31 March 2008

A rude interruption, odd happenings in the army, dishevelled strangers, the price of gas - 31/03/2008

LOCAL NEWS

Well, we had a happiness survey which says if you are female, 75, widowed, and have an income around $75k while living in Nelson you are happy. If you are male in Dunedin you might as well start taking happy pills.

Another study revealed that a large belly in middle age seems to have a link with dementia. I can't see it myself, it is more likely that other lifestyle aspects that correlate with the belly are the cause (like sitting in front of the TV all day).

A man had a 4WD crash into his conservatory, knocking him off the toilet. I hope he wiped (and washed) before he went to check out the ruckus.

Another toddler died in South Auckland. We are just about getting to the point where toddlers surviving in South Auckland make the news.

Meanwhile, six New Zealand soldiers are facing "Court Marital"(sic.) according to Fairfax Media. Something about durg use, I think.

A Takapuna Grammar boy was beaten up, video'd and then topped himself. Not good.

We are about to sign a mega-trade deal with China. No idea what it means. They reckon it's good.

WORLD NEWS

A "man" in the US is pregnant. Sounds sensational but "he" started life as a "she" and kept the bits required for gestation. So really it is more like a gender-undecided female is pregnant, which isn't really that new. And let's be honest, the poor kid is really not going to have it easy, is it? Will he have Mom and Mom-Dad?

Earth hour was a complete bollocks, they reckon Wellington power usage was up. Like saving power for one lousy hour will make a difference?

REAL SPORT

We had four games over the weekend. First was our junior girls against St Marys, we lost 3-11 but 3 goals is more than we've ever scored in a game so that's good. I told them I wanted two goals. The triplets scored a goal each (Hannah, Josie, Charlotte, who are all really in the other team).

On Sunday, we had junior boys, supplemented by Hannah and Charlotte because we only have six real junior boys (also had two baby-faced senior boys playing for them). They were up 5-2 so I pulled the girls out so they could rest for their next game, and the boys couldn't hold it together. They lost 5-6. Hannah scored three goals.

Then we had the big game, the one some of us had been dreading, our true senior girls (B1) versus our junior girls playing senior comp (B2) and they happened to be in the same group so we knew it was going to happen sooner or later (B1 vs B2, the bananas in pyjamas face-off). I train the senior girls on Monday nights and coached them last year, so I know them pretty well and had divided loyalty, a little. To make matters worse, one senior girl defected about a week ago to the B2 team because she wanted to train harder and play with players that were serious. B2 scored first, but B1 equalised, it stayed close but got to 4-2 up for B2 at end of 2nd quarter. It was one way traffic in second half with final score 8-2 for B2, youth and experience overcoming age and lack of fitness. Hannah was in goal first half and scored one goal in the second.

Finally, Rory's team played at 8:45pm, a bit of a long night really. It was against Lynfield and Rory couldn't shoot for shit. He took three shots to score his first, and played hit the goalie (he won that but that didn't help the actual score). They won 11-4, Rory scored 4 goals, I think.

So two wins, two losses. Could have been worse.

SPORT

Well, England won the test, and the series. I couldn't bear to watch. It was as I expected, just wish I'd put some money on the Poms.

New Zealand won the Hong Kong Sevens for the first time in seven years, beating South Africa.

Chelsea lost to Middlesbrough 0-1, Liverpool beat Everton 1-0, Newcastle got a rare win 4-1 over Spurs, Arsenal beat Bolton 3-2, and Man U beat Villa 4-0.

There were New Zealand Olympic trials at the pool we use most for training and games (which meant I couldn't swim). One poor bugger missed the qualifying time by .01 of a second. He's not going, what a rotten trick. He tried to buy some of the new Speedos that they reckon reduce drag by 5% and he couldn't, wonder if that could have made the difference.

I really didn't notice the Super 14, the Blues squeaked a win, Crusaders won, think the Chiefs beat the Highlanders, not sure about Hurricanes.

MY SAD LIFE

Sarah and Scott were walking the twins last Monday, when outside the dairy they saw a friendly looking homeless person (unshaved, no shoes, hasn't had a haircut for six months, but smiling), you know the sort of thing. Then it said hello and she realised it was Rory. I am so proud. At least he didn't wait until she gave him some change.

I did manage to see Sarah and the babies on Friday, briefly. Jack was slightly awake but Samantha wasn't. They are seven weeks old tomorrow but still look a little newbornie.

On Saturday, Rory went off to play canoe polo with some friends. They'd never played before and were basically a gimp team for others to prepare for a tournament. Rory joined the Gavin club by falling out of his boat (five times, actually). They are tiny little kayaks and are very very manoeuvrable, so quite easy to fall out of. I think everyone in the team fell out at least once.

The house was a proverbial train station over the weekend. Rory was away on Friday night (and played taxi driver for Maddie's parents), Hannah away at party all day Saturday, and at Girls Day Out on Sunday. Other people came and went, forcing Rory to hide in our wardrobe at one point because he was only wearing underwear.

Meanwhile, when out of the wardrobe, Rory was doing a speech for school on Sunday which kept us entertained before the three polo games in the afternoon.

At polo training on Thursday we got to see a former Western Springs College guy swim in a race. He was fastest over 100m but dropped off heaps in the second 100. Turned out he was just trying to register a fast time for the 100 to qualify for some other event. The kids were all pretty rapt to see someone from their school competing.

Hannah is off to inter-school champ of champs today. I might try go see it.

My ADSL got upgraded this week to almost above third world speeds (5mb down about 0.5mb up according to speedtest). So I tried a skype call with Paul and it worked pretty well. Cool.

I am having a shoe crisis. All my shoes are wearing out. I did have too many, really, so it's bring balance in a way. However, I have no walking shoes and that is a problem (yeah, I know, all shoes are made for walking, aren't they?).

THE COST OF GAS AND THINGS

Ian says it is £1.05 in UK for petrol per litre, how much is it in Aussie, Holland, Germany, Singapore, and Australia? It's about NZ$1.80-$1.90 here.

Would be also interesting to know cost of milk, butter, and cheese, too. There are rumours that 1kg of tasty in Australia is about $9 whereas it is about $15-$17 depending on brand here.

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