:30 Saturday morning, home at 5:30 (after watching the Boomers beat the Tall Blacks in Manukau). Roger popped in and we had a chat, then we left about 6:30 for Michelle Smith's 40th birthday party. Made it home by 11pm absolute wrecks. Sunday we had water polo training from 9 to 11 (Hannah first then Rory) then we went to visit Nanny who is house-sitting for the Goodins. We got home from that about 3pm and collapsed (except that Rory had an essay due in today and some maths homework).
Given how busy the weekends are at the moment, I am beginning to change my view of the week. Monday now feels like the first day of a five day weekend. Weekdays are generally so much less stressful. I mean, on Thursday I only found some problems with $70,000 worth of invoices for a customer. That's nothing compared to getting 14 girls organised to go on the field in a soccer game. At least that is all over after next Saturday, it feels like it has been a long season.
So we saw Roger, although no evidence of Ben, I suspect grandma is quite happy to care for him on Roger's absence. He is 15 months old, and an energetic lad from the sound of it (as he should be). Was funny when Roger confessed that one is a handful, and we speculated on what it would have been like with three boys in the house.
Diana's new job seems to be going well. She is happy to be back teaching, I think.
So Hannah is busy planning a weekend at home, including possibly a movie night with some friends.
15 August 2005
David Lange dies and the Bledisloe Cup is safe for another year - 15/08/05
LOCAL NEWS
Strictly speaking, David Lange partially died when his leg was amputated a week ago, so the other 87.5% of him died on Saturday night. Very big news here, the paper was late the next morning as they reprinted the front page. He was only PM for about five years, from 1984 to 1989, resigning from the post rather than being voted out. His arrival was the end of Muldoonism and included major changes like floating the dollar and selling state owned corporations. He was PM during the dreaded 1987 crash. He was the first PM that was elected after Diana and I were able to vote. As days go by he grows in stature and ability. He was more of an orator than most, and more intelligent. John Campbell broadcast an interview with him last Monday, which will probably get a second airing I think.
Today is VJ day, it is sixty years since the end of the war in the Pacific.
Paul pointed out a story about Wood Pigeons (large native pigeons, nearly the size of a chicken, well a small chicken) near Whangarei that are eating guava berries which then ferment (in their stomach, by the sound of it) and they get drunk and injure themselves. The Native Bird centre throw them in the slammer until they dry out a bit, give them a decent meal, a lecture on the evils of alcohol, then send them of their way.
The much-vaunted Paul Holmes signed off for the last time on his current affairs show last Monday night, canned after about six months or so on the new channel. I wonder if he now realises that it was the channel he was on that made him so popular? Meanwhile, TV3's version seems to still be doing well, not dominant but a credible choice to TV One.
The United Future and Progressive political parties took TV3 to court over them not wanting to include the two lowest polling parties in their Leaders Debate. They reckon there are too many leaders to include all of them and let them get a word in. There are too many political parties and one turn each for all those leaders gives the loonies some undeserved airtime. Destiny don't seem to feature either, shame. The Judge ruled they should be included, which has interesting implications from a freedom of the press viewpoint. The debate itself got Peter Dunne (United Future) some good coverage, as it did last time. Since then, Destiny and Christian Heritage have started whinging about getting air time, too.
Former New Zealand League player Brent Todd came out of the cupboard and said although he was one of the "sports stars" who's names were suppressed, he wouldn't touch drugs with a barge pole (unless they were steroids, of course).
That prisoner that was let out to die at home, who had six to nine months to live, died on Friday, less than a month after he was released. Someone told me in the US they bury prisoners in the prisons and they aren't released.
Been some very disturbing cases of animal abuse here, I won't repeat them.
WORLD NEWS
The Shuttle finally arrived on planet earth, safely.
A couple described as "elderly" (60 and 62) were arrested with 4.1 kilos of cocaine stuffed in their wheelchair in Buenos Aires. Although they are New Zealand born, they live in Australia and were heading for Melbourne. Not sure about being "elderly" at 62. Maybe 70, but not 62. Not these days.
Air crash near Athens wasn't good, 120 odd passengers and crew died. At least it hit the ground away from suburbia.
REAL SPORT
Not much this week, only Rory's soccer game. Or so I thought. No water polo on Friday night.
Hannah played for another team, the Furies, along with two other Sirens. They worked very hard, and although the game was pretty close, they finished well ahead at 5-2.
Rory's team were playing a team they previously lost 2-7 to. Was not looking forward to it. However, it was really tight with desperate goal mouth clearances happening at both ends. They scored eventually and were 1-0 up, but the other team equalised and then scored a winning goal about two minutes after the game should have finished (they did start late, I suppose). Still, 1-2 is way better than 2-7.
On Sunday, Hannah and I went to have a swim while Rory trained. Hannah was invited to come and train with an intermediate team, which she did and ended up training for an hour and a half. She was buggered, but it was very gutsy giving it a go, and she did not look out of place. Rory said they are a team playing in Div 2 in his competition. I would like her to play next year, but we shall see. She seem to think it is because Rory does, but it isn't.
SPORT
Didn't watch the rugby, the ABs won 30-13 over the Wallabies after a slow start. Daniel Carter appears to have a broken leg or a torn calf muscle.
The Warriors season is over. That isn't really news, it has been in the death throes for at least a month.
Valerie Vili got a bronze in the shot-put at the World Champs.
Shane Warne has helped Australia recover a bit, but rain is hampering the third Ashes test. One day left and the Aussies need 399 in their second innings to win with all wickets intact. It is a big ask, I think they would be aiming for a draw at best (the Aussies, not the Poms).
The premiership is back. Man Utd, Chelsea, and Arsenal all had wins. Liverpool only managed a draw.
MY SAD LIFE
I took Rory to the doctor on Monday. This may not sound very interesting, but after having a singularly unsuccessful attempt to get antibiotics from my new (like last four years) doctor, I took Rory to my old doctor. Christine was wonderful, still knew my history and asked whether Rory had the same thing (he does, it was him having it that was how I found out I had it). She even slipped me a prescription as well (fast consumption of antibiotics prevents many weeks of coughing for me). I can't believe how happy it was to go to a doctor that knew how things worked and did exactly what was needed. I was so moved I nearly wrote her a thank you card. I don't go to the doctor very often, but moved because the new one was a lot closer to home. Bollocks to that. Silly, isn't it?
Saturday marked our 17th wedding anniversary. This is really scary, no I'm not being rude about Diana (she reads this too, remember?), but because we don't feel old enough to be about to hit our 20th anniversary in the not very distant future. Those that said it wouldn't last lost their money a looong time ago now. It's pretty hard to remember a time before the kids, but there was about five years or so. Faded in the mists of time, they are.
Hannah didn't place in the speech competition. The top few were bizarre choices, to be honest. We all came along, even Rory who had the Wednesday off school. Parental bias aside, I am not sure what the judges saw. I think it is very subjective. It's a bit like synchronised swimming and dancing. Rory is in semi-finals at his school, after false starting by being sick. I bought Hannah some flowers to cheer her up, which doubled as an anniversary gift (cunning, eh?). She was pretty pleased with them. I am trying to think of other reasons so they get well used.
Koos has been in Hong Kong this week, working. Thought he had been quiet.
The Goodins are off in Kuala Lumpur, which has particularly spectacular sunsets at the moment if you can see them through the smog. They return in two weeks.
Diana starts a new job today, contract to the end of the year at the place she worked last year. Better pay, less hours, can't be bad.
Gavin has been doing up his bathroom. He is getting a little pongy, I hope the shower is done soon. Symon has been supervising.
Rory has been reading The Hobbit. I haven't read it myself. He seems to be enjoying it. We often call him a hobbit because he has largely hairy feet and eats often. He's a bit tall for a hobbit, but not all analogies are perfect.
I've been reading about Easter Island, what a bizarre bunch of people they were. The statues were nothing compared the things they sat on. They ate more porpoise that any other Pacific population, and just ate everything to extinction and when Europeans arrived the tallest tree on the island was less than ten feet tall. Peter, you went there, didn't you?
Not sure when the Walkers are due to arrive in New Zealand but Lesley did say August so it must be soon.
Strictly speaking, David Lange partially died when his leg was amputated a week ago, so the other 87.5% of him died on Saturday night. Very big news here, the paper was late the next morning as they reprinted the front page. He was only PM for about five years, from 1984 to 1989, resigning from the post rather than being voted out. His arrival was the end of Muldoonism and included major changes like floating the dollar and selling state owned corporations. He was PM during the dreaded 1987 crash. He was the first PM that was elected after Diana and I were able to vote. As days go by he grows in stature and ability. He was more of an orator than most, and more intelligent. John Campbell broadcast an interview with him last Monday, which will probably get a second airing I think.
Today is VJ day, it is sixty years since the end of the war in the Pacific.
Paul pointed out a story about Wood Pigeons (large native pigeons, nearly the size of a chicken, well a small chicken) near Whangarei that are eating guava berries which then ferment (in their stomach, by the sound of it) and they get drunk and injure themselves. The Native Bird centre throw them in the slammer until they dry out a bit, give them a decent meal, a lecture on the evils of alcohol, then send them of their way.
The much-vaunted Paul Holmes signed off for the last time on his current affairs show last Monday night, canned after about six months or so on the new channel. I wonder if he now realises that it was the channel he was on that made him so popular? Meanwhile, TV3's version seems to still be doing well, not dominant but a credible choice to TV One.
The United Future and Progressive political parties took TV3 to court over them not wanting to include the two lowest polling parties in their Leaders Debate. They reckon there are too many leaders to include all of them and let them get a word in. There are too many political parties and one turn each for all those leaders gives the loonies some undeserved airtime. Destiny don't seem to feature either, shame. The Judge ruled they should be included, which has interesting implications from a freedom of the press viewpoint. The debate itself got Peter Dunne (United Future) some good coverage, as it did last time. Since then, Destiny and Christian Heritage have started whinging about getting air time, too.
Former New Zealand League player Brent Todd came out of the cupboard and said although he was one of the "sports stars" who's names were suppressed, he wouldn't touch drugs with a barge pole (unless they were steroids, of course).
That prisoner that was let out to die at home, who had six to nine months to live, died on Friday, less than a month after he was released. Someone told me in the US they bury prisoners in the prisons and they aren't released.
Been some very disturbing cases of animal abuse here, I won't repeat them.
WORLD NEWS
The Shuttle finally arrived on planet earth, safely.
A couple described as "elderly" (60 and 62) were arrested with 4.1 kilos of cocaine stuffed in their wheelchair in Buenos Aires. Although they are New Zealand born, they live in Australia and were heading for Melbourne. Not sure about being "elderly" at 62. Maybe 70, but not 62. Not these days.
Air crash near Athens wasn't good, 120 odd passengers and crew died. At least it hit the ground away from suburbia.
REAL SPORT
Not much this week, only Rory's soccer game. Or so I thought. No water polo on Friday night.
Hannah played for another team, the Furies, along with two other Sirens. They worked very hard, and although the game was pretty close, they finished well ahead at 5-2.
Rory's team were playing a team they previously lost 2-7 to. Was not looking forward to it. However, it was really tight with desperate goal mouth clearances happening at both ends. They scored eventually and were 1-0 up, but the other team equalised and then scored a winning goal about two minutes after the game should have finished (they did start late, I suppose). Still, 1-2 is way better than 2-7.
On Sunday, Hannah and I went to have a swim while Rory trained. Hannah was invited to come and train with an intermediate team, which she did and ended up training for an hour and a half. She was buggered, but it was very gutsy giving it a go, and she did not look out of place. Rory said they are a team playing in Div 2 in his competition. I would like her to play next year, but we shall see. She seem to think it is because Rory does, but it isn't.
SPORT
Didn't watch the rugby, the ABs won 30-13 over the Wallabies after a slow start. Daniel Carter appears to have a broken leg or a torn calf muscle.
The Warriors season is over. That isn't really news, it has been in the death throes for at least a month.
Valerie Vili got a bronze in the shot-put at the World Champs.
Shane Warne has helped Australia recover a bit, but rain is hampering the third Ashes test. One day left and the Aussies need 399 in their second innings to win with all wickets intact. It is a big ask, I think they would be aiming for a draw at best (the Aussies, not the Poms).
The premiership is back. Man Utd, Chelsea, and Arsenal all had wins. Liverpool only managed a draw.
MY SAD LIFE
I took Rory to the doctor on Monday. This may not sound very interesting, but after having a singularly unsuccessful attempt to get antibiotics from my new (like last four years) doctor, I took Rory to my old doctor. Christine was wonderful, still knew my history and asked whether Rory had the same thing (he does, it was him having it that was how I found out I had it). She even slipped me a prescription as well (fast consumption of antibiotics prevents many weeks of coughing for me). I can't believe how happy it was to go to a doctor that knew how things worked and did exactly what was needed. I was so moved I nearly wrote her a thank you card. I don't go to the doctor very often, but moved because the new one was a lot closer to home. Bollocks to that. Silly, isn't it?
Saturday marked our 17th wedding anniversary. This is really scary, no I'm not being rude about Diana (she reads this too, remember?), but because we don't feel old enough to be about to hit our 20th anniversary in the not very distant future. Those that said it wouldn't last lost their money a looong time ago now. It's pretty hard to remember a time before the kids, but there was about five years or so. Faded in the mists of time, they are.
Hannah didn't place in the speech competition. The top few were bizarre choices, to be honest. We all came along, even Rory who had the Wednesday off school. Parental bias aside, I am not sure what the judges saw. I think it is very subjective. It's a bit like synchronised swimming and dancing. Rory is in semi-finals at his school, after false starting by being sick. I bought Hannah some flowers to cheer her up, which doubled as an anniversary gift (cunning, eh?). She was pretty pleased with them. I am trying to think of other reasons so they get well used.
Koos has been in Hong Kong this week, working. Thought he had been quiet.
The Goodins are off in Kuala Lumpur, which has particularly spectacular sunsets at the moment if you can see them through the smog. They return in two weeks.
Diana starts a new job today, contract to the end of the year at the place she worked last year. Better pay, less hours, can't be bad.
Gavin has been doing up his bathroom. He is getting a little pongy, I hope the shower is done soon. Symon has been supervising.
Rory has been reading The Hobbit. I haven't read it myself. He seems to be enjoying it. We often call him a hobbit because he has largely hairy feet and eats often. He's a bit tall for a hobbit, but not all analogies are perfect.
I've been reading about Easter Island, what a bizarre bunch of people they were. The statues were nothing compared the things they sat on. They ate more porpoise that any other Pacific population, and just ate everything to extinction and when Europeans arrived the tallest tree on the island was less than ten feet tall. Peter, you went there, didn't you?
Not sure when the Walkers are due to arrive in New Zealand but Lesley did say August so it must be soon.
8 August 2005
Due to inflationary pressures, I can't afford a subject this week - 08/08/05
LOCAL NEWS
The court case against Donna Awatere Huata began this week. She is charged with misuse of funds.
Another case began this week, against five men for excessive speed whilst driving Helen to Christchurch to catch a plane. The average speed of the entire trip was nearly 130Km/hr and top speed was estimated at 172Km/hr. Strictly speaking, a hearse should travel slowly, so this is really naughty. The timing of the case isn't good for Labour as the thing is constantly in the news as the case continues.
David Lange is in the news for both having a leg amputated and the release of his memoirs. Not sure he has long, but I think we should assume the leg removal wasn't a publicity stunt.
Despite the news of the speeding motorcade, the latest poll has Labour ahead of National by about 5%. Helen's reputation as the Teflon politician continues. The minor parties appear to be struggling. Getting rid of a few minor parties would be a great result, it makes it so difficult to get things through parliament.
A couple of the men in the drug bust last week were named, neither were "celebrities". I have a problem with name suppression. It should have nothing to do with profile, and should be about protecting the victims first, and possibly the family of the defendant second, but as long as an innocent verdict gets as much publicity as news of the charges I am not sure I see the need for suppression in so many cases.
News this week that men now suffer "early life crises" because of student loan debt.
WORLD NEWS
The space shuttle continues to be in the news, fix the tile, pull out the crap between the tile, and now we wait for it to land. The irony is that it seems like they went up to repair themselves so they could come back. All eyes will be upon it tonight as it returns about 9pm New Zealand time.
The trapped Russian mini-sub was successfully rescued. I didn't really hear about it until it was all over, but it sounds like it was in the news a lot.
Nothing happened on Thursday in London, although Al Qaeda seem to be promising more "excitement".
Two fire-fighters in the US died whilst trying to control a forest fire. Don't remember where, Florida maybe.
REAL SPORT
Water polo was a bit much for a person on Friday. Rory's Red team started against a top of the table team with only five players. The teacher that had the caps was nowhere to be seen, so I enlisted another parent, borrowed some caps, and got things under control. The referee gave me the opportunity to default (which meant an automatic 0-5 loss). I replied by saying no, but he should give the other team the same choice. End of the second quarter they were 2-4 down and two more players arrived (normally there are seven in the water). It was very nail biting, the final score was a 6-6 draw, which was a good result. Would have been a real shame if they had lost. Then we went for dinner at West City and came back for Blue's game. Numbers were better for them, it was a really close game, but they lost 6-7. Then I looked after Gold again, winless so far this season. I told Alice I would buy her an ice cream if she scored three goals and she scored four, they won 8-5. I pointed out to them that they were the only Ponsonby team to win that night, they felt pretty good.
Hannah's team was against a team that had beaten them earlier in the season. They didn't quite get it together, and every so often the pressure resulted in a goal. One of our key defenders was not well and went home after about ten minutes which didn't help. Final score was 0-3 loss.
Rory's team were against a team that wasn't doing very well this season, although well coached. They had heaps of chances, and led 1-0 at half time. I had to referee the second half and play went from one end to the other (believe me). They scored again in the second half, although they blew a few good chances, final score was 2-0 win.
SPORT
The second Ashes test started with a bang, with the Poms getting their highest score on the first day (407) in 65 years. Then the Aussies were a hundred runs behind in their reply. Last night the Aussies needed 107 runs to win with two wickets left. They nearly made it, losing their last wicket with three runs to go. That levels the series at one all. The next game is at Old Trafford this weekend.
The Black Caps were not doing well against Zimbabwe in their first test (113 for 5 at one stage) until Vettori (century in 82 balls) and McCallum (also a century)scored fast centuries. At stumps on day one they are 450 odd for 9.
The Boks beat the Abs in South Africa 22-16.
Warriors lost and are basically knackered for the season.
MY SAD LIFE
Very busy weekend. After soccer we had to prepare for Rory's party. The party itself was chaos. The lads had fun with our version of the "distraction" game show. The final task was to give an impromptu speech and they voted for the worst speech on the basis that the other finalist pissed them off. We then took them to Pizza Hut and that was considerably worse, completely out of control. An all-you-can-eat buffet and seven boys full of testosterone and sugar is a fatal mix. Hamish made an ice cream cone hand grenade (stuff it full of chocolate bits then use chocolate mousse for wadding). It got used outside in the car park, Rory got hit. We then took them to an amusement arcade in a bowling alley, which was considerably easier from a management viewpoint. We had an air hockey FA Cup tournament. Although I technically qualified for the final, I let two others play off.
Sunday, we went swimming in the morning (Rory had water polo training). Then straight from there to school to help construct scenery for the show. It went well, but worked really hard and after swimming as well I was utterly knackered. I had to design and then construct a piece of movable set that is triangular, one side with a concave curve, 2.4 metres high and long. It was fun, but really hard work.
Got news this week that Rory got high distinction in the University of NSW Science exam, particularly special as he was only year 8 (form 2) pupil in his school that did. He also played interschool netball on Thursday, they lost in the semi-final, but won every pool game.
Paul was up at 6am on Thursday morning to see a waka (traditional Maori canoe) arrive in San Francisco.
Believe it or not, B2 is still only known as B2, four months old and has no name. The Bambergers are not very focussed. Sasha has been quite ill, nothing too serious but they did go to hospital.
Both the kids have speeches this week, Hannah has inter school speech on Wednesday afternoon. Rory has a hacking cough so that isn't looking good and Hannah has a sore throat. She was sick at the school one, but we need her in good shape for Wednesday. Rory is staying home today, again.
The Goodins are off to, um, somewhere, next weekend for a fortnight. Thailand? Malaysia? Bali? Hell, I don't remember. Thailand I think.
Brett went to Germany and Holland. He visited Arnhem and Remagen.
The court case against Donna Awatere Huata began this week. She is charged with misuse of funds.
Another case began this week, against five men for excessive speed whilst driving Helen to Christchurch to catch a plane. The average speed of the entire trip was nearly 130Km/hr and top speed was estimated at 172Km/hr. Strictly speaking, a hearse should travel slowly, so this is really naughty. The timing of the case isn't good for Labour as the thing is constantly in the news as the case continues.
David Lange is in the news for both having a leg amputated and the release of his memoirs. Not sure he has long, but I think we should assume the leg removal wasn't a publicity stunt.
Despite the news of the speeding motorcade, the latest poll has Labour ahead of National by about 5%. Helen's reputation as the Teflon politician continues. The minor parties appear to be struggling. Getting rid of a few minor parties would be a great result, it makes it so difficult to get things through parliament.
A couple of the men in the drug bust last week were named, neither were "celebrities". I have a problem with name suppression. It should have nothing to do with profile, and should be about protecting the victims first, and possibly the family of the defendant second, but as long as an innocent verdict gets as much publicity as news of the charges I am not sure I see the need for suppression in so many cases.
News this week that men now suffer "early life crises" because of student loan debt.
WORLD NEWS
The space shuttle continues to be in the news, fix the tile, pull out the crap between the tile, and now we wait for it to land. The irony is that it seems like they went up to repair themselves so they could come back. All eyes will be upon it tonight as it returns about 9pm New Zealand time.
The trapped Russian mini-sub was successfully rescued. I didn't really hear about it until it was all over, but it sounds like it was in the news a lot.
Nothing happened on Thursday in London, although Al Qaeda seem to be promising more "excitement".
Two fire-fighters in the US died whilst trying to control a forest fire. Don't remember where, Florida maybe.
REAL SPORT
Water polo was a bit much for a person on Friday. Rory's Red team started against a top of the table team with only five players. The teacher that had the caps was nowhere to be seen, so I enlisted another parent, borrowed some caps, and got things under control. The referee gave me the opportunity to default (which meant an automatic 0-5 loss). I replied by saying no, but he should give the other team the same choice. End of the second quarter they were 2-4 down and two more players arrived (normally there are seven in the water). It was very nail biting, the final score was a 6-6 draw, which was a good result. Would have been a real shame if they had lost. Then we went for dinner at West City and came back for Blue's game. Numbers were better for them, it was a really close game, but they lost 6-7. Then I looked after Gold again, winless so far this season. I told Alice I would buy her an ice cream if she scored three goals and she scored four, they won 8-5. I pointed out to them that they were the only Ponsonby team to win that night, they felt pretty good.
Hannah's team was against a team that had beaten them earlier in the season. They didn't quite get it together, and every so often the pressure resulted in a goal. One of our key defenders was not well and went home after about ten minutes which didn't help. Final score was 0-3 loss.
Rory's team were against a team that wasn't doing very well this season, although well coached. They had heaps of chances, and led 1-0 at half time. I had to referee the second half and play went from one end to the other (believe me). They scored again in the second half, although they blew a few good chances, final score was 2-0 win.
SPORT
The second Ashes test started with a bang, with the Poms getting their highest score on the first day (407) in 65 years. Then the Aussies were a hundred runs behind in their reply. Last night the Aussies needed 107 runs to win with two wickets left. They nearly made it, losing their last wicket with three runs to go. That levels the series at one all. The next game is at Old Trafford this weekend.
The Black Caps were not doing well against Zimbabwe in their first test (113 for 5 at one stage) until Vettori (century in 82 balls) and McCallum (also a century)scored fast centuries. At stumps on day one they are 450 odd for 9.
The Boks beat the Abs in South Africa 22-16.
Warriors lost and are basically knackered for the season.
MY SAD LIFE
Very busy weekend. After soccer we had to prepare for Rory's party. The party itself was chaos. The lads had fun with our version of the "distraction" game show. The final task was to give an impromptu speech and they voted for the worst speech on the basis that the other finalist pissed them off. We then took them to Pizza Hut and that was considerably worse, completely out of control. An all-you-can-eat buffet and seven boys full of testosterone and sugar is a fatal mix. Hamish made an ice cream cone hand grenade (stuff it full of chocolate bits then use chocolate mousse for wadding). It got used outside in the car park, Rory got hit. We then took them to an amusement arcade in a bowling alley, which was considerably easier from a management viewpoint. We had an air hockey FA Cup tournament. Although I technically qualified for the final, I let two others play off.
Sunday, we went swimming in the morning (Rory had water polo training). Then straight from there to school to help construct scenery for the show. It went well, but worked really hard and after swimming as well I was utterly knackered. I had to design and then construct a piece of movable set that is triangular, one side with a concave curve, 2.4 metres high and long. It was fun, but really hard work.
Got news this week that Rory got high distinction in the University of NSW Science exam, particularly special as he was only year 8 (form 2) pupil in his school that did. He also played interschool netball on Thursday, they lost in the semi-final, but won every pool game.
Paul was up at 6am on Thursday morning to see a waka (traditional Maori canoe) arrive in San Francisco.
Believe it or not, B2 is still only known as B2, four months old and has no name. The Bambergers are not very focussed. Sasha has been quite ill, nothing too serious but they did go to hospital.
Both the kids have speeches this week, Hannah has inter school speech on Wednesday afternoon. Rory has a hacking cough so that isn't looking good and Hannah has a sore throat. She was sick at the school one, but we need her in good shape for Wednesday. Rory is staying home today, again.
The Goodins are off to, um, somewhere, next weekend for a fortnight. Thailand? Malaysia? Bali? Hell, I don't remember. Thailand I think.
Brett went to Germany and Holland. He visited Arnhem and Remagen.
1 August 2005
Election Day is set, and Hannah bags herself a great goal - 01/08/05
Hannah scoring a goal had downstream effects. I had to shave off my face fuzz (it was part of a deal we made that had been running for a while). I may grow it back but not until after next Saturday's game. I think my face looks fat without it. Hannah and Diana think I look younger. I don't like it, but a deal is a deal.
LOCAL NEWS
I think Helen Clark read my comment about the election date and it was announced last Monday to be September 17th.
Polls are coming out thick and fast with small parties rising and falling monotonously.
News this week of a shortage of eligible men for women in their thirties. Good news for any of you lads overseas that are thinking about coming home. They reckon they have same prospects as 80 year old women. Hope they don't mean the eighty year olds want men in their thirties as toy boys, that is just wrong.
There was news this week of the visibility afforded by different models of car whilst reversing. Apparently young children are hurt, and three died in the last year, when people backed in driveways. Now, we back into our drive, which affords maximum visibility and then you can see where you are going when you leave. We don't even run over cats.
Big local news over the weekend when six Hastings teenagers smashed a Mazda Familia (a 323, small car, how you get six in one I can't tell you) at 130Km/hr into a tree coming the other way at, well, I suppose 130Km/hr. Four died, two had their day seriously ruined. It was in a 50Km/hr zone. We are getting all the usual follow-on stuff about age limits for licenses and so forth. No mention of working on numeracy of young drivers so that they can read speed signs.
The terminal cancer prisoner went home this week, then asked if his brother could be let out too. Someone told me that in the US they bury prisoners that die in custody within the prison walls, so family has to go to prison to visit their grave?
WORLD NEWS
News of the IRA ending hostilities is pretty big news, but given that they haven't really been hostile for quite some time it doesn’t have a massive impact.
News of London's search for bombers is still pretty regular. The protests about the death of the innocent Brazilian need to be put into a little bit of perspective, police in Brazil pretty regularly kill rioters randomly in groups of ten or more. The fact that they think they have found the four bombers is pretty impressive. That they haven't shot each of them eight times doubly so. One has to speculate as to why failed suicide bombers try to avoid capture. Finding one in Rome and one in Namibia shows some pretty serious commitment. You would think they could achieve some major inroads into the terror networks if they can track those four down so quickly.
An Australian man hurt himself whilst trying to climb his apartment building because he forgot his key. He fell off, landed on a car, and tried again. The second time he got further up, fell again, landed on his head. He survived. Any comments about Darwinian evolution are especially relevant as it was in Darwin (the place). His survival does go against the theory, of course.
REAL SPORT
Rory made the 14B team for the tournament at the end of August, which means things are busy for August.
I looked after Ponsonby Gold on Friday night, they led 2-0 for a while but couldn't defend very well. They lost 5-6 in the end, their best result so far this season.
Rory played for the other Ponsonby team (Blue) against his own team in water polo on Friday night. They were also missing Henry (also selected for 14B team) so Red was below strength. Rory was in goal for the first two quarters and out in the second half. It was pretty clear that Red is a better team than Blue, which we expected. Final score was 9-2 to Red, Rory scored the first goal for Blue in the third quarter. I was looking after Red team while Ms Hooper (teacher) looked after Blue. I didn't know who to cheer for. I was a bit worried about the result hurting Red in the long haul but theirs was the best result of the round in Division 1, and it was good for everyone in both teams.
Hannah's team were off to Pukekohe on Saturday. They just weren't very with it in the first half, they conceded a goal early and were 0-1 down at half time. They got the speech from me at half time. They were much more together in the second half, equalised reasonably early on, then Hannah slotted a scorcher for her first goal of the season to put them ahead. Very pleased she got one in a real game, she is the hardest working player in the team in many respects. It kept going and the final score was a 5-1 win for the sirens, who are now unbeaten in four games in a row.
Rory's soccer team had more players but didn't play that smart, they lost 0-1. Their goalie got kicked in the head, accidentally but I would have given the offender at least a yellow card because they could have avoided it. Ben was concussed, but was okay.
SPORT
Premiership soccer kicks off 13th August, I can't wait. I do miss it, even though I hardly watch it.
The Springboks beat the Wallabies 22-16 in the first tri-nations. All Blacks play Springboks next weekend in Cape Town. They haven't played for three weeks.
Been a bit of a fuss about a woman jockey who set the record for the number of winning races this week, who has been under a cloud due to a positive drugs test back in May. Seems to be very strange, and racing authorities don't look good.
The Warriors lost, four points out of the top eight.
NZers have been doing much better than normal at the World Swimming Champs, breaking New Zealand records and making finals but no medals, none really expected. Interestingly, a Zimbabwe woman won gold and there wasn't a fuss about that.
There's no ashes cricket until next weekend, which was annoying. The Black Caps are somewhere in Africa, about to start their Zimbabwe tour.
MY SAD LIFE
Sort of feels like nothing really happened this week, which is odd.
After the trip to Pukekohe on Saturday, finally got home then had to go rescue Diana, who had taken her old car to drop Rory off after his game. It overheated again (we were testing after it was again supposedly fixed). We had to hang around for about an hour then she drove it carefully home. Sunday was a pretty quiet day, although it seemed to go really fast. Did a few of the usual jobs around the house, some tidying, throwing out some rubbish (our neighbour Olga is in Siberia for a few weeks so we get to use her bin too).
I finally went swimming again, yesterday, after still feeling a bit under the weather all week. It was really nice to go, and felt great afterwards. It was just me and Hannah because Rory was at rehearsals.
Rory didn't get to enjoy his birthday an awful lot. Spent the whole weekend in rehearsals. He is at an age that is very difficult to buy for, we even gave him cold hard cash. It does seem kind of weird, he has been an almost teenager for quite a while. We had dinner last night with the grannies and talked about his unplanned arrival on the bathroom floor. His birthday party will be next weekend because there was too much on for everyone this weekend just gone. We are planning an evil party game.
I have a confession for Peter Evans. The postcard did actually arrive the week before, just forgot to get it into the email. I read something last night that said the Pitcairn islanders basically died out at one point hundreds of years ago.
Brett, you must be back by now, where did you go?
LOCAL NEWS
I think Helen Clark read my comment about the election date and it was announced last Monday to be September 17th.
Polls are coming out thick and fast with small parties rising and falling monotonously.
News this week of a shortage of eligible men for women in their thirties. Good news for any of you lads overseas that are thinking about coming home. They reckon they have same prospects as 80 year old women. Hope they don't mean the eighty year olds want men in their thirties as toy boys, that is just wrong.
There was news this week of the visibility afforded by different models of car whilst reversing. Apparently young children are hurt, and three died in the last year, when people backed in driveways. Now, we back into our drive, which affords maximum visibility and then you can see where you are going when you leave. We don't even run over cats.
Big local news over the weekend when six Hastings teenagers smashed a Mazda Familia (a 323, small car, how you get six in one I can't tell you) at 130Km/hr into a tree coming the other way at, well, I suppose 130Km/hr. Four died, two had their day seriously ruined. It was in a 50Km/hr zone. We are getting all the usual follow-on stuff about age limits for licenses and so forth. No mention of working on numeracy of young drivers so that they can read speed signs.
The terminal cancer prisoner went home this week, then asked if his brother could be let out too. Someone told me that in the US they bury prisoners that die in custody within the prison walls, so family has to go to prison to visit their grave?
WORLD NEWS
News of the IRA ending hostilities is pretty big news, but given that they haven't really been hostile for quite some time it doesn’t have a massive impact.
News of London's search for bombers is still pretty regular. The protests about the death of the innocent Brazilian need to be put into a little bit of perspective, police in Brazil pretty regularly kill rioters randomly in groups of ten or more. The fact that they think they have found the four bombers is pretty impressive. That they haven't shot each of them eight times doubly so. One has to speculate as to why failed suicide bombers try to avoid capture. Finding one in Rome and one in Namibia shows some pretty serious commitment. You would think they could achieve some major inroads into the terror networks if they can track those four down so quickly.
An Australian man hurt himself whilst trying to climb his apartment building because he forgot his key. He fell off, landed on a car, and tried again. The second time he got further up, fell again, landed on his head. He survived. Any comments about Darwinian evolution are especially relevant as it was in Darwin (the place). His survival does go against the theory, of course.
REAL SPORT
Rory made the 14B team for the tournament at the end of August, which means things are busy for August.
I looked after Ponsonby Gold on Friday night, they led 2-0 for a while but couldn't defend very well. They lost 5-6 in the end, their best result so far this season.
Rory played for the other Ponsonby team (Blue) against his own team in water polo on Friday night. They were also missing Henry (also selected for 14B team) so Red was below strength. Rory was in goal for the first two quarters and out in the second half. It was pretty clear that Red is a better team than Blue, which we expected. Final score was 9-2 to Red, Rory scored the first goal for Blue in the third quarter. I was looking after Red team while Ms Hooper (teacher) looked after Blue. I didn't know who to cheer for. I was a bit worried about the result hurting Red in the long haul but theirs was the best result of the round in Division 1, and it was good for everyone in both teams.
Hannah's team were off to Pukekohe on Saturday. They just weren't very with it in the first half, they conceded a goal early and were 0-1 down at half time. They got the speech from me at half time. They were much more together in the second half, equalised reasonably early on, then Hannah slotted a scorcher for her first goal of the season to put them ahead. Very pleased she got one in a real game, she is the hardest working player in the team in many respects. It kept going and the final score was a 5-1 win for the sirens, who are now unbeaten in four games in a row.
Rory's soccer team had more players but didn't play that smart, they lost 0-1. Their goalie got kicked in the head, accidentally but I would have given the offender at least a yellow card because they could have avoided it. Ben was concussed, but was okay.
SPORT
Premiership soccer kicks off 13th August, I can't wait. I do miss it, even though I hardly watch it.
The Springboks beat the Wallabies 22-16 in the first tri-nations. All Blacks play Springboks next weekend in Cape Town. They haven't played for three weeks.
Been a bit of a fuss about a woman jockey who set the record for the number of winning races this week, who has been under a cloud due to a positive drugs test back in May. Seems to be very strange, and racing authorities don't look good.
The Warriors lost, four points out of the top eight.
NZers have been doing much better than normal at the World Swimming Champs, breaking New Zealand records and making finals but no medals, none really expected. Interestingly, a Zimbabwe woman won gold and there wasn't a fuss about that.
There's no ashes cricket until next weekend, which was annoying. The Black Caps are somewhere in Africa, about to start their Zimbabwe tour.
MY SAD LIFE
Sort of feels like nothing really happened this week, which is odd.
After the trip to Pukekohe on Saturday, finally got home then had to go rescue Diana, who had taken her old car to drop Rory off after his game. It overheated again (we were testing after it was again supposedly fixed). We had to hang around for about an hour then she drove it carefully home. Sunday was a pretty quiet day, although it seemed to go really fast. Did a few of the usual jobs around the house, some tidying, throwing out some rubbish (our neighbour Olga is in Siberia for a few weeks so we get to use her bin too).
I finally went swimming again, yesterday, after still feeling a bit under the weather all week. It was really nice to go, and felt great afterwards. It was just me and Hannah because Rory was at rehearsals.
Rory didn't get to enjoy his birthday an awful lot. Spent the whole weekend in rehearsals. He is at an age that is very difficult to buy for, we even gave him cold hard cash. It does seem kind of weird, he has been an almost teenager for quite a while. We had dinner last night with the grannies and talked about his unplanned arrival on the bathroom floor. His birthday party will be next weekend because there was too much on for everyone this weekend just gone. We are planning an evil party game.
I have a confession for Peter Evans. The postcard did actually arrive the week before, just forgot to get it into the email. I read something last night that said the Pitcairn islanders basically died out at one point hundreds of years ago.
Brett, you must be back by now, where did you go?
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