Weather not great, unusually windy and wet. The kids have got three weeks left of school.
LOCAL NEWS
A P-crazed crazy man was on the run from police in Northland. It strikes me that the people that take this stuff are already a bit bonkers to begin with. The latest news is that he was seen in Avondale. He has died his hair red to disguise himself, but given his distinctive facial tattooing I am not sure it will do the trick.
Big hailstones hit Kaiwaka in the north, some as large as grapes.
There was a lot of news about a bust of a marijuana growing facility in a warehouse in Auckland. It was owned by a fashion label know as "Insidious Fix". Then it turned out that there was some weird tunnel to the warehouse from somewhere else (not sure where).
There was a blast in fashionable Paratai Drive when a P-Lab went bad.
A murder-suicide happened in Taupo on the weekend.
A UN envoy came to New Zealand and told us that we need to give Maori more money. I find this sort of thing worrying because it creates resentment all around. They earn less because they don't work or don't get the skills. Some of them do. That means that others can. Not sure how race relations are helped with this.
Air New Zealand were found to be in breach of fair trading rules (or should that be fare trading?). All to do with fine print about petrol surcharges and how small the writing is.
Very confused news this week about All Black Captain Tana Umaga retiring. First he was going to retire, then we had the stories about how his family are pleased and speculation about whether he was pushed. Then, two days later, he's not retiring.
WORLD NEWS
Model and drug charge escapee Michelle Leslie continues to be in news, while poor Schappelle remains in jail in Bali. She returned to Australia and was interviewed by journalists at every step in the journey.
Vietnam is poisoning pigeons to prevent bird flu. Meanwhile it is hard to know how serious this thing really is.
George Best died on Friday, and there was a suitable fuss made. His career was quite short, but he was very good. He retired when he was 26, which is very young.
An Australian (with a very Vietnamese name) is scheduled to be hanged for drug offences in Singapore, now everyone is pleading for clemency. The hangman was named in the furore and has now retired after hanging 850 people in his 50 year career. I did not know they hanged people for chewing gum in Singapore.
The benzine in the water in Chinese city Harbin has also been in the news. Nine million people unable to drink from their taps would be very problematic.
REAL SPORT
Hannah's team played Ponsonby Green again, who they played only two weeks ago. They did okay, but by third quarter Green were starting to get away on them. Loyalty was again divided and when Hannah was on sideline I tended to support Ponsonby. Hannah did well, made one excellent shot at goal which the goalie got to, and did some awesome defence. The team was definitely weaker when she was off.
Rory didn't play for Ponsonby Blue, who after losing 5-6 to Waitak the week before had to play them again without Rory and Henry. They lost 2-12. However, about five of the team stuck around to see Ponsonby Red play. The big final had a very big crowd, including five teachers from Ponsonby, and lots of friends. Rory's contingent was extremely large, with the Bambis (including B2, being named after a vitamin isn't very good is it), Gavin & Yana, Paul, the Grannies, Greta, and of course me and Diana. It was really nice to have the support, guys. Diana was dreaming about water polo on Thursday night, but we weren't getting too worked up about it.
Although Ponsonby Red had not lost to Bruce McLaren 1 during the season, the goal difference was only 1 with a narrow win and draw in their previous two encounters. There was not a lot in it, and they all needed to do their bit to win. Ponsonby got out to an early 2-0 lead in the first quarter but Bruce McLaren scored twice to level at 2-2 by the end of the first. In the second quarter, Red came out firing again and were 4-2 ahead. Third quarter was very hard play, very competitive, nothing conceded in defence, and they were all working hard. No goals scored in the third quarter which was surprising, so was still 4-2 going in to the final quarter, and the blood pressure was okay. Bruce McLaren scored first, 4-3 and the tension was suddenly very high. My voice was starting to fail. Ponsonby Red knuckled under and scored again to open up the lead and then stretched it out to 7-3 with about a minute thirty to go. Joe swapped the starters off to give the other players more game time. Bruce McLaren did get a consolation goal, but it wasn't enough and final score was 7-4. We think Rory got three goals, maybe four. At the prize giving afterward, Ben Pearson from Red got most promising boy and Rory got an MVP award (which he got last year in Div 2, we didn't really expect it this year). They then pushed poor Ms Hooper into the pool, which was very naughty.
Afterwards, most of the team went to Wendy's for a celebrationary coke and burger. They were very happy with themselves, which was not surprising. It got very messy, but they were happy.
When we got home on Friday night, Rory arranged his medals around the trophy (which he somehow ended up with) on his bookshelf as a little water polo shrine. He was a very happy young man.
Despite the excitement of Friday night, Rory still had four more games over the weekend. Three club ones and one Western Springs one. They lost the first two, won the third, lost the fourth. Rory scored twelve goals in the five games. We spent a lot of time going to swimming pools, including our first visit to a very new pool in Manurewa.
SPORT
The All Blacks won 29-10 against Scotland, completing a grand slam which is not a grand slam in my books.
Meanwhile, Australia lost to Wales 22-24 and South Africa lost to France 20-26.
The really big sports news is the Kiwis beating Australia in the League final, and not only beating them but holding them scoreless, winning 24-0.
Black Caps Captain Stephen Fleming has had a benign tumour removed from his jaw line. They play Australia this Saturday without him.
Everton beat Newcastle 1-0, Man Utd beat West Ham 2-1, Arsenal beat Blackburn 3-0, Chelsea won 2-0 over Portsmouth, Liverpool beat Man City 1-0.
The Aussies are playing West Indies in another test and it is pretty even with two days left (I think there are two days, they could run out of time).
MY SAD LIFE
Monday evening we went to play at the Hasbro warehouse with Ben and Matt. We took them through the showroom which had wall to wall toys, then out to the warehouse were there were cartons of toys stacked floor to ceiling. I think they were both a little overwhelmed but Ben certainly seemed to know what was happening.
Penny and the boys went home on Thursday. Ben's birthday was on Sunday, he is now five.
Hannah's interschool athletics was on Thursday. I hung around for two hours before she threw a ball twice and it was all over. Not sure why she didn't do long jump, very strange.
We found out that Rory has been asked to speak at the prize giving at school. There is still some homework that needs doing, and the speech is now on the list.
Hannah had her school disco on Friday night, which made for tricky logistics with water polo. She stayed the night at Hayley's so it was quiet at our house. She danced with eleven different boys, which I think is a fair definition of a full dance card. Funny, she seems quite happy with the idea that it is impolite to say no if someone asks, yet Rory would not take that on board and was quite happy to turn people down even earlier this year.
One thing we have noticed with Rory is that since Greta hit his radar with a vengeance, there have been no outbursts of how "hot" anyone is on the TV or anywhere. It appears the blinkers are well and truly on. He wants to be in her class next year, but Diana and I are not quite as keen for that to happen.
This morning Hannah complained to me that she is swimming "24/7" at the moment. School swimming started last week, but they actually only swam once, and water polo finished on Friday so she only has school swimming this week. Three swims, including one water polo game, does not really constitute "24/87" in my book.
Rory has an orientation night at Western Springs College this Thursday night. He also has interschool athletics on Tuesday. Hannah's dance show practices are starting to gear up.
I changed to the Mozilla Firefox web browser on Friday and I don't know why I didn't do it sooner.
Well, time to do some work, next week you will be hearing from a 41 year old. Ugh.
28 November 2005
21 November 2005
Grand Slam on track, New Zealand to host rugby world cup 2011, and the wedding is complete - 21/11/2005
After a rather big weekend, I have gone to work for a rest.
LOCAL NEWS
The big news of the week was New Zealand being awarded hosting rights for Rugby World Cup 2011. There was no other news, it was one of those days when you could slip in some bad news and nobody would notice. We continue with the usual run of stories from those about infrastructure required, impact on house prices, the danger to native birds of too many rugby supporters, you know the sort of thing.
A mental health patient that had threatened to kill pre-school children was released into the community to live directly opposite a childcare centre.
They found the body of Michael Erceg two weeks after his helicopter went missing. They found the Dutch guy too. They say they were found in bush, at best a clump of trees, about a thousand metres from real bush in the middle of paddocks.
Criticism of Winston Peters by the Herald has been described as treason by, wait for it, Winston Peters.
Hmmmm. Some might consider that to be an act of patriotism.
The Ellerslie Flower show was on this weekend, Diana went there on Friday. She seemed happy enough.
It turns out that newsreader John Campbell was first to the accident last weekend that killed a motorcyclist. He comforted the man as he died. What a guy.
Another good samaritan dragged a woman and her dog from a burning car.
The prison service has spent $300,000 on removing tattoos from their customers. I think some smart customers could offer to be paid a reduced amount to not get tattoos. Could be a growth industry. It supposedly helps reduce reoffending.
WORLD NEWS
An Israeli company has developed a lie detector that uses tremors in the voice to detect lies. They are going to be used in airports. This is kind of silly, because people tend to say "yes" to the "did you pack your bag yourself" question just to make life easier. What will it achieve by people being forced to say "well, my wife did a lot, my kids made cards and a macaroni painting that they wrapped themselves and my sister gave me a gift to take." Is that really going to help?
GW has been telling us why they shouldn't get out of Iraq. Nobody believes him.
APEC was this week. Nothing interesting happened.
REAL SPORT
Continuing a tradition of playing for your next school in our family, Hannah helped out Ponsonby Gold on Friday night for two quarters (they were short in numbers) before getting ready for her own game. She left them in good shape at 3-3 but they were playing six on seven so they just couldn't hold it together and lost 3-9 to Rangeview Grey.
Hannah's team played Bruce McLaren 2, and lost fairly convincingly. They have a player that has lost the plot, she scored an own goal this week that was bizarre.
Big semi-final on Friday night, against Rangeview Black (a team from Olwyn's school). It must be about the sixth time they have played each other this year, and I feel sorry for them. To quote Mick Jagger (when talking about Australia playing England in cricket a couple of years ago) "It's like a porn movie, you always know what is going to happen". The final score was 12-1. They play Bruce McLaren 1 in the final next Friday. The result of that is not predictable.
Rory also helped Ponsonby Blue against the much-vaunted Waitak 1. They worked very hard and it was 5-5 with about a minute to go, then Waitak got one and the final score was a 5-6 loss. A very good result for them, nonetheless.
Rory played for Western Springs on Sunday afternoon. For the first time, he didn't start in goal. They finished the first quarter ahead, about 3-0. Rory went into goal in the third quarter, scored a goal in the dying seconds despite the goalie at the other end knowing it was coming. Final score was 9-2, Rory scored about five or six of them, at least one in every quarter.
SPORT
The big news is the All Blacks won the game against England 23-19, with 14 men for a good chunk of the second half. They now need to beat Scotland to complete the grand slam (which I still say is easier given that they need to win only four games against four different opponents. In golf you have to win four matches. Be the best over four sets of four rounds, against a hundred-odd others in each match).
Australia beat Great Britain in the League so New Zealand play Australia in the final.
Netballers won again in Jamaica.
The Windies are struggling against Australia, who are actually having to bat again. They don't need many, about 78.
Lots of teams scored three goals in the premiereship. Man Utd beat Charlton 3-1, Arsenal beat Wigan 3-2, Newcastle lost 0-3 against Chelsea, Liverpool won 3-0 over Portsmouth.
MY SAD LIFE
Well, the wedding dominated this week, it is fair to say. It all went pretty well, not perfectly, but they never do. Scott and Sarah are now married (the expected outcome). The kids both did their bit very well. Hannah was absolutely stunning in her bridesmaids outfit. Rory looked very grown up in a suit, handing out programs and doing a reading during the service. One funny moment was when some people realised they were at the wrong wedding, Scott and Carla were being married next door. As they left, Rory said "Do you think I should ask for their copies of the service to be returned?".
I have seen Penny do her floristry thing about half a dozen times now, and I still can't get used to seeing foliage flying everywhere, glue gun in hand, creating these bouquet-things.
We've seen quite a lot of Ben and Matt, the nephews. The kids have had some good fun with them, we went swimming with them yesterday morning (leaving the mums to recover a little).
We went to see Chris and Tracey out at their house in Papatoetoe yesterday. Rory brought Greta, we were all amazed she would be willing to go. They seemed to enjoy themselves. It is was we call FFF (Forced Family Fun). Rory was very happy that Greta was going to see him play water polo.
Both kids had school athletics this week. Hannah was first, she came second in long jump, third in high jump, and third in shot-put. She hurt her knee so I wouldn't let her run. Rory's was the next day. He came third in long jump, discus, 4th in shot put, second in 100 metres final and 400 metres and fourth in 200 metres. For the first time ever, they are both off to inter-school athletics (neither of them have qualified before).
Hannah had her tests for intermediate school on Thursday. She seemed happy enough with them, very happy with a bunch of friends there.
On Wednesday it will be two years since Ross Cole died. I think we are pretty used to him not being around now.
It is Judy's birthday tommorow, and Ben's on Sunday.
Craig went home last night, Penny and the boys are staying until Thursday.
LOCAL NEWS
The big news of the week was New Zealand being awarded hosting rights for Rugby World Cup 2011. There was no other news, it was one of those days when you could slip in some bad news and nobody would notice. We continue with the usual run of stories from those about infrastructure required, impact on house prices, the danger to native birds of too many rugby supporters, you know the sort of thing.
A mental health patient that had threatened to kill pre-school children was released into the community to live directly opposite a childcare centre.
They found the body of Michael Erceg two weeks after his helicopter went missing. They found the Dutch guy too. They say they were found in bush, at best a clump of trees, about a thousand metres from real bush in the middle of paddocks.
Criticism of Winston Peters by the Herald has been described as treason by, wait for it, Winston Peters.
Hmmmm. Some might consider that to be an act of patriotism.
The Ellerslie Flower show was on this weekend, Diana went there on Friday. She seemed happy enough.
It turns out that newsreader John Campbell was first to the accident last weekend that killed a motorcyclist. He comforted the man as he died. What a guy.
Another good samaritan dragged a woman and her dog from a burning car.
The prison service has spent $300,000 on removing tattoos from their customers. I think some smart customers could offer to be paid a reduced amount to not get tattoos. Could be a growth industry. It supposedly helps reduce reoffending.
WORLD NEWS
An Israeli company has developed a lie detector that uses tremors in the voice to detect lies. They are going to be used in airports. This is kind of silly, because people tend to say "yes" to the "did you pack your bag yourself" question just to make life easier. What will it achieve by people being forced to say "well, my wife did a lot, my kids made cards and a macaroni painting that they wrapped themselves and my sister gave me a gift to take." Is that really going to help?
GW has been telling us why they shouldn't get out of Iraq. Nobody believes him.
APEC was this week. Nothing interesting happened.
REAL SPORT
Continuing a tradition of playing for your next school in our family, Hannah helped out Ponsonby Gold on Friday night for two quarters (they were short in numbers) before getting ready for her own game. She left them in good shape at 3-3 but they were playing six on seven so they just couldn't hold it together and lost 3-9 to Rangeview Grey.
Hannah's team played Bruce McLaren 2, and lost fairly convincingly. They have a player that has lost the plot, she scored an own goal this week that was bizarre.
Big semi-final on Friday night, against Rangeview Black (a team from Olwyn's school). It must be about the sixth time they have played each other this year, and I feel sorry for them. To quote Mick Jagger (when talking about Australia playing England in cricket a couple of years ago) "It's like a porn movie, you always know what is going to happen". The final score was 12-1. They play Bruce McLaren 1 in the final next Friday. The result of that is not predictable.
Rory also helped Ponsonby Blue against the much-vaunted Waitak 1. They worked very hard and it was 5-5 with about a minute to go, then Waitak got one and the final score was a 5-6 loss. A very good result for them, nonetheless.
Rory played for Western Springs on Sunday afternoon. For the first time, he didn't start in goal. They finished the first quarter ahead, about 3-0. Rory went into goal in the third quarter, scored a goal in the dying seconds despite the goalie at the other end knowing it was coming. Final score was 9-2, Rory scored about five or six of them, at least one in every quarter.
SPORT
The big news is the All Blacks won the game against England 23-19, with 14 men for a good chunk of the second half. They now need to beat Scotland to complete the grand slam (which I still say is easier given that they need to win only four games against four different opponents. In golf you have to win four matches. Be the best over four sets of four rounds, against a hundred-odd others in each match).
Australia beat Great Britain in the League so New Zealand play Australia in the final.
Netballers won again in Jamaica.
The Windies are struggling against Australia, who are actually having to bat again. They don't need many, about 78.
Lots of teams scored three goals in the premiereship. Man Utd beat Charlton 3-1, Arsenal beat Wigan 3-2, Newcastle lost 0-3 against Chelsea, Liverpool won 3-0 over Portsmouth.
MY SAD LIFE
Well, the wedding dominated this week, it is fair to say. It all went pretty well, not perfectly, but they never do. Scott and Sarah are now married (the expected outcome). The kids both did their bit very well. Hannah was absolutely stunning in her bridesmaids outfit. Rory looked very grown up in a suit, handing out programs and doing a reading during the service. One funny moment was when some people realised they were at the wrong wedding, Scott and Carla were being married next door. As they left, Rory said "Do you think I should ask for their copies of the service to be returned?".
I have seen Penny do her floristry thing about half a dozen times now, and I still can't get used to seeing foliage flying everywhere, glue gun in hand, creating these bouquet-things.
We've seen quite a lot of Ben and Matt, the nephews. The kids have had some good fun with them, we went swimming with them yesterday morning (leaving the mums to recover a little).
We went to see Chris and Tracey out at their house in Papatoetoe yesterday. Rory brought Greta, we were all amazed she would be willing to go. They seemed to enjoy themselves. It is was we call FFF (Forced Family Fun). Rory was very happy that Greta was going to see him play water polo.
Both kids had school athletics this week. Hannah was first, she came second in long jump, third in high jump, and third in shot-put. She hurt her knee so I wouldn't let her run. Rory's was the next day. He came third in long jump, discus, 4th in shot put, second in 100 metres final and 400 metres and fourth in 200 metres. For the first time ever, they are both off to inter-school athletics (neither of them have qualified before).
Hannah had her tests for intermediate school on Thursday. She seemed happy enough with them, very happy with a bunch of friends there.
On Wednesday it will be two years since Ross Cole died. I think we are pretty used to him not being around now.
It is Judy's birthday tommorow, and Ben's on Sunday.
Craig went home last night, Penny and the boys are staying until Thursday.
14 November 2005
WARNING contains high water polo content - 14/11/2005
Sorry for the large real sport section. It felt like we had an awful lot of water polo.
LOCAL NEWS
School NCEA exams start today.
The search for the missing helicopter grew, involving 20 helicopters. Over this week, efforts have been scaled back, no helicopter has been found. One wonders what would happen if they lost another one during the search. To lose one is unfortunate, to lose two is considered careless….
A man died when he rolled a stolen car into a power pole mid-week in Onehunga. So much better for society than having to pay for his incarceration.
A bus drove into a house Wednesday, then a car drove into another house and landed on another car. The number of housing fatalities is bound to rise at this rate.
Apparently 600 new born babies die in New Zealand each year. I think they should ban being born as it is far too dangerous.
An Australian man who faked his own death and came to live in New Zealand has been discovered. Also turned out he had a new wife. Wonder if she faked anything.
A Lotto shop owner told a customer a ticket had won $17 when it had actually won $60,000. This is a massive betrayal of trust and breach of his duty. When your job is to help your customers, this is beyond the pale. The customer took back the ticket and went to the Lotteries Commission directly. The man is no longer a Lotto shop owner.
They reckon the property market has cooled off, as prices rose 14.4% as compared to 14.9% the previous year. Not really much of a cooling off if you ask me.
Rod Donald died of a viral myocardial thing. A heart attack induced by disease. He was buried in a recyclable pine box and transported by foot during services.
HMNZS Wellington was ceremoniously sunk over the weekend to begin its life as a reef.
WORLD NEWS
I thought New Zealand was political correctness gone wrong, but Australia are doing their best to catch up. Their latest crisis is that there is concern that photos of children at the beach could end up on dodgy web sites, so photography at the beach is about to become illegal. They seem to have failed to recognise that sufficient photos of such things already exist and stopping people taking more won't really have much of an impact.
Riots in France have settled down, but it did look like Beirut on a bad day for a while.
The 11th of the 11th was the anniversary of the end of World War I.
REAL SPORT
Friday night was busy, but not as protracted as some weeks. It was all done in about two hours.
Rory's Red team were up against Waitak Invitational 1, a team made up of identified players (many of which play for under 14 and 12 club teams). Rory was off second quarter and they slipped to 1-4 down (was 1-1 end of first). Rory came back on third and they stepped it up, they had equalised within about three minutes, by then end of third quarter they were up. In the fourth quarter Red locked down, and got out to 6-4. Then Waitak got one back, with about a minute left and Ponsonby looked after possession and let the clock run out. Final score 6-5. This was last game in league, Waitak won with Ponsonby Red coming second by three goals on goal difference (both on 34 points). That is big result for Ponsonby, who have a semi-final next week. Rory scored four goals and got player of the game. Rory came out of the pool and said to Diana "God, I love water polo".
Hannah's team (Waitak 2) played Ponsonby Green. Very tricky. Wanted Hannah to do well but wanted Ponsonby to win too. Hannah was in goal for half (I was going "Shoot Jane, um not too hard" was very confused). She let in no goals and her team was up 1-0 end of first half. But in second half Ponsonby came back and Sinead in Hannah's team was obviously too thick to know the rules because she wasted three free throws by shooting when she had to pass. Final score 2-1 to Ponsonby, but Hannah played in all four quarters and was pretty happy.
Rory then played for Western Springs, always a challenge. The opposing team had an under 16 club player who was all over the Springs team (Rory was in goal first quarter but just a waste of time). Once Rory came out, he marked the under 16 and shut him out of the game. He got two goals for them but they lost 8-3. Rory got two goals.
Rory then played for Ponsonby Blue. Only one quarter, the last one, in goal. Blue were down about 0-6, Rory opened the scoring for Blue (from goal, described as a gimp goal by the ref, Joe, who we know quite well) and they got one more so lost about 2-7.
Rory had another game on Sunday afternoon. It was against Northsport A, the best team in the league and was never going to be pretty. Only six guys arrived, when the minimum is seven, so they took the default (a 0-5 loss) and played a friendly match with some ring-ins, including their coach. It was a very good game, really good for the six players there because they had a bit more structure and tactics. Far better than a 0-20 loss or something if they had managed seven players (it would have been, in all honesty). Rory got himself a nice goal, but missed two others. They won 12-9. Rory got a goal in each game, he is very proud of that.
SPORT
The All Blacks named a completely different starting line-up from the previous weekend. There was much controversy about that, but it is to develop depth. There was some question about whether it would put the Grand Slam at risk (which is a far easier Grand Slam to win than in golf or tennis, but don't go there). They beat Ireland 45-7. They play England next weekend. Scotland is unlikely to provide much of a challenge.
The Kiwis lost miserably to Great Britain 12-38 in the League. After praise was heaped on the coach recently, he won't be so popular.
Aussie lost to England 16-26 in the rugby, their seventh loss in a row, that is not good.
England came back from behind to beat Argentina 3-2 in a soccer friendly.
MY SAD LIFE
Three birthdays this week, Helen J, Caitlin, and Nanny, all on Sunday (and it is still Sunday somewhere in the world). The 13th of November was obviously a big day.
Heidi said she is thinking of visiting Paris. I recommend taking a rental car and lots of insurance.
Popped in to see Koos and Julie and Marissa on Sunday after water polo. We got to meet Magic the cat, who has now had his second knee operation. He is large, black, and fluffy, with a red mane and both legs partially shaved. The left has regrown a fair bit, and other is very pale. Looks like he is trying to become a poodle. They had a pomegranate, I've never seen one before.
Big week coming up, with Scott and Sarah's wedding this coming Saturday. The Tuckers arrive Thursday. Went with Hannah for final fitting of dress. Other wardrobe items being sorted.
We went to see the show Big Boys Toys on Friday. Paul and I snuck off with the kids early Friday to beat the rush. We had a good time. Paul and I got free chocolate, beer, and condoms.
We have been battling to fit homework in around water polo, because Rory has some due the Monday after the wedding, and not much will be achieved next weekend.
Paul came with us to the water polo on Friday night and took a lot of photos. Haven't seen them yet but should be cool.
Diana went to Jacqui Chambers' 50th birthday party. The usual suspects were there, Allan and Paul wisely kept a low profile (it was girls only).
SCENES WE MISSED FROM LAST WEEK
Guy Fawkes. I wanted to have a bit of a rant about sodding Guy Fawkes. We celebrate what was actually a terrorist act. While the Americans have 9/11, we in New Zealand have been celebrating 5/11 for a long time, despite the fact that it is never really acknowledged in England (where it actually happened back in 1605). Beyond this fundamental idiocy, we imported 1700 tonnes of explosives this year so that:
- fire-fighters and hospitals can work overtime for ten days
- pets can get distressed
- vets can sell more tranquilizers
- people can get hurt
- we can release tonnes of noxious greenhouse and poisonous gases
- we can talk to our insurance companies more about property damage
- kids can't get to sleep
- people who start work early in the morning can under perform
- the additional money spent of fireworks can help to further wreck the country's balance of payments deficit
- families that can ill-afford them spend their lotto, booze, cigarette, and drug money on fireworks instead
- people can spend time picking up the litter created by others
As you can tell, I have thought about this way too much. But I cannot see any compelling reason that we celebrate an event from 400 years ago (nobody mentioned once in the media that this year was the 400th anniversary, which shows how much anyone really cares about the purported original event) that happened on the other side of the world.
Ollie was nowhere to be seen when we got home on Sunday night. Just before I went to bed I called him outside, and heard a faint squeak. It could have been a tree branch rubbing on something, but I checked the office. Nothing. Called again. Squeak. I checked the car, nothing. Squeak. Opened the garage, and out comes a black fluffball, rubs past my legs and takes off for the food section of the kitchen.
LOCAL NEWS
School NCEA exams start today.
The search for the missing helicopter grew, involving 20 helicopters. Over this week, efforts have been scaled back, no helicopter has been found. One wonders what would happen if they lost another one during the search. To lose one is unfortunate, to lose two is considered careless….
A man died when he rolled a stolen car into a power pole mid-week in Onehunga. So much better for society than having to pay for his incarceration.
A bus drove into a house Wednesday, then a car drove into another house and landed on another car. The number of housing fatalities is bound to rise at this rate.
Apparently 600 new born babies die in New Zealand each year. I think they should ban being born as it is far too dangerous.
An Australian man who faked his own death and came to live in New Zealand has been discovered. Also turned out he had a new wife. Wonder if she faked anything.
A Lotto shop owner told a customer a ticket had won $17 when it had actually won $60,000. This is a massive betrayal of trust and breach of his duty. When your job is to help your customers, this is beyond the pale. The customer took back the ticket and went to the Lotteries Commission directly. The man is no longer a Lotto shop owner.
They reckon the property market has cooled off, as prices rose 14.4% as compared to 14.9% the previous year. Not really much of a cooling off if you ask me.
Rod Donald died of a viral myocardial thing. A heart attack induced by disease. He was buried in a recyclable pine box and transported by foot during services.
HMNZS Wellington was ceremoniously sunk over the weekend to begin its life as a reef.
WORLD NEWS
I thought New Zealand was political correctness gone wrong, but Australia are doing their best to catch up. Their latest crisis is that there is concern that photos of children at the beach could end up on dodgy web sites, so photography at the beach is about to become illegal. They seem to have failed to recognise that sufficient photos of such things already exist and stopping people taking more won't really have much of an impact.
Riots in France have settled down, but it did look like Beirut on a bad day for a while.
The 11th of the 11th was the anniversary of the end of World War I.
REAL SPORT
Friday night was busy, but not as protracted as some weeks. It was all done in about two hours.
Rory's Red team were up against Waitak Invitational 1, a team made up of identified players (many of which play for under 14 and 12 club teams). Rory was off second quarter and they slipped to 1-4 down (was 1-1 end of first). Rory came back on third and they stepped it up, they had equalised within about three minutes, by then end of third quarter they were up. In the fourth quarter Red locked down, and got out to 6-4. Then Waitak got one back, with about a minute left and Ponsonby looked after possession and let the clock run out. Final score 6-5. This was last game in league, Waitak won with Ponsonby Red coming second by three goals on goal difference (both on 34 points). That is big result for Ponsonby, who have a semi-final next week. Rory scored four goals and got player of the game. Rory came out of the pool and said to Diana "God, I love water polo".
Hannah's team (Waitak 2) played Ponsonby Green. Very tricky. Wanted Hannah to do well but wanted Ponsonby to win too. Hannah was in goal for half (I was going "Shoot Jane, um not too hard" was very confused). She let in no goals and her team was up 1-0 end of first half. But in second half Ponsonby came back and Sinead in Hannah's team was obviously too thick to know the rules because she wasted three free throws by shooting when she had to pass. Final score 2-1 to Ponsonby, but Hannah played in all four quarters and was pretty happy.
Rory then played for Western Springs, always a challenge. The opposing team had an under 16 club player who was all over the Springs team (Rory was in goal first quarter but just a waste of time). Once Rory came out, he marked the under 16 and shut him out of the game. He got two goals for them but they lost 8-3. Rory got two goals.
Rory then played for Ponsonby Blue. Only one quarter, the last one, in goal. Blue were down about 0-6, Rory opened the scoring for Blue (from goal, described as a gimp goal by the ref, Joe, who we know quite well) and they got one more so lost about 2-7.
Rory had another game on Sunday afternoon. It was against Northsport A, the best team in the league and was never going to be pretty. Only six guys arrived, when the minimum is seven, so they took the default (a 0-5 loss) and played a friendly match with some ring-ins, including their coach. It was a very good game, really good for the six players there because they had a bit more structure and tactics. Far better than a 0-20 loss or something if they had managed seven players (it would have been, in all honesty). Rory got himself a nice goal, but missed two others. They won 12-9. Rory got a goal in each game, he is very proud of that.
SPORT
The All Blacks named a completely different starting line-up from the previous weekend. There was much controversy about that, but it is to develop depth. There was some question about whether it would put the Grand Slam at risk (which is a far easier Grand Slam to win than in golf or tennis, but don't go there). They beat Ireland 45-7. They play England next weekend. Scotland is unlikely to provide much of a challenge.
The Kiwis lost miserably to Great Britain 12-38 in the League. After praise was heaped on the coach recently, he won't be so popular.
Aussie lost to England 16-26 in the rugby, their seventh loss in a row, that is not good.
England came back from behind to beat Argentina 3-2 in a soccer friendly.
MY SAD LIFE
Three birthdays this week, Helen J, Caitlin, and Nanny, all on Sunday (and it is still Sunday somewhere in the world). The 13th of November was obviously a big day.
Heidi said she is thinking of visiting Paris. I recommend taking a rental car and lots of insurance.
Popped in to see Koos and Julie and Marissa on Sunday after water polo. We got to meet Magic the cat, who has now had his second knee operation. He is large, black, and fluffy, with a red mane and both legs partially shaved. The left has regrown a fair bit, and other is very pale. Looks like he is trying to become a poodle. They had a pomegranate, I've never seen one before.
Big week coming up, with Scott and Sarah's wedding this coming Saturday. The Tuckers arrive Thursday. Went with Hannah for final fitting of dress. Other wardrobe items being sorted.
We went to see the show Big Boys Toys on Friday. Paul and I snuck off with the kids early Friday to beat the rush. We had a good time. Paul and I got free chocolate, beer, and condoms.
We have been battling to fit homework in around water polo, because Rory has some due the Monday after the wedding, and not much will be achieved next weekend.
Paul came with us to the water polo on Friday night and took a lot of photos. Haven't seen them yet but should be cool.
Diana went to Jacqui Chambers' 50th birthday party. The usual suspects were there, Allan and Paul wisely kept a low profile (it was girls only).
SCENES WE MISSED FROM LAST WEEK
Guy Fawkes. I wanted to have a bit of a rant about sodding Guy Fawkes. We celebrate what was actually a terrorist act. While the Americans have 9/11, we in New Zealand have been celebrating 5/11 for a long time, despite the fact that it is never really acknowledged in England (where it actually happened back in 1605). Beyond this fundamental idiocy, we imported 1700 tonnes of explosives this year so that:
- fire-fighters and hospitals can work overtime for ten days
- pets can get distressed
- vets can sell more tranquilizers
- people can get hurt
- we can release tonnes of noxious greenhouse and poisonous gases
- we can talk to our insurance companies more about property damage
- kids can't get to sleep
- people who start work early in the morning can under perform
- the additional money spent of fireworks can help to further wreck the country's balance of payments deficit
- families that can ill-afford them spend their lotto, booze, cigarette, and drug money on fireworks instead
- people can spend time picking up the litter created by others
As you can tell, I have thought about this way too much. But I cannot see any compelling reason that we celebrate an event from 400 years ago (nobody mentioned once in the media that this year was the 400th anniversary, which shows how much anyone really cares about the purported original event) that happened on the other side of the world.
Ollie was nowhere to be seen when we got home on Sunday night. Just before I went to bed I called him outside, and heard a faint squeak. It could have been a tree branch rubbing on something, but I checked the office. Nothing. Called again. Squeak. I checked the car, nothing. Squeak. Opened the garage, and out comes a black fluffball, rubs past my legs and takes off for the food section of the kitchen.
7 November 2005
Fit people dying everywhere, alongside the stupid ones - 07/11/2005
LOCAL NEWS
Co-Leader of the Green Party, Rod Donald, died yesterday of a heart attack at 48. We've had all the usual things about what a guy he was. He was one of the fittest and healthiest MPs. This probably means Zaphod gets back in to Parliament. Wonder if they will still have "Co-leaders" in the Greens. First time a sitting MP has died in nearly 20 years.
A 36 year old swimmer died after taking part in 2.6k harbour swim on Saturday.
Pania of the reef is, or should I say was, a statue of a Maori maiden that was in a park in Napier for many years. A little tourist attraction and local icon, it was stolen last week (I forgot to mention it). It has brought all of Napier together, and they want it back. We had interviews with the woman who was the model, and all sorts. There was a theory that it was motivated by another statue theft recently where the perpetrators were paid $10,000 for it's return. I suppose it is artnapping, rather than theft.
Then, police found her/it on Friday during a routine search of some scumbags house.
Resignation of head of TVNZ continues to be news. These dodgy exit packages for people who resign are beyond me. He gets about $400k. Who negotiates this stuff?
The double murder in Tauranga (did I mention that last week?) continued with dribbles of information. Sounds like they drove from Henderson to Tauranga in about 90 minutes, more like a good 2.5 to 3 hour drive (I can understand wanting to leave Henderson in a hurry, but that is just silly). The weapon was a shotgun. It was revealed that the two victims were known felons (something the police withheld to encourage information from the public). A man was arrested yesterday.
Businessman Michael Erceg went missing in a helicopter about four days ago. No sign of him yet. Another guy was with him, but he wasn't as important, apparently.
A car accident on Wednesday killed six people. The driver was drunk, stoned, tired, had no seat belt, and was speeding. No evidence to suggest she was texting her best mate at the time. Her 2yo son was one of the dead. She was on a restricted license. Yet another example of Darwinian evolution. That is five stupid things at once, plus the fact that the small car had six people in it, so call it even half dozen.
Yet another winner. This week the sister of the man who killed a six year old girl (Coral Burrows) while fuelled on P, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. She killed her partner while in a P-powered rage. Why do people even bother to try it?
We had a couple of other nasty traffic fatalities, the competition for moron of the week was pretty tough this week.
The government has been worrying about getting our people back from overseas, at a time when three people I know have come back without government encouragement. I don't get it.
WORLD NEWS
The riots in France are a bit weird, they’ve been going on for a good week or so.
Big hole opened up on corner of apartment building in Sydney near a tunnel construction project. They seem to have patched things up okay.
REAL SPORT
Only one game this week. The club 14b team versus the club 14a team. Mate against mate. Rory did pretty well, but the team as a whole made some silly mistakes. Final score was 15-0. The 14a team have scored more goals in a game, so that is something.
Hannah's team playing a game they should win this week, and Rory's team a game they should lose.
SPORT
Makaybe Diva won the Melbourne Cup for the third time in a row. I don't really understand why we get so interested in horse racing for about a week a year. Apparently Ascot is similar in England.
Lots of build-up to first test in Wales for All Blacks. The ABs won 41-3, not very close, although the first 15 minutes was pretty quiet.
The Kangaroos thumped Great Britain 20-6 in the League Tri-nations.
Man Utd actually had a win, 1-0 over Chelsea. This is their (Chelsea's) first loss of the season. Arsenal beat Sunderland 3-1, Wigan beat Portsmouth 2-0 (and remain high on the table), Newcastle beat Birmingham 1-0, Liverpool beat Villa 2-0.
Black Caps lost the ODI series to SA 0-4, saved by weather in one game. Not good.
MY SAD LIFE
B2 is six months old and still B2. Yup, still B2. She thinks R2D2 is her older brother. Bambi tested his pyrotechnical skills at a thing at St Kents, exploding star shells to the 1812 overture, synchronised with MP3 player. Geeky, but very cliché.
Brett is heading towards New Zealand, yet another ex-pat becoming a, er, pat?
Kids had a great time at Halloween. Hannah went with about four other girls and terrorised the neighbourhood. They started at one end of Pt Chev at Bonnie's and worked their way here. Rory offered to look after the treats they didn't like. Then Rory went a bit later on with Greta and Lewis, which seems to be a very comfortable dynamic (which Rory wasn't sure about, but Lewis seems pretty relaxed).
Or is he an ex-ex-pat?
My Uncle Chris and his son Hayden were on a local game show. I am sure you say "I am smarter than those clowns" every time you watch it, as I do. Those buggers are pretty quick on the buzzer. They were the best of the three sets of contestants, but couldn't take out the final prize (which was two lousy chairs. Expensive chairs, but still). He didn't even tell people to watch the show, but we sprung him anyway. But was it worth it? Was it really worth it?
Brett is an ex-pat of Australia now, as he did become a citizen so he could vote.
It is Kathryn's birthday tomorrow. Enters her 40th year. Bet she can't wait.
Paul arrived on Friday as a another ex-ex-pat-pat. His container is due in about two weeks or so. He has already bought a car, three new stereos, and some routers.
Rory has mega-photos this week, plus he is playing touch-rugby. They are taking team photos for school magazine. Rory is in photos for wrestling, kilikiti, volleyball, soccer, water polo, softball, netball, and probably others I have forgotten.
Brett, have you considered what you are doing to immigration statistics in two countries?
Koos is home alone this week, the girls are off on camp.
Haven't seen Gavin this week, but Jana did relationships at school this week and the coming week is motorcycle maintenance (I actually can't remember what the topic is this week, might be politics, but motorcycle maintenance sounds more interesting.
Better go and get ready for some audio conferences.
PS Why Chris, why, why oh why?
Co-Leader of the Green Party, Rod Donald, died yesterday of a heart attack at 48. We've had all the usual things about what a guy he was. He was one of the fittest and healthiest MPs. This probably means Zaphod gets back in to Parliament. Wonder if they will still have "Co-leaders" in the Greens. First time a sitting MP has died in nearly 20 years.
A 36 year old swimmer died after taking part in 2.6k harbour swim on Saturday.
Pania of the reef is, or should I say was, a statue of a Maori maiden that was in a park in Napier for many years. A little tourist attraction and local icon, it was stolen last week (I forgot to mention it). It has brought all of Napier together, and they want it back. We had interviews with the woman who was the model, and all sorts. There was a theory that it was motivated by another statue theft recently where the perpetrators were paid $10,000 for it's return. I suppose it is artnapping, rather than theft.
Then, police found her/it on Friday during a routine search of some scumbags house.
Resignation of head of TVNZ continues to be news. These dodgy exit packages for people who resign are beyond me. He gets about $400k. Who negotiates this stuff?
The double murder in Tauranga (did I mention that last week?) continued with dribbles of information. Sounds like they drove from Henderson to Tauranga in about 90 minutes, more like a good 2.5 to 3 hour drive (I can understand wanting to leave Henderson in a hurry, but that is just silly). The weapon was a shotgun. It was revealed that the two victims were known felons (something the police withheld to encourage information from the public). A man was arrested yesterday.
Businessman Michael Erceg went missing in a helicopter about four days ago. No sign of him yet. Another guy was with him, but he wasn't as important, apparently.
A car accident on Wednesday killed six people. The driver was drunk, stoned, tired, had no seat belt, and was speeding. No evidence to suggest she was texting her best mate at the time. Her 2yo son was one of the dead. She was on a restricted license. Yet another example of Darwinian evolution. That is five stupid things at once, plus the fact that the small car had six people in it, so call it even half dozen.
Yet another winner. This week the sister of the man who killed a six year old girl (Coral Burrows) while fuelled on P, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. She killed her partner while in a P-powered rage. Why do people even bother to try it?
We had a couple of other nasty traffic fatalities, the competition for moron of the week was pretty tough this week.
The government has been worrying about getting our people back from overseas, at a time when three people I know have come back without government encouragement. I don't get it.
WORLD NEWS
The riots in France are a bit weird, they’ve been going on for a good week or so.
Big hole opened up on corner of apartment building in Sydney near a tunnel construction project. They seem to have patched things up okay.
REAL SPORT
Only one game this week. The club 14b team versus the club 14a team. Mate against mate. Rory did pretty well, but the team as a whole made some silly mistakes. Final score was 15-0. The 14a team have scored more goals in a game, so that is something.
Hannah's team playing a game they should win this week, and Rory's team a game they should lose.
SPORT
Makaybe Diva won the Melbourne Cup for the third time in a row. I don't really understand why we get so interested in horse racing for about a week a year. Apparently Ascot is similar in England.
Lots of build-up to first test in Wales for All Blacks. The ABs won 41-3, not very close, although the first 15 minutes was pretty quiet.
The Kangaroos thumped Great Britain 20-6 in the League Tri-nations.
Man Utd actually had a win, 1-0 over Chelsea. This is their (Chelsea's) first loss of the season. Arsenal beat Sunderland 3-1, Wigan beat Portsmouth 2-0 (and remain high on the table), Newcastle beat Birmingham 1-0, Liverpool beat Villa 2-0.
Black Caps lost the ODI series to SA 0-4, saved by weather in one game. Not good.
MY SAD LIFE
B2 is six months old and still B2. Yup, still B2. She thinks R2D2 is her older brother. Bambi tested his pyrotechnical skills at a thing at St Kents, exploding star shells to the 1812 overture, synchronised with MP3 player. Geeky, but very cliché.
Brett is heading towards New Zealand, yet another ex-pat becoming a, er, pat?
Kids had a great time at Halloween. Hannah went with about four other girls and terrorised the neighbourhood. They started at one end of Pt Chev at Bonnie's and worked their way here. Rory offered to look after the treats they didn't like. Then Rory went a bit later on with Greta and Lewis, which seems to be a very comfortable dynamic (which Rory wasn't sure about, but Lewis seems pretty relaxed).
Or is he an ex-ex-pat?
My Uncle Chris and his son Hayden were on a local game show. I am sure you say "I am smarter than those clowns" every time you watch it, as I do. Those buggers are pretty quick on the buzzer. They were the best of the three sets of contestants, but couldn't take out the final prize (which was two lousy chairs. Expensive chairs, but still). He didn't even tell people to watch the show, but we sprung him anyway. But was it worth it? Was it really worth it?
Brett is an ex-pat of Australia now, as he did become a citizen so he could vote.
It is Kathryn's birthday tomorrow. Enters her 40th year. Bet she can't wait.
Paul arrived on Friday as a another ex-ex-pat-pat. His container is due in about two weeks or so. He has already bought a car, three new stereos, and some routers.
Rory has mega-photos this week, plus he is playing touch-rugby. They are taking team photos for school magazine. Rory is in photos for wrestling, kilikiti, volleyball, soccer, water polo, softball, netball, and probably others I have forgotten.
Brett, have you considered what you are doing to immigration statistics in two countries?
Koos is home alone this week, the girls are off on camp.
Haven't seen Gavin this week, but Jana did relationships at school this week and the coming week is motorcycle maintenance (I actually can't remember what the topic is this week, might be politics, but motorcycle maintenance sounds more interesting.
Better go and get ready for some audio conferences.
PS Why Chris, why, why oh why?
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