Bag of Nails

Wednesday saw the start of the one day cricket series between NZ and Australia. Nothing like a home derby to get the juices flowing. We're lucky enough over here to actually get free-to-air coverage on the Prime channel. I had begun watching at 2PM, and encountered various sounds of dismay as various small and not quite as small persons returned from school. Apparently missing yet another repeated Simpsons episode was more than flesh and blood could bear. I also received moans about various other programs that Di wanted to watch. Fortunately the situation resolved itself since everyone buggered off to Wayne & Vicky's spot. A minute later, Wayne showed up and we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening watching NZ beat Australia, which was just fine and dandy. I support two teams - NZ and anyone playing the Aussies.

It wasn't all continuous viewing though. Phoebe has been riding her scooter to school recently, and is finding it rather hard to keep up with Freya on her bike. This has been made slightly more awkward by the scooter being run over by the Mirth Mobile due to a rather bad piece of parking and some insufficient wifely observation. Despite my best efforts with a selection of large hammers, it's not quite as smooth running as it once was. Phoebe decided today was the day she was going to ride her bike. It's maybe a little on the large size, but we refused to buy a small one with stabilisers that she would be out of in six months. She has finally figured out how to start off and stop without landing in a heap and took great pride in whizzing around and of course demanded an audience of admirers.

The rest of the books turned up on Thursday. I now have another 10 inches of paper to wade through. I noticed that Craig's car seems to have sprouted a for sale sign. Further investigation reveals that the oil light is coming on intermittently. An opinion from the local garage is apparently that the engine is about to die and he should either get a new engine or flog it quick. It's not altogether surprising, it sounds like a bag of nails when it's on tick over and always has.

Di returned from school on Friday morning, with news that the assistant principal would be calling. The phone call indicated that Phoebe has now moved to a year one class. Apparently the AP observed Phoebe failing to get involved in any of the class activities and keeping her head down to keep out of trouble. Clearly a complete breakdown in relationships. Of course we supported the move, and Phoebe seems a little more comfortable about it, although still apprehensive. Poor Phoebe's day ended with a trip to the dentist, who redid one of her fillings on account of it being rotten underneath. Apparently this is what happens when bacteria are left in the tooth before filling. All the girls have now had fillings replaced, which rather makes us question the standard of care we all received back in the UK. Neither Di not I are looking forward to the next dental appointment, what with the number of crowns and root canals we have between us.

We both received letters about registering for the electoral role. It seems that our names and addresses have come from the driving licence details. Although the letters proclaimed $200 fines for not registering, it also states that you need to have been resident for 12 months or more, and thus both were deposited in the bin.

I took Imogen to see Avatar this evening. I must admit to not being as blown away as I expected given all the hype it's had. Sure, it was a neat experience once I'd stopped focusing on the parts that were deliberately out of focus. The plot was a little bit thin and predictable, but it did fulfil its primary function, which was to entertain for a couple of hours. I have it on good authority that a pal of mine who works for Weta Digital has a credit, but there were so many to view, it was impossible to spot it, despite sitting through to the end and annoying the cinema staff. I shall have to take it on faith that it's there and ignore any suspicions of Geordie chest pummelling. ;-)