A Few Quirkes

13C in Wellington this afternoon and……..

ISSUED BY MetService AT 20:12 pm 15-Jan-2010

MEDIA
PERIOD OF HEAVY RAIN FOR THE HILLS AND RANGES OF WAIRARAPA AND THE
EASTERN HILLS OF WELLINGTON OVERNIGHT FRIDAY AND SATURDAY MORNING

A strong to gale moist southeast flow affects eastern and southern parts of the
North Island. Rain is expected to become widespread and heavy about the hills
and ranges of Wairarapa and the eastern hills of Wellington this evening (Friday),
easing about the middle of Saturday. 70 to 80mm of rain is likely during this
time, with the heaviest falls after 3am Saturday.

People in these areas, especially trampers, should watch out for rapidly rising
rivers and streams.

Today is results day for NCEA the NZ equivalent of GCE ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels (although seems much more complicated than when I did my ‘O’ levels!). There are 3 levels depending on what year you are in (11, 12, 13) with Level 1 being taken by year 11 students like Eleanor. Students can pass at three grades; achieved; achieved with merit and achieved with excellence. Our clever daughter passed with excellence and we are very proud. She has been hankering after a pair of Dr Martin boots for a year and was promised a pair as an incentive to work hard and pass well – here is Eleanor in her new boots. Well deserved!

Some of you have been there and so are familiar with the views. The image of the windswept trees is a well known one. I think I have seen this set in a photography book, or at least a similar one. The wind blown, rugged look is typical, and some other photographers have done bette than me to produce a high contrast “dark” and haunting image.

Anyway, we were there before new year as the sand message indicates. We are not the authors of this I must add-plagiarism by my family. We had a good time there, the weather not surprisingly was cold, wet and windy on occasions, though we id not expect anything different so it was fine.

As you see we went to Slope Point, the most southern tip of mainland NZ. So now we have been to the most westerly point in Australia, the most southerly point of England, and Slope Point. I am unsure there is more in life that needs doing.

During our time we stayed in a cabin on a sheep farm, and a backpackers in Owaka. Possibly the best we had over the whole trip.

Maybe tomorrow a mention of Fiordland, and then I will move on from out 3,300Km round trip, and instead moan about the current lack of summer weather.

PS. After comments from SQ I would like to say that the image of the trees is mine and not obtained from elsewhere.

The evidence that we have gone a little more Kiwi.
We are now proud owners of a tow bar. It was attached not long before the off, along with the impressive bike carrier in order to take the bikes away with us. We had to borrow a bike for EQ in order to make the most of the carrier investment. Of course my new mean machine was great to take away-though the paint work was damaged with all the travelling-now not quite such a lovely specimen. On reflection I think it was worthwhile to take the bikes; they were used and enjoyed, though less so by Isaac. Apparently, his gave him backache. To be fair, the bike is somewhat small for him now.

PS. Isaac has done a post regarding the holiday, and would like you to read it.

[googlemaps https://maps.google.co.nz/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102685322370102681272.00047caea71fa50a1d168&ll=-44.209524,169.930025&spn=4.902944,5.603078&output=embed&w=425&h=350]

We are back, and in due coarse photos and stuff will be posted. The map shows our trip over the three weeks, with a selection of the places we stayed and a selection of places visited.

We are true Kiwis. We now have a tow bar on our car which we used to attach the bike carrier and our collection of bikes, old, new and borrowed.

In the post today was the end of year report for Joe. A very good one. His best one ever.
A consistently nice lad at school, who tries his hardest, with a good work ethic. Success with all the hard work as well.

Is it down to the male environment?

Well done Joe!

Hmm.
Forecast for Wellington is bright sunshine for next three days.
Forecast for for the West Coast-torrential rain.

It is a while since I have had the time or energy to update.

We are just on the cusp of going on holiday. Tomorrow we set out on our three week holiday to the South Island. We are doing a big circle tour, taking the ferry tomorrow morning to Picton, then down the West Coast to Southland, then across and to return up the east coast.
We are all looking forward to the break. It is nearly a year since my last proper break, and I have been experiencing that fading of interest at work scenario, and the thought of time away becomes more overpowering.

So the camera will be out again. I have even bought some expensive transparency film to try to capture the scenic beauty, and utilise the great wide angled effect of the expensive piece of glass with the film SLR. The digital and camcorder will all have an airing, so plenty of material in the pipeline for future blogs.

We are hoping that the weather is going to improve as of late it has been terrible. It has been ridiculously windy, there has been little sunshine or warmth and it has been wet. Joseph and Isaac have had only three cricket games so far this season out of eight possible. Maybe, as summer is just around the corner, things are going to improve-especially in the south.

Eleanor has finished her NCEAs, and Joe finished school last week as well. So the two of them have been swaning around since, having fun, and not doing enough jobs around the house. Isaac is still at school, and will miss the last two days. Not much missed there then.

Here’s to happy holidays.

I see from the BBC website that Tiger has obtained an injunction on publication of something in the UK, but obviously it did not report what.

DUI Attorney.com gives a few more details:

The Tiger Woods mistress and accident scandal has, predictably, already made it into at least one court system.

Although Woods’ legal team will not confirm or deny rumors that there are nude pictures, and possibly sex videos of the golf star, they nevertheless sought an injunction in the UK against the publication there of any such pictures, should they exist.

The High Court of London ruled that no UK media outlet or blog could publish potential nude pictures or videos of Tiger Woods.

After obtaining the injunction, Woods’ lawyers then quickly notified media outlets throughout the UK in order to stop any publication of materials that may or may not exist.

Most rational people would tend to believe that such pictures exist. Why else would Woods incur thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of dollars in legal fees to attempt to stop their release.

Given the reach of the internet, it is highly unlikely that, should material exist, it will be suppressed world-wide. However, money is a powerful motivator. If a mistress or other person possesses the pictures, and no media outlet with the money to purchase them can do so because of injunctions, then the person who is trying to sell them might sell them back to Woods directly.