Sorry folks, left for holiday before I hit SEND button.
LOCAL NEWS
The holiday road toll hit 20, about double last year. The toll for the year was down on last year.
A policeman has resigned following news of dubious texts to a 16 year old female offender (not sure if he arrested her or not).
We continue to get news of bird flu, the latest is that the worst of the prisoners would be locked up in jail and left to their own devices, along the lines of "Escape from New York" or something like that.
News was released of a tenant database that records who is good and who is bad. I think it is a great idea. Tenants now want a database of dodgy landlords.
Greenpeace are harassing the Japanese whaling boats. I do wonder why we accept this "whaling research" thing.
There was a mini-riot outside a hall in Tauranga where a 21st birthday party was held. A policewoman was seriously hurt when some clown biffed a car wheel hub that hit her in the head. Three policeman were less-seriously injured. Excessive alcohol consumption seems to have helped.
WORLD NEWS
The miners in West Virginia died. People seemed more offended about being told they were okay than the fact that they actually died.
Ariel Sharon, Israeli PM, is basically knackered after brain haemhorraging.
SPORT
South Africa batted first, looked to be in trouble, then built a solid innings. Australia were struggling at 54/3 but came right. They overcame a first innings deficit by nailling the required runs quickly after SA declared.
I must have missed an ODI, because all of a sudden New Zealand was three nil up over the Sri Lankans. They won the fourth one too. Then they lost the last one.
There were some FA Cup games. Liverpool tried to lose but won 5-3. Man City beat Scunthorpe 3-1. Man U had a 0-0 draw with well-known Burton Albion.
MY SAD LIFE
Ben and his parents have returned to Singapore. They left yesterday. Hannah really likes Ben, he gave her an extra hug.
Kathryn is in Frankfurt doing stuff at a fabric show thing (I think). Ross is home alone with the kids. Scurvy is a risk.
The Goodins announced to their staff that they have sold Curtain Supermarket, they were made an offer they couldn't refuse. It will be kind of weird not hearing them talk about curtains any more, but it is a good thing because I was beginning to worry about Ross. He knows what a voyle is (I thought it was a small rodent, but apparently not).
We are off to Kauranga Valley, near Thames for the week.
It was Penny's birthday last Tuesday (I did mean to ring, honest). It is Sarah's birthday this Thursday. It was Greta's birthday yesterday.
Yesterday was the first anniversary of my friend Barbara's death. I would have forgotten if it hadn't been for a text from her friend Liz. A year ago I had been smuggling pies for her into where she was staying. I certainly miss her at Stanley.
Apart from the trip to Tiri, we didn't do much. I worked for three days this week, some of which was a bit exciting for this time of the year.
THE TRIP TO TIRI TIRI MATANGI
Tiri (for short) is an island off the end of the Whangaparoa Pensinsula. It is an open nature reserve, meaning normal people are allowed to visit. It has been converted from farmland to bush over the last 20 years or so. The bush is not exactly mature forest but it is getting there. It is populated by native birds and a few tuatara. We went over there with Paul, accompanied by Allan, Brett, Jacqui, and Jacqui's friend Terry. Terry is a former Tiri Volunteer so knew the island well.
We had to walk slowly through the well defined and constructed paths (nothing like Parahaha) up to the lighthouse. We had lunch there, then wandered up one coast a little way, crossed to the middle, then looped down around the other coast. We saw Fantails, Stitchbirds, Saddelbacks, Whiteheads, Tuis (by the ton), and Takahe (including a baby).
At the end of the trip, we sat at the beach and fended off Greg the Takahe (very tame, and very hungry). He has a habit of climbing onto people's heads (because some people's heads look like a femal Takahe from behind, if you know what I mean).
Communication, or lack of it, was a theme again. We asked Terry if people swim out to a little island off the shore (about 400m away). She said they did, often. So Rory whipped off his shirt and swam off. He was about half way there when Terry realised and said "I meant when it wasn't windy like today". That got me worrried. I wasn't happy about him going and had said no before Terry arrived. I was pretty worried about him, possibly because I would have been the one to go after him if he got in trouble. He did the last bit very slowly, which had me even more concerned. He clambered slowely up the beach and then climbed up on a rock and sat there. He seemed okay so I relaxed a little as the waves looked like they would be helping on the way back but I was aware of the tide being close to turning from out to in. I waved him back, he got the message, and made his way gingerly down the beach. He got back safely, and much faster than he got out. Every metre he came closer was one metre less for me to swim. He was fine, quite pleased with himself when he got back. He said there were lots of oysters on the beach which made it slow going. He did have one minor cut, but was otherwise fine.
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