3 October 2005

Bali tourism not good, and they finally got Smart - 03/10/05

A week in which we heard little of Rita or Katrina, but the petrol price still got a mention.

LOCAL NEWS

The poor Birgit Brauer has had her name pronounced about seven different ways this week as we got news of sightings of the ute, then they found the ute in a place where it looked like someone tried to hide it. Turned out the ute had been stolen by an employee six weeks earlier. This employee is apparently surprised he has been associated with the murder. He's a nice chap, wouldn't hurt anyone, just steals his bosses car and disappears for six weeks.

The lead up to final election numbers continued. The final election result came with a whimper. National lost a seat, nothing else changed. This is the first time ever that Labour have been in power for three terms.

Donna Awatere-Huata was sentenced to just under three years for her fraud. The family made spectacles of themselves in court and two elected MPs were among those who protested at the justice of it all. Not really sure that is appropriate behaviour for MPs. This is a woman who abused a position of power to steal money from a trust that was meant to teach Maori to read. And somehow many Maori are okay with this.

Prince Andrew has been visiting the country. It was pretty low-key and he has gone now.

WORLD NEWS

The latest Bali bombings suggest to me that you would be mad to holiday in an Islamic country, particularly Bali. Why would you go somewhere like that. Forget the fact that you might not be hurt or injured, what about wanting to go home early, or the disruption everywhere afterwards.

The passing of Don Adams was widely reported. As Maxwell Smart he was an icon for many. He was in his eighties, so it isn't really surprising I suppose. I haven't seen an episode of Get Smart for ages.

An Australian man woke up inside a compacting rubbish truck three weeks ago, no idea how he got there. Turned out he was pretty drunk and passed out. Security video has been found that shows some samaritans covering him in rubbish, then dumped him in a skip and relieved him of his wallet. The skip was then emptied into a truck and he was squishied twice before he woke up. He banged of the wall and got let out by the truck driver. I hope the perpetrators are caught and charged with attempted murder. Not the best story to restore faith in mankind.

GW displayed an immensely poor piece of public speaking when he stumbled his way through a sentence suggesting Americans should use a little less petrol. Suggests thinking sitting down is tough for someone who does not seem able to think on his feet.

SPORT

Lots of news about League Grand Final on Saturday. A few New Zealand players were in it, but Benji Marshall was the focus. The West Tigers won 30-16 over the Cowboys.

After playing a 0-0 draw in the Champs league, Liverpool played Chelsea again this morning and lost 1-4. Man City beat Everton 2-0, Arsenal beat a 10 man Birmingham 1-0, Man Utd beat Fulham 3-2 which was a closer game despite all the goals being in the first half.

Auckland beat Wellington 29-22, Otago upset Canterbury 24-19, Bay of Plenty upset Waikato 17-13, North Harbour thumped Taranaki 37-3, and Southland beat Northland 21-15. The top four are likely to be Auckland, Canterbury, Otago, and Harbour in that order. Auckland have a shield challenge against Canterbury next week which will decide who gets home final.

MY SAD LIFE

Rory's trademe auctions closed last weekend and this week has been a flurry of packaging, deposits, phone calls, and so forth. Been trying to get Rory to handle most of it but even with him doing packaging it hasn't been easy. Now I have to sort out the money, which is tricky (payments, less auction fees, postage, and so on).

The kids have had some quiet days and some busy. Rory went to megazone one day, they all went to Rainbows End on Friday.

Preparation for my trip to SF has been low-key. Diana has taken out three travel insurance policies and appears to have purchased a surface to air missile on eBay. I am concerned.

I hear a rumour Brett is coming to Auckland to live. You have been very quiet about this, Brett.

A MEAN TRICK YOU SHOULD NEVER PLAY ON PEOPLE YOU LOVE

Rory has been heavily texting a female person on weekends (he swears they are just friends, okay, and I believe him, let's face it I kind of hope it is true that they are only friends). However, because there is no charge for texts on weekends, his phone vibrates every 4.5 minutes and he clicks away a reply. It is very annoying. I suggested we velcro some sandpaper to his phone and use it as an electric sander. How can you have something new to say that often? The estimate is over sixty texts on Sunday.

Anyway, while at Allan and Jackie's on Saturday night, I borrowed Paul's phone and texted Rory an anonymous message that went like this "I know who you are. Stop texting my daughter or I will call your parents." I told Rory I did it about five minutes after I sent it, he admitted to being slightly relieved.

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