LOCAL NEWS
We've had a lot of fuss about a couple of ice bergs floating northward past Dunedin. Helicopter operators have been doing very well flying people out to see it. We've had it auctioned on trademe (the first auction had over 80,000 hits and reached 99 million dollars before administrators pulled it.
A report was released about a constable that wasn't having a good day. He tasered himself, an innocent 16 yo bystander, and then pepper sprayed an innocent woman. Wasn't quite as bad as that sounds, he was attending to a domestic dispute and the offender kept using his family as shields. The officer used the taser five times at the incident. Arrests have been made in both cases.
Another couple of murders in South Auckland over the weekend, ten in five months now. Not making it the place to be.
We continue to hear about the proposed stadium options. Over, and over, and over. Be happy that you are not exposed to it.
A toxic fire at a landfill has had residents evacuated in the Hawkes Bay.
Not sure if I mentioned this but the gun shop owner who shot a machete-wielding assailant in the stomach (he lived) is to face charges. I would sincerely hope that this is just the police going through the motions and not a serious attempt to jail the guy for defending himself and co-workers. No idea what happened to the assailant (in jail terms).
Weather in Wellington not great, heavy rain on a couple of days meant more slips.
Someone is building an indoor glacier near Fox Glacier for those rainy days. Wouldn't a marquee be cheaper?
WORLD NEWS
Tonga erupted into rioting this week. People died in some of the many fires that were lit. The people seem a little pissed with the lack of democracy. Australia and New Zealand have sent some troops to help calm things down. Tourists are still leaving.
Actor Jack Palance died this week, so did Milton Friedman the economist.
OJ Simpson's new "I didn't do it but if I did here is how it would have happened" book and tv interview are beyond the pale. A bizarre combination of celebrity, voyeurism, and exploitation that is wrong on every imaginable level.
The TomKat wedding is slightly worse.
REAL SPORT
I thought we had a quiet weekend for polo but there were eight games, four for Hannah, three for Rory. Hannah also had touch rugby and athletics for school.
Touch rugby was first up. I looked after the girls team. Many were familiar faces in the team. They lost their first two games, 1-2 and 0-1, then had 0-0 draw, then they won their next three games 1-0, 2-1, 3-0. Hannah scored two tries and was pretty good on tackles. She got an MVP award at assembly for her effort (although there were others who also contributed considerably, she was one of the better ones).
Athletics Day was at the track at Mt Smart. Hannah repeated Rory's approach, entered everything but 1500m. She got a 3 (maximum points) in all the field events. She has high jump on Monday at school to find out who goes to inter-school but she came second in shot put so she is going to inter-school anyway (which she is very happy about). She really isn't built like a shot putter.
Friday night polo. Well, I got ejected from the first game - wasn't really fair but the ref (someone we know very well) was being a git so I think my exclamation was justified (all I said was "Aww what???" quite loudly). Rory's Springs team lost 4-5 to Liston. I think he got one goal, didn't see much of second half. Hannah's mixed team were playing top qualifier, loaded with boys (one girl, a 14B club player, the boys make up a large chunk of the club 14B team). It did not help that the best three boys from the team weren't there (so we had three boys in the team and the girls were generally better than all of them. It was very much a losing battle, final score was 0-15. Was a different story when the girls team played Glen Eden straight afterwards. This game was quite a reversal. This was the playoff for 3rd/4th for the season. Although Glen Eden had a couple of very capable players they only had six, so played one short. At first I thought the girls would blow it but they settled down and slowly scored to build a lead. In the end the final score was 8-0, but it did take a while to stretch the lead out. I was very pleased they kept them scoreless, there were a few hairy moments early on. As the coach, I was given a swimming lesson after the game. The girls were very pleased and many of them played their best yet.
Saturday, Hannah's club team were up 2-0 against Marist White then some of them completely lost it and they ended up losing 2-6. It was like a slow motion car accident. Hannah didn't get subbed off, which I didn't notice during the game, she worked exceedingly hard and was probably player of the game. I think many suffered from having big night the previous evening as many of them had played in final and 3/4th playoff the night before.
Sunday, Hannah's club team were first up against Tauranga B. They trailed 0-4 but finally came right and clawed their way back. Final score was 5-6 loss but still better than it looked for a while.
Then Rory's team played against Tauranga B, who I saw hand out a bit of a lesson to the Waitak B team about 14-4. Rory's team were in much better form than last week, they won 15-5. Rory scored the first goal in each of the first three quarters. Lewis, the goalie, scored one from goal and then came out in the fourth quarter (a rare occurrence) and scored three more.
Then Hannah (and another younger sister of a boys team player, Charlotte) played for Western Springs Girls, again, they played Kaipara College. They were down 0-2 but came back to lead 3-2 before the other team equalised, final score was 3-3 draw. Probably the best result so far for them. It was kind of confusing. The team had three Hannahs and two Charlottes.
Rory's school team lost 4-8 to Northcote College.
SPORT
Man Utd came back from 0-1 down against Sheffield U thanks to Rooney to win 2-1. Newcastle looked like they could win against Arsenal but Henry equalised for 1-1. Man City beat Fulham 3-1.
The Argies beat the Italians 23-16. The Boks blew a good lead against England to lose 21-23. Ireland beat Australia 21-6.
The All Blacks beat France 23-11.
Australia beat Great Britain in the last round robin in the League. Now New Zealand plays Australia in the final but the whole thing is a bit bizarre (after New Zealand lost points for playing a foreigner).
MY SAD LIFE
It's been pretty hard to have a life that doesn't require inclusion in the REAL SPORT section this week. I spent the day at the touch tournament on Tuesday, I managed to fit some work in on Wednesday whilst seeing Hannah in some of her athletics on Wednesday. Sunday I went to West Wave three times, so I suppose you could say I spent most of the day at the pool or on the North-western Motorway. Don't get me wrong, I want to be there for the games they play, it is important to them and us. It just makes friends and relatives think we are avoiding them.
Saw Gavin briefly on Wednesday. Saw Paul briefly on Thursday. Gavin and Yana are tying the knot on 1st December. I greatly appreciate that he isn't having a big thing and keeping it simple. In case I haven't mentioned it before, I hate weddings.
It is Judy's birthday on Wednesday.
Thursday marks the third anniversary of Ross Cole's passing.
Better go, got lots of work to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment