LOCAL NEWS
Nai Yin Xue, our very own international fugitive, touched down at 7:15am this morning, so he is no longer international or a fugitive. I suspect bail is unlikely to be an option.
Stats released this week say that mortgage applications have reduced in number over the last year or so. I don't really see that as a problem, as that would suggest there is less debt out there and people might be staying in houses longer. I guess the banking sector isn't so happy, but that doesn't bother me a lot.
Big fuss this week when the government changed the overseas investment rules overnight effectively knackering a Canadian bid for control of Auckland Airport. Now classed as a strategic asset, the company should stay in local hands.
It was the 20th anniversary of Cyclone Bola this week. I remember that week very well, it was not long after we moved in to our house in King St and big willow tree blew over.
We had another police chase evader die in an effort to avoid an interview with plod.
The fire at MOTAT resulted in the arrest and charge of eight 15-16 year olds, four of which came from Western Springs College.
Middlemore Hospital appears to be drumming up business by selling Listeria-ridden sandwiches from it's cafeteria. Yuck.
Truly bizarre situation this week in Wellington. An 18 yo man fell asleep next to his fiancée (27, but let's not go there. That bits creepy as well) in a movie theatre (a chick flick). She left him there, went home, later realised he hadn't returned. He woke up in the theatre at 3am, 18 missed calls on his phone, tried to get out and continued to set off alarms until he finally made it out, where he was confronted by police. Now, he has become the Herald reviewer of chick flicks, he is no longer engaged (lucky escape if you ask me, what a bitch for leaving him there and a cradle snatcher too), and is probably going to start giving relationship advice as well. It's a bit like that pseudo-streaker who somehow still seems to be considered a "celebrity".
A bizarre incident in Remuera when a 63 year old female cyclist was punched and thrown off a bridge by some crazy guy. She survived but is not going to try bungee jumping any time soon.
A bad weekend on roads, sort of. One died when a ute rolled down a 100 foot dune at Bethells Beach. Two other motorcycle riders died in a crash during a race. There were a few other fatalities. I think they were all male.
A prisoner is in hospital after being beaten severely at a barbecue rewarding good behaviour. Interesting reward, the atmosphere must have been dripping with irony.
WORLD NEWS
Norwegian scientists have found that whale meat is the cheapest in terms of greenhouse gases when compared to chicken, beef, lamb. In not such big writing, most fish and seafood is the same as whale. Somehow I can't see us all buying whale burgers. The sad thing is that it's a bit like Colombians releasing a study saying cocaine is the best drug for greenhouse gases. It may well be true on some level, but it really isn't relevant.
Six people were shot in a Memphis shooting. Three were Elvis impersonators, so it's not all bad.
Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons and Dragons, a fantasy role playing game for anoraks world over, died this week. I guess he failed to make a saving throw.
INTERSTELLAR NEWS
Talk about mountains and molehills. Some guy reckons he's found that a star that is close to going nova is pointing at us and we could be thumped with gamma rays from 8000 light years away. Now, you could say it hasn't happened yet, so who cares about 8,000 years from now but it could have gone nova already and the light telling us this hasn't got here yet. Nevertheless, I wouldn't panic just yet. The news item about it led with all sorts of panic mongering, calling it a "death star" and all sorts.
REAL SPORT
Well, some serious defending paid off and Rory's summer soccer team managed to clinch a win in their final game 2-1.
Friday was lots of games. Senior Boys won about 15-3 against Green Bay (I saw Rory score 2 but not sure how many as I could only watch first half). Senior girls lost 0-15 to St Mary's. Junior Girls played Marist I think and lost but I cannot remember the score. Junior Boys drew 5-5 with Massey, their best result in grading so far. B2 Junior Girls playing senior lost 0-9 against Mt Roskill but it was 0-1 at half time.
SPORT
The big third and final sculling showdown was postponed due to weather on Tuesday, great for news agencies to extend the story but bad for the athletes. The final race fizzled as Waddell struggled and Drysdale screamed in. Waddell then revealed all about a heart irregularity thing that happened early in the third race.
The Aussies failed to level the finals series against India so it was all over 2-0 to India, not a happy result for Australian Cricket. People making lots of noise about how it's all over for them. I wouldn't count on it.
End of day three the first test against England looked like it would end in a very tame draw. The morning of the fourth day, we were still going on England's first innings and then it all went crazy with the Poms getting a hat-trick and New Zealand struggling, before declaring on the fifth day and bundling out the Poms for 110 about 190 short of their target.
The Blues lost to Sharks 17-22, Crusaders won, Highlanders lost, Hurricanes won. Not sure about Chiefs.
Both Man Utd and Chelsea lost their FA Cup quarter final matches 0-1. Minnows Barnsley and Portsmouth go through to semi-final glory. There is only one Premiere team left in the FA Cup now.
MY SAD LIFE
Went mental last Monday, after deciding I had sod all to do and stripped down one of the bathroom windows and repainted it. It was pretty bad, and now it looks great. I was very pleased with myself. Hannah even noticed! The big question is whether I will do any more.
Tuesday, I went another kind of mental and swam, Forrest Gump style (swim, Rob, swim!). I tried to go for an hour but my feet and legs started cramping so I stopped at 55 minutes, but I reckon I did over 100 lengths in that time (2.5 ks). I am not sure I will repeat the attempt soon, that was the most I have ever done in one go. Weird that it wasn't my arms that failed, they do all the work. Thursday I did 60 lengths in just under 30 minutes.
We all raced down to the Dignan St market for the last one of the summer on Thursday night, before heading to the pool. We were there for about 30 minutes, spent quite a bit of money in a short time (four tasty muffins, three mussel fritters, two t-shirts, and a loaf of Turkish bread). The t-shirts are ones that say "Point Chevalier" inside the Chevy-style logo. They are pretty cool, nice to have some parochialism out there.
Hannah, Diana, and Elsie went to Pasifika, the annual Pacific Island festival at Western Springs lake, on Saturday. The traffic around the area was awful, as usual. Had to get the car as close as I could to drop Elsie off because she can't easily handle long distance walking.
Didn't see much of Rory over the weekend, Maddie came to polo then stayed Friday, then they went to Cassidy's party so we didn't see him until Sunday lunch time.
Hannah and I spent a chunk of Sunday making a model wardrobe for English. Didn't actually take too long. It's not finished yet, but we made good progress, especially with the mini-coat hangers. We also spent some time kicking a ball because she has her club soccer trial tonight and she needed to spend some time with a ball at her feet.
The kids have both got the North Island Secondary School polo champs this week, starting Thursday, so busy end of week and weekend.
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