Wellington IRB 7's

The Wellington Stadium and the Parade before the games began.

Note it is NOT the Cake Tin - an expression only used by Aucklanders.

The Rugby Wellington 7's are now underway this weekend. I went a couple of times a few years ago but I prefer the Rugby to the shenanigans so now I just watch it on TV.

Probably the biggest talking point has been the banning this year of those who want to wear the " Borat Uniform". They have also clamped down on things such as water pistols. Since it is not really Rugby but an "event" I suppose they should be a bit more relaxed.

Again for this event the weather is wonderful. I don't think it has ever rained over the years. I am keen to see if we can win this year as our usual practice has been to lose at home and win most of the away games.


A few random inages from the day, including - The Transformer. From the picture you can't really see how good it is. She (and it is a she) can walk with it then transform it into various configurations - brilliant.

All go!!

All go with SeniorNet Committee meeting, quiz evening, finalising the Raffle for the Auditor and today an Open Day at SeniorNet all day.

The Open Day has been a real success as we have had close to 40 people through and have been quite busy.

Because of the SeniorNet Committee meeting I couldn't attend the Quiz evening. As Joe Brainbox also couldn't attend we had a revamp of the team with Christine, AJ and our next door neighbour going along. They didn't win, but they also didn't come last. And considering they had only three in their team, while some they competed against had 5 or 6, it was a good effort.

Unfortunately it was decided that Sarah would look after Kipp rather than Christine. Unfortunate because Sarah's name was drawn from the hat to win a DVD player but you had to be there to win.

Bugger !! but thats life - you win some and you lose some.

Toothing - Kipp now has four teeth and at this rate he will soon become dangerous. Is walking more confidently than ever, being able to turn quite easily now and seems to be endeavouring to talk. He gets agitated and noisy when climbing off something and he is unable to feel the floor with his feet.

Meantime the golden weather continues. This is becoming quite a concern as we will need to have some decent rain - in the right places - soon or real problems are going to arise.

Funerals and Kipp eating

Went to a friends funeral today. He was taken at 72 - far too young. We will be going to another tomorrow but she was a bit older having had a great innings of 101. She had a tremendous life and would have been 102 next month.

At the other end of the scale is young Kipp. The photo shows him having scoffed all the food, he then started on the plate!!

Just another Friday in Kiwiland and beyond

We had a very good Friday culminating with the Seachers show in Upper Hutt.

Meantime the world goes on its normal way. Only two murders on Friday - in one a 16 year old has botched a robbery and killed a 22 year old Indian who was looking after his parents shop. I wonder what the race of the murderer is? Also I wonder what the killer will be charged with. The lawyers will argue he didn't mean to do it and he was sorry. He only carried the knife because he was frightened, or some such excuse. So he will be back out in the community in 10-12 years.

The good news, if there can be any in such a tragic event, is, I suppose, that some members of the public chased and captured the killer. The way it is here now, they will probably charge them with assault!!

Meantime the bloody twerps who run this world carry on with their stupid decisions. As reported in this mornings Dom-Post -

The family of a man murdered by Graeme Burton have been told to repay up to $19,000 in legal aid granted for an inquest into his death.

Karl Kuchenbecker's former partner is on the domestic purposes benefit while she raises their two boys. But while taxpayers will pay about $40,000 for double-killer Burton's amputation and prosthetic leg - a result of the shootout that followed Mr Kuchenbecker's murder - she has been told to repay legal fees for a four-day coroner's inquest at $25 a week.

At that rate, the bill of $19,027 will take 14 years and 31 weeks to pay off.

The boys' mother can apply to write this off, but said it was a shock to be asked to repay it.

Everybody but the idiots who run this show know this is insane. Of course, the Government will realise that they are on a hiding to nothing and will make sure she doesn't have to pay, but they should have used common sense at the start.

But we are not the only nuts.

From the BBC -

A story based on the Three Little Pigs fairy tale has been turned down by a government agency's awards panel as the subject matter could offend Muslims.

The digital book was rejected by judges who warned that "the use of pigs raises cultural issues".

So something positive - the tennis.


The defeat of "The Fed Express " will be great for the game. He probably has reached his peak and the younger guns will now have him in their sights although I think he will still be a force for the next couple of years - if he wants to be.

Searchers

Just back from the almost freebie show by the Searchers at Upper Hutt. The show was sponsored by the Rimutaka Licensing Trust with entrance by a gold coin donation with the funds raised going to a charity.

We went with a group of seven others and it was, as is usual lately, a beautiful hot then very balmy evening. The music and show was excellent with the Searchers being on stage for about 1 1/2 hours. The opening group was Eclipse from Upper Hutt who I thought were pretty good.

After the show we went for a chat and cup of tea at a friends place. While there we watched a bit of the semis of the Australian Tennis Open and when we left Roger Federer was struggling.

Off to bed now as we have Kipp staying with us overnight for the first time. We will have him from Saturday morning until Sunday afternoon.

The new Rhett and the old Kipp

Rhett back from the groomers is about 3/4 the size.
Kipp ,meantime is going the opposite way - he is getting bigger

The photos of Kipp were taken over the 2008 Wellington Anniversary weekend.

In absentia and the Austrian Knicker Bocker Hunting Society

Read a great letter to the Editor in the Dom-Post. The writer pointed out that we have about 18,600 people who have not turned up for trial and therefore the cases have had to be abandoned meantime. What a waste of time, resources and money. The writers suggestion is that all cases of those who don't turn up should still go ahead and if their side is not put that is their problem.

That is they get tried "in absentia". I agree.

Of course any legitimate reason for not turning up would later be taken into account but 99% are just absconders. However, I can hear the screams now of all the do-gooders claiming the poor criminal didn't get a fair trial. Tough!!

We took Rhett to the dog groomers yesterday and he is a brand new looking dog. He looks really great and I will post a couple of pictures of him over the next couple of days. I didn't realise how difficult it is to get into a dog groomers. The normal waiting time is two to three months. We booked Rhett in about 3 months ago and just got in now. While we were there the groomer was telling another customer that she could pick up her dog at 8 PM. Good grief!! I t seems to be the occupation to take up.

Quiz - went to a Quiz night last night which we won as we had Joe Brainbox with us. But no prize as they were locked away!! Anyway we also had the best team name ' The Austrian Knicker Bocker Hunting Society' although the quizmaster kept calling us Australian.

I see that with the death of Heath Ledger the second most queried name on Google after that is Keith Ledger - the fans really know their stars names.