29 August 2005

Marc Ellis is named, one of New Zealand's worst kept secrets - 29/08/05

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.

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