More Justin Timberwank

on the front page of the Herald ?????? Excuse me while I go mug a walrus for a bucket to vomit in........

Today, we raced

Well in theory we didnt . In theory, we had a controlled run up Lake Karapiro & back doing a poker run. But when you get 40 odd boats in a running shotgun start,(literally) then its not surprising that the old testosterone gets flowing & the throttle gets nudged further & further forward & to hell with other lake users.

You see, we participated in Fish City's annual Poker run. The idea of this is that you circumnavigate a course collecting sealed envelopes with playing cards in them. When you return, the scrutineers open them & make the best hand they can, with you having the option of buying up to 4 extra cards. Its an annual event in memory of a young lad that worked for them & died of a melanoma & the monies raised go to cancer research. This year it was leukemia.

Anyway, we had a ball. Top Dog showed a clean pair of heels to a surprising amount of boats, the only low point being a loss of power on the way home & we had to limp in at a mere 35 km/h. Fortunately it was only loose screws holding the cover plate on the fuel pump & is now all fixed. One of the treasured memories of the day is the water skier who panicked when he saw about 10 boats bearing down on him at a rate of knots & arsed off. It was quite beautiful the way we all peeled off round him.

The halfway point was a particularly beautiful little bay where we all lounged around, drank cold drinks,(non alcoholic) & swam. My excuse for wearing a life jacket in the water was that I had never been in the water with one & wanted to see how well they held an old fatso like me up. Nothing whatsoever at all to do with the 50 ft of water under me....

Then it was back to the clubhouse for the awarding of prizes. I won a spot prize of an outboard motor cover, about 3 sizes too big for my motor. Didnt win the main prizes, but thats Ok.. We had a great day out....

Nice one, NZ Herald....

I see the Heralds lead story this morning is a revue of the Justin Timberwank concert... Why ???? The conceited git has only ever put out two albums & neither of them particularly uplifting.. The last three shows that I have been to, Dylan, Steely Dan & War of the Worlds were all reviewed as well, but you had to hunt for them. Wheres your taste in musical appreciation guys ????

Well, this is me

Just SOOOOOO happy to be off to work yet again starting at 6.00 AM yet again on a run that I don't particularly like yet again.... The only consolation that I have is that Dave is back tomorrow from his paternity leave & he can have his run back.. He is definitely in no danger of a takeover bid from me....

I want to ride my bicycle....

Herself is in the process of losing weight & getting fit. I'm rapidly running out of excuses as to why I shouldn't join her, so any help would be appreciated. Her latest thing is that she has decided to ride a push bike round to her friends place that she walks with. I find this very laudable. After all, our carbon foot print is probably quite big enough what with a petrol powered car, a diesel 4WD, a boat with a 2 stroke outboard & God knows how many electrical appliances.. Global Warming ? Burn baby burn, I say.

Anyway, back to the push bike. I dunno why exactly they are called push bikes, because under ordinary circumstances, unless the chain comes off, or you get a flat tyre, or your going up a steep hill, you don't push 'em. You bloody well PEDAL them don't you. Anyway, thanks to the on air garage sale run by our local radio station, we got her a push bike. Just yer basic 10 speed road bike, although the gears won't get used a lot. The only fly in the ointment is that herself hasn't ridden a bike for more years than she is prepared to admit to.

You know the fluttery feeling that you get in the pit of your stomach when your kids, or grandkids first take to the footpath without trainer wheels ? Well, herself wouldn't even let me fit trainer wheels. She was happy with the new pump & the gelpad seat cover, & the little red bell with "I love bikes" on it, & the flash ergodynamically designed hand grips, but trainer wheels ???? Nooooo thank you. Luckily, our drive is quite long & flat so that she can practice. Getting on & off is fraught with hazards, & those initial first few feet untill some momentum is achieved, is definitely a bit wobbly, but she was getting there. Right up until the point that she mucked up getting off the thing & gracefully collapsed into a heap with the bike on top of her.

I'm standing there with visions of trips to hospitals racing through my mind, but she held up both hands & said,"I'm all right." Probably my imitation of putting the boot into her ribs at that point didn't really help a lot, I don't know. Anyway, she is still determined to master the damn thing. I'll probably have to think about getting one for myself soon I suppose. Life can be very cruel sometimes..

We saw dolphins yesterday

Its not like we haven't seen them before. I have been to the dolphin place in Napier & seen them perform, I've seen them on TV as you do, & seen them swimming past the boat while we have been fishing, but this was up close & personal.

You see, Herself & I went fishing yesterday. We usually fish from Te Puru, but when the tide is low there, it can be a little tense getting the boat in & out of the water, so lately, we have been fishing from Waikawau. This ramp offers an easy launch into a river mouth & now that it has been dredged, it offers at least two feet of water under the keel even at the lowest ebb. We are still ,however, finding where the fish are in that particular area. So we went out & ended up catching 4 snapper & deciding to have a look round, as that area offers some very picturesque scenery with bays & little islands & such, so we went all the way up to Deadmans Bay, which is the start of Coromandel Harbour. On the way back, Herself happened to see a big splash in the water , so we investigated.

Imagine our joy when it turned out to be a pod of about 30 dolphins, some up to about 15 ft., in length. They put on a lovely show for us, leaping out of the water in pairs & all sorts of things, all impromptu & all without any human bribing them with dead fish. They were doing it for the sheer joy of being able to, not as part of some routine necessary for food. They even had babies with them. Some of them came that close to the boat you could nearly touch them. God it was fantastic. The only sad bit was that I didn't have any sort of camera with me, so I can't share the experience with you. maybe next time...

Requiem for a friend

RIP WETI

You may have noticed (or not) I know I didn't, a report in the Waikato Times about a trucky who was killed when his truck rolled on State Highway 39 out the back of Hamilton at a place called Whatawhata. I didn't, & my work hours for the last week have been such that I haven't been able to keep up with TV news & I don't usually buy The Waikato Times. It doesn't really matter all that much anyway, because Weti is dead.

He was driving for Five Star Freight, with a full load of timber on his truck & trailer, when he rolled it.

As a trucky , you get to meet all sorts of people, most of whom you wouldn't recognise if you met them in the street. Put them behind the wheel of their rig though, & they are instantly known. "Aaah, there's the guy in the brown Freightliner that does the evening linehaul from Auckland to Hamilton." That was how I first got to know Weti. We used to do an evening linehaul from Auckland to Hamilton & you could usually count on seeing Weti somewhere around Huntly, heading north in one of Road Freight's 6 wheel curtainsiders. Some truckys acknowledge your wave with a casual lift of one finger, others have their own distinctive wave. Weti was one of the latter. I used to fear for his safety at first, because Weti used to launch himself bodily at the passengers side window with a hearty wave & a grin like the front bumper on a '57 Chevy.

Later on, he started doing the Roadfreighters run to our depot in Thames, so I got to meet him in person. Nothing was too much trouble for Weti. he was always happy to do an unofficial delivery for us on the way home if it would help out. Later, when we started doing our own linehaul out of Hamilton & bought our first 8 wheeler & trailer, Weti helped us there too. The boss was doing it for a while & hurt himself badly in a stock car mishap, & Road freighters lent us Weti for the duration. He enjoyed it so much that he eventually came over & worked for us a year or two.

But, Weti being Weti, eventually he decided that a truck full of fruit & veges was a far more attractive proposition to drive, so he left. But we still got to see Weti, because one of his stops on that run was our depot. He left there too, & since then, like the proverbial bad penny, Weti would turn up in the most unlikely places, usually driving something different each time.

Rest well old friend. There probably aren't that many big rigs where you are, but I feel sure that knowing you, you will be able to cut a deal with St. Pete somewhere along the line for something to drive, who knows.

The devil made me do it...

I had occasion to deliver to a bottle shop today. As I was waiting for the signature, I noticed a new item on his shelves... Pina Colada Slushies.. Just add white rum & freeze.. Mundane you say ? So what you say ?? Yes, maybe, until you see the accessory for it. A little container of... Wait for it.... Rimming sugar... For the perfect cocktail.. I kid you not..

Arthur

Tonight, I met Arthur....
Arthur is a large, very genial Maori guy....
Arthur would be about as big as me & herself put together
Arthur drives an eight wheeler & trailor for one of the companies we deal with....
Arthur comes from Wanganui...
Arthur can parallel park his rig into a gap only 10 meters longer than his truck & trailor
I know, cos I measured it.
I think Arthur is pretty cool..
And one helluva good driver...
Better than I could ever hope to be

On the subject of fireworks. Since the banning of bangers & sky rockets, the pyrotechnic capabilities of the light fuse & retire to a safe distance variety of device has gotten louder & more spectacular every year to compensate. When small children are getting severely burnt as a result of this dollar greed, its time to call a halt to public sales. Even experts in the field got hurt this year. This is bad Juju. Anyway, why should we celebrate a failed terrorist from a different country ? In the light of recent Police actions, surely this is a prime example of double standards.. And thats all I've got to say about that..