LOCAL
Dodgy MP Taito Philip Field will be charged with both bribery AND corruption charges, police announced this week.
Bit of a fuss over water price increases in Auckland. Not sure why, we just pay anyway.
An elderly woman in Christchurch gave the nice young policemen in her street a hand grenade, that her husband brought home from the war 60 years ago.
A 23 year old Hamilton woman won't see 24 after eating magic mushrooms. Perhaps they weren't so much magical as poisonous. Even better, turns out she was a heart transplant recipient. So she receives thousands of dollars worth of medical attention to prolong her life then shortened it with some cheap drugs. Interesting concept.
Government-owned coal miner Solid Energy has been paying hippies to spy on protestors. Not sure why that's a major issue. Is it really that naughty?
Some cows have been found to give low-fat milk. The location is now a secret. I assume it must cost money to turn regular milk into low-fat, which is why we pay more for less. All a bit odd when you consider farmers are paid for pounds of butterfat. They are now testing every cow in New Zealand to find ones that produce strawberry flavoured milk, and many other varieties.
A home handyman electrocuted himself whilst putting insulation under his floor, fatally.
Political polls have National support growing considerably at the cost of Labour, the election is not for another year, I think.
Car dealers have gone on record about new requirements for clean-emissions cars, they are worried this will make cars harder to afford. First time I've ever heard them worrying about the customers, completely lacks any credibility and smacks of self-interest.
Some idiot tried to steal 14 bottles of wine from the Henderson Pak N Save supermarket. Three cops apprehended him in the car park next to the pool. We were there at the time and the kids raced out to spot the action.
WORLD NEWS
The English parents with the missing daughter are off to see the pope. Not sure what good that will do.
The 30th Anniversary of the release of Star Wars was on the 25th. It has been exhaustively recognised.
REAL SPORT
The top of the table clash between Ponsonby and Liston fizzled a little, it was close in first quarter but Ponsonby opened up a good lead and won 15-4.
On Saturday, Hannah's soccer team was playing a team they should have beaten. They scored early in the first half but did nothing else, they picked up tempo in the second half to score three more goals, including a great shot from Hannah from a free kick outside the corner of the 18 yard box. Final score 4-0. They are playing third from top team next weekend.
Sunday, Hannah had a polo game for Ponsonby against Northsport U12. This was a friendly in a 33 metre pool. Rory has never played in a pool that size. Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion. Hannah got a break early on and about 20 seconds later scored (seriously, it was like that). They won convincingly in the end 7-2.
So Hannah scored a goal in every game she played, and won all three games. Not a bad result at all. Rory had no sport, although the team he coaches had their first win.
SPORT
AC Milan beat Liverpool 2-1 in the Champs League final.
Team New Zealand finally won the semi-final 5-2. Chris Dickson has stepped down from Oracle racing after they failed to win their semi-final.
The New Zealand soccer team drew 2-2 with Wales in a friendly in Wales.
MY SAD LIFE
We returned from Melbourne on Tuesday, got back into the rhythm fairly quickly.
I didn't really do justice to Brett's hospitality while we were away in last week's email. He made us some very interesting and nutritious meals, he took us to the local comedy club, and his favourite Balinese restaurant. We also watched the trains near his apartment (which Brett described as something Allan really enjoys). His apartment is in walking distance of town, but about 15 minutes by train from the city.
Paul and I did a quick tour of St Kilda and the city on our last day in Melbourne. Tuesday was pretty much all travelling. Left Brett's at 8am, got home around 5:30pm. Went fast enough. Got straight back into the routine and took the kids to intermediate water polo training.
Rory has coped with Priya being off the radar, although he accidentally went to Philips Aquatic Centre on Sunday morning (where she takes swim school classes for kids). He finally got home around 3pm. He has a science exam this Thursday.
The kids weren't around much over the weekend. Rory went on a sleepover party on Friday night. Interesting, the only girl at the party somehow gave her parents the impression another girl was there as well (but she wasn't). Rory didn't get home until after 6pm Saturday. By that time Hannah had already left to go rock climbing, and she didn't return until about 11am Sunday.
Rory has a job at school now, one night a week, could increase soon.
28 May 2007
21 May 2007
Notes from an absentee parent and husband - 21/05/07
LOCAL NEWS
The murderer of Lois Dear, primary teacher, was given life this week.
The budget was delivered surprise-free, nothing really interesting in it.
The starter at a street race died when it all went wrong, a teenage boy died. I thought girls in short skirts did the start?
David Bain was freed and spent the week with lots of firsts. First swim, first new jumper, first press conference as a free man, first first for the day, etc. I am so glad I didn't see it all on TV. Meanwhile the cops are considering whether there is any new evidence that could support charging him again.
At a rest home, a nurse was ticking a box every half hour for three days after a resident had died and been taken away. Interesting controls, perhaps they were expecting her to return.
A van loaded with 15 teenagers rolled, none was critically hurt. The scene as the crawled out was reminiscent of a zombie movie.
From the "adding insult to injury" department, a man was assaulted outside a Havelock North bar, then a taxi ran him over as he lay in the street and killed him.
WORLD NEWS
A woman in Brisbane was shot with a shotgun while holding a toddler, the toddler was hit but not critically. Was she using it as a human shield?
Baby Catherine was gripping the imagination of Melbourne, a baby abandoned on Mother's Day. Lots of childless couples wanted to adopt her.
Meanwhile Maddy McCann is still missing in Portugal. The parents are complete chumps, yes they are not enjoying them selves, but they were pretty stupid leaving the kid in the room alone.
On Sunday, there was great anticipation of the arrival of David Hicks, suspected Australian terrorist. They got experts to tell them how long a plane took to fly from Tahiti to Adelaide and all sorts of bollocks.
Tony Blair is stepping down, and has made his last visit as PM to soldiers in Iraq, meanwhile Prince Harry isn't going to be the first ginga prince in combat.
REAL SPORT
Interzone soccer went reasonably well, they came third, losing to the winner 0-1 against the run of play. Hannah slotted a penalty in one game.
Rory's Senior team lost their semi-final 4-6. Rory got one maybe two.
Hannah's polo team had their first game, against St Mary's, and won 24-1. The intermediate team is not quite as capable as their high school teams.
I wasn't allowed to find out the soccer score until Hannah told me (reminding me of the old "how do you keep an idiot in suspense" joke). Hannah and friend Miranda Whalley played two games of soccer, one for 13th grade and the second for their real team. The first game they lost 1-6 although it was 0-5 in first half and second half was much better. Second game they lost 2-3, Hannah scored both goals and got player of the day. She seemed very happy.
In the playoff for 3rd/4th, the Seniors lost 4-9 to come 4th, Rory got two goals.
SPORT
Nobody cared about the Super 14 final seeing it was an all South Africa thing. The Bulls beat the Sharks 20-19. I hate the Sharks so good job.
Man Utd lost 0-1 to Chelsea in extra time in the FA Cup final.
Team New Zealand is doing okay in Louis-Vuitton semi finals, up 4-2 while Oracle lost to Luna Rossa 1-5 and is out, which is very surprising.
The Silver Ferns lost to England then thumped them in a second game. Not sure if they are playing Australia again but doesn't look great for the world cup.
Speaking of the world cup, the lack of a New Zealand team in the Super 14 final has got everyone running for cover over the rugby world cup.
MY SAD LIFE
Didn't see a lot of the family this week (and none of the real sport), as Paul and I decided to go to Melbourne last Monday, left early last Tuesday. We go home tomorrow.
So I spent the week seeing the sights in Melbourne with Paul. Went down to see lots of the coast past Geelong to the Twelve Apostles (there are eight of them) via Torquay and other places. Long day on the bus, nearly 13 hours. Saw heaps though and took a few photos (like nearly 400).
We have also been to the museum, botanical gardens, and all sorts. Charles ran away to New Zealand to avoid us. Brett stepped into the breech. I will spare you the gory details. We walked a lot. We caught lots of trains. We took lots of photos. We ate lunch in the same food court a lot.
Hannah had a sleepover, with the two Mirandas on Saturday night. Diana says that they were considerably more subdued on Saturday night than Sunday morning.
Diana met with Priya's parents on Sunday, an interesting discussion. I think it was about their concern about Priya being distracted from her studies. She was sprung the other night having left the premises to visit Rory (against his advice, he says). She is very grounded. Will be interesting to see how the happy couple handle it.
Jono, sorry I didn't reply to your email. It arrived the day we got to Melbourne and I got sidetracked. Will try to read it proper and reply, hope you had fun at Java One or whatever it was. I am not sure what you mean by premium rate numbers - you mean the short 4 digit ones?
Helen, I did email you. Probably should have tried a phone as well, but was not very organised. I did try though.
The murderer of Lois Dear, primary teacher, was given life this week.
The budget was delivered surprise-free, nothing really interesting in it.
The starter at a street race died when it all went wrong, a teenage boy died. I thought girls in short skirts did the start?
David Bain was freed and spent the week with lots of firsts. First swim, first new jumper, first press conference as a free man, first first for the day, etc. I am so glad I didn't see it all on TV. Meanwhile the cops are considering whether there is any new evidence that could support charging him again.
At a rest home, a nurse was ticking a box every half hour for three days after a resident had died and been taken away. Interesting controls, perhaps they were expecting her to return.
A van loaded with 15 teenagers rolled, none was critically hurt. The scene as the crawled out was reminiscent of a zombie movie.
From the "adding insult to injury" department, a man was assaulted outside a Havelock North bar, then a taxi ran him over as he lay in the street and killed him.
WORLD NEWS
A woman in Brisbane was shot with a shotgun while holding a toddler, the toddler was hit but not critically. Was she using it as a human shield?
Baby Catherine was gripping the imagination of Melbourne, a baby abandoned on Mother's Day. Lots of childless couples wanted to adopt her.
Meanwhile Maddy McCann is still missing in Portugal. The parents are complete chumps, yes they are not enjoying them selves, but they were pretty stupid leaving the kid in the room alone.
On Sunday, there was great anticipation of the arrival of David Hicks, suspected Australian terrorist. They got experts to tell them how long a plane took to fly from Tahiti to Adelaide and all sorts of bollocks.
Tony Blair is stepping down, and has made his last visit as PM to soldiers in Iraq, meanwhile Prince Harry isn't going to be the first ginga prince in combat.
REAL SPORT
Interzone soccer went reasonably well, they came third, losing to the winner 0-1 against the run of play. Hannah slotted a penalty in one game.
Rory's Senior team lost their semi-final 4-6. Rory got one maybe two.
Hannah's polo team had their first game, against St Mary's, and won 24-1. The intermediate team is not quite as capable as their high school teams.
I wasn't allowed to find out the soccer score until Hannah told me (reminding me of the old "how do you keep an idiot in suspense" joke). Hannah and friend Miranda Whalley played two games of soccer, one for 13th grade and the second for their real team. The first game they lost 1-6 although it was 0-5 in first half and second half was much better. Second game they lost 2-3, Hannah scored both goals and got player of the day. She seemed very happy.
In the playoff for 3rd/4th, the Seniors lost 4-9 to come 4th, Rory got two goals.
SPORT
Nobody cared about the Super 14 final seeing it was an all South Africa thing. The Bulls beat the Sharks 20-19. I hate the Sharks so good job.
Man Utd lost 0-1 to Chelsea in extra time in the FA Cup final.
Team New Zealand is doing okay in Louis-Vuitton semi finals, up 4-2 while Oracle lost to Luna Rossa 1-5 and is out, which is very surprising.
The Silver Ferns lost to England then thumped them in a second game. Not sure if they are playing Australia again but doesn't look great for the world cup.
Speaking of the world cup, the lack of a New Zealand team in the Super 14 final has got everyone running for cover over the rugby world cup.
MY SAD LIFE
Didn't see a lot of the family this week (and none of the real sport), as Paul and I decided to go to Melbourne last Monday, left early last Tuesday. We go home tomorrow.
So I spent the week seeing the sights in Melbourne with Paul. Went down to see lots of the coast past Geelong to the Twelve Apostles (there are eight of them) via Torquay and other places. Long day on the bus, nearly 13 hours. Saw heaps though and took a few photos (like nearly 400).
We have also been to the museum, botanical gardens, and all sorts. Charles ran away to New Zealand to avoid us. Brett stepped into the breech. I will spare you the gory details. We walked a lot. We caught lots of trains. We took lots of photos. We ate lunch in the same food court a lot.
Hannah had a sleepover, with the two Mirandas on Saturday night. Diana says that they were considerably more subdued on Saturday night than Sunday morning.
Diana met with Priya's parents on Sunday, an interesting discussion. I think it was about their concern about Priya being distracted from her studies. She was sprung the other night having left the premises to visit Rory (against his advice, he says). She is very grounded. Will be interesting to see how the happy couple handle it.
Jono, sorry I didn't reply to your email. It arrived the day we got to Melbourne and I got sidetracked. Will try to read it proper and reply, hope you had fun at Java One or whatever it was. I am not sure what you mean by premium rate numbers - you mean the short 4 digit ones?
Helen, I did email you. Probably should have tried a phone as well, but was not very organised. I did try though.
14 May 2007
Big decision from the Privy Council and dubious memorials - 14/05/07
As I write this, the Silver Ferns are clawing their way back against England in the netball, down heaps at end of the first quarter but working hard.
LOCAL NEWS
The story on the two girls dead from the party continued this week, with funerals and memorials and others still in hospital. Parental paranoia about parties is growing. There were 800 people at this part, 300 thought to be in the actual house. Quite an achievement, and hardly surprising things got out of hand.
Then, over the weekend, there was a convoy of 100 cars past the party house in their memory. This seemed like quite a sick irony given that it was a car that killed them. Shouldn't they have walked?
Attention turned yet again from dogs to trucks on Monday, when two people were inhumed by a truck near Maramarua.
Three climbers fell in Mt Aspiring National Park, one died, one hobbled off for help, and therefore saved the third.
The Privy Council delivered their view of the David Bain case (he was convicted of the murder of four members of his family, there has been doubt for 13 years about whether Robin Bain, the father, did it and popped himself, which seems exceedingly unlikely, given David was not home at the time. One also assumes logic isn't a strength in these situations). Anyway, huge fuss about the decision, now the question comes as to whether a retrial is required.
A seven year old girl is in hospital after being hit in the head with a slug pellet. I was always told they were pretty harmless and eyes were about all that were vulnerable. That appears to be quite untrue from recent events. Perhaps slug guns are more powerful than they used to be.
Our current police commissioner held a party where they showed an exceedingly dodgy film at a rugby fundraising event in the 80s, and is now in trouble for doing so. He reckons he didn't put it on, someone else did, and he didn't see it. I am not at all sure what to make of this. Are we going too far the other way in terms of sensitivity to dodgy behaviour?
A poll is out today with National Leader John Key just ahead of Herr Helen.
WORLD NEWS
GW thought the QE II had been around since 1776, which was kind of funny.
Samoa's Head of State for 45 years, some guy by the name of Malietoa Tanumafili II, has died aged 94. To be honest, I didn't even know who their head of state was, let alone whether he was president, prime minister, or whatever. Odd seeing we heard so much about the King of Tonga.
REAL SPORT
Rory had his first game as a water polo coach on Friday, the Ponsonby Marlins against Bruce McLaren. Hannah semi-played, scored a goal, played in goal, final score a respectable 4-8 loss (they didn't really want to win, it is grading). It was first polo game ever for many in the team.
Finally Hannah's soccer team had a game that I thought they should win. Three Kings had lost 1-2 to a team we drew 0-0 with so a win seemed possible, despite them having scored more goals that we had (by that one goal). We spent a lot of time in their half of the field in the first half, although did not score until very late in it. A 1-0 lead at half-time was useful but I was nervous a lapse to lose us the advantage. We scored two more goals in the second half, and conceded none, despite it being up hill, giving us a healthy 3-0 win. Once we were 2-0 up I asked Hannah to hang back in defence a bit. After the game I checked the table and found that we were 2nd from bottom and Three Kings were bottom, so it really was a game we needed to in. We have played one less game because we had a bye before another team was moved into our league. This is only grading, but a win and a draw should be enough to get us up near the middle (the team we lost to is top of the table).
Sunday afternoon sport was a major logistical nightmare. Three games at two pools about 25 minutes apart (the middle game being at the different pool). We needed paper and plans. We had two cars, two pools, about eight passengers, three games, and we had to get everyone to the right place at the right time. I am pretty sure there is a branch of mathematics just for this sort of stuff.
Rory's senior team lost to Glendowie 2-5. The junior girls didn't have an opposition to play so they played two quarters against themselves then played Albany Junior College for three quarters (their opposition didn't show up either). Finally the junior boys played Auckland Grammar B, we should have won, but lost 4-5. Many of our players were asleep, it is only grading but it was an unnecessary loss.
SPORT
Still can't say the Louis Vuitton sailing has captured anyone's imagination, but a big win to Team New Zealand against Oracle on Thursday morning was probably something that most people noticed. Until then it was "they've lost a few races, haven't they?".
Not surprisingly, both the Crusaders and Blues lost the semi-finals in South Africa. I shall avoid the Sports radio for a few days. An all South African Super 14 final, a first, I think.
Last weekend of the premiership and Man Utd lost 0-1 to lowly West Ham, Liverpool drew 2-2 with Charlton, Chelsea drew 1-1 with Everton, lots of other draws. Sheffield United are relegated, as are Charlton and Watford. Man Utd still won, by about six points I think. First time for couple of years after Chelsea's domination (they did come second).
And the Silver Ferns did lose, by five goals.
MY SAD LIFE
Not a real busy week, so managed to sneak off with Paul out towards Mission Bay and things for a bit. Weather was nice. Went to Musick Point for the first time ever.
Thursday night I went to the "posh" LMNP dinner. All the Carriers were represented, plus the Telecommunications Commissioner and even the Minister showed up for a drink and a brief speech. I had to wear a suit, first time other than wedding or funeral for a couple of years. I didn't really want to go, but I went. It was okay, I suppose.
I decided on Sunday that I miss playing tennis. I know I am old and unfit and everything but I have always enjoyed it and I want to play it again. Even golden oldie style without scrums.
Diana was pretty annoyed at Rory this week after he gave her a newsletter which informed us of a meeting about NCEA (the school qualification system) the day after it occurred. She has since asked about twenty other parents and only one got the newsletter in time. Many didn't think the school did newsletters. Interesting, sounds like teenagers are as unreliable as their reputation.
I am continuing to laboriously load up the blog when I have spare time. Got over 150 entries on there now, probably at least that many more to go. I really don't think my emails are suited for blogging, they are far too long. Mind you, I am not sure they are suitable for anything. Some of it makes interesting reading for me, suspect it rarely does for anyone else. In many ways I wish I wrote more ten years ago, some of it was very focused on local news and sport and sod all else.
It is Mum's birthday today, now a pensioner with a year's experience. We had lunch with her out at Pinesong yesterday.
I am not sure the avocado warrants it's own section, but it has about four leaves and is about 10 cm in height. Another is trying to sprout.
THINGS IN CARS PART 1
On the way to soccer, I had Hannah, Holly, and Millie in the car. Hannah and Holly were talking about how their grandmothers both live in Pinesong and come to lots of their sport. They concluded that Pinesong must be an awful place and they will use any excuse to leave. Was pretty funny.
THINGS IN CARS PART 2
Sunday night, I had Rory, Priya, and Marcella in the car from EGGS to Sacred Heart and back home. They had a lovely time, although Marcella and I turned up the iPod and avoided looking in the back (let's just say they weren't exactly sitting on opposite sides of the car, more than that I do not wish to consider on soooo many levels). I change the rear vision mirror so I didn't see anything I didn't want to see. We stopped on St Johns Road and got some food, and they lurked around waiting and just enjoying themselves. They weren't very focused at the game, but Rory said he enjoyed the trip.
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