I apologise to those who received three copies of my email last week, and those who got none (possibly the lucky ones). There was a situation with my email server and Outlook and it decided it hadn't been sent and kept re-sending. Most unusual. Send requests for refunds to youhavegottobedreamingpal
LOCAL NEWS
The weather has been bizarre. It hailed on Saturday, so much that Rory was making snowballs out at Muriwai (on the west coast). They were quite big balls, nearly marble size. Damage was done to some aging plastic roofing in some places, but I think strawberry crops in Auckland will be knackered for Christmas.
Judy Bailey, mother of our nation, newsreader, and professional talking head became one of the highest paid people in the country when her pay doubled from $400,000 to $800,000. Our state broadcaster is going to cop considerable amounts of flak over this one. At the very least, any unions at TVNZ should be pushing for payrises of similar percentages. They are obviously running scared with Holmes going over the fence but I thought they had already realised that the person mattered not.
A light plane landed on an unplanned basis in Cable Bay (near Coopers Beach, up North). One person died, others were hospitalised. It made a big splash.
A ceiling collapsed in the Auckland International Airport check-in counter, fifteen people were hit by falling ceiling tiles and bits of aircon ducting. A couple were a little serious, two people didn't get on a flight as expected. It was in a new part that had been opened the same day.
Still no sign of the guy that drove off the kaimai range in a ute. I reckon he's hiding and he's in trouble for something (maybe a massive gambling debt or fraud).
A 13 year old child in "care" was found dead down a cliff whilst on a camp. They waited four days to report him missing. Not sure that "care" is the right word as there didn't seem to be any.
A ferry ran aground in the Bay of Islands, but nobody was seriously hurt.
Someone was shot and killed by a crossbow on Sunday. What is this country coming to? Can't we even afford guns?
Two santas were arrested during a santa pub crawl involving thirty santas in Auckland on Sunday.
WORLD NEWS
That new bridge in France looks pretty cool, but I don't see why a road wouldn't have done the trick.
The premier in Istanbul of a horror movie resulted in 150 being hospitalised, five seriously, as a result of smoke inhalation from a fire. Wonder what happens when they screen "Blazing Inferno"?
Two people have been eaten by sharks while surfing in Australia. I don't think I will take up surfing. Apparently, Australians tase like chicken.
SPORT
The results New Zealand had against Australia in the tests don't seem so bad after they demolished the Pakis by 491 runs, the 4th biggest loss in history, and McGrath took eight wickets in the second innings, including the first seven, which was awesome.
Man Utd won 5-2 over Crystal Palace, Spurs won 5-1 over Southampton, Chelsea beat Norwich 4-0, Liverpool beat Newcastle 3-1 this morning and the Arse squeaked a goal in to beat Portsmouth 1-0.
MY SAD LIFE
Rory was made a school councillor on the last day of school. They made nine kids councillors and there will be more created in the new year. Diana seemed to think Rory really wanted it, Rory seemed to think he was always going to be one (love that confidence). I am not sure whether it was Diana or Rory that wanted it the most. Regardless, it topped off a very good year for the boy.
Rory came with us for a walk on Thursday. Not surprisingly, he didn't want to. Once we got to the lake, he had a great time feeding the baby swans, geese, ducks, and pukekos. He kept disappearing and then showing up as he kept getting distracted. I bumped into a guy I know and had a chat with him. Then, as we left the park, a lady we see walking her dog there regularly gave me a christmas cake (she said it was for her friend who hadn't shown up). It was very nice of her, but quite unusual. I think she is dutch.
Hannah did the big show this weekend, doing four shows in two days. She did very well, but she was lost in the second dance when there was like forty kids on stage at once. She was awarded a prize last night at prizegiving for best in Jazz in her age group. She was pretty happy about that, as Rory has been hogging limelight lately.
I decided to clean out the VHS tapes. Have a huge box full, and just don't use them. Has created massive amounts of space in the entertainment unit which has now been filled by a pile of DVDs and other bits. Also started transferring video footage of the kids onto hard disk for transfer onto DVD. Lots of footage from 1997 when Hannah turned 3 and Rory 5. I really didn't like his hair back then. Interestingly, there was footage at the swimming pool and you could hear water polo whistles going in the background and I mentioned seeing water polo on the tape. Don't remember that at all.
Life will be a lot queter this week, I think. I am planning to do some serious garage tidying and reorganising over the break. It really needs it.
I heard from Johan the day I exchanged some emails with Heidi (Monday or Tuesday). He is buying a digital camera.
Basketball hoop continues to get used. It came off the mounting during the week, but we fixed it with a pair of new screws and were away again. They won't let me shoot underarm (I got ten in a row doing it that way, Rory says it's cheating). We only went swimming twice, but should manage more this week.
Happy birthday to Jono for Thursday (I hear you are coming over, and what is your blog site?). It's Linda's birthday too (is it 25th or 26th, I forget).
Paul arrives from SF some time this week, Tuesday morning I think.
Okay, that's about it. Have a really nice Christmas, don't eat too much, be happy that you made it though another year. It's been a much better one than last year, from where I sit.
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