Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Evacuate!? In our moment of triumph!?
Last weekend, Shernett the Pernett, Dan & Di and I went away camping at Kai Iwi Lakes (see the lakes just in from the coast at http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=11&ll=-35.801665,173.789291&spn=0.407096,0.63858&om=1).
Dan is truly the 'Man of Phrases'. To the point, some say, where he is actually slightly obsessive-compulsive.
"Slightly!!??" I hear Di scream in disbelief. Yes, well.
One of Dan's many favourite phrases is the quote from Star Wars: "Evacuate!? In our moment of triumph!? I think you over estimate their chances!". Now, as well as being the phrase man of power, Dan is undeniably the 'Pun Man of Power' too. He makes puns relentlessly. Sometimes even in his sleep. So of course the above "evacuate" quote is often deployed when someone needs to do 'Big-Toilets' - in a 'weak' pun on "evacuating one's bowels".
In the weekend, while we were happily playing games outside our tent...
the camp caretaker ran by looking a bit flustered. Some nincompoop had reversed into one of the water mains and smashed the pipe. The water system for the camp was out of action. That meant that the toilets were out of action. And this was at 8.30am in the morning with 500 odd campers in the middle of their morning ablutions... The caretaker said it was kinda under control though - he'd called the "poo-truck" and it was on the way.
We
had a prime vantage point from out tent site overlooking the main toilets and the pump station.
Of course, in the meantime our game had continued and there had been a number of renditions of the "Evacute!? In our moment of triumph!?" gag as Dan drew closer to winning and the urge to do his morning business mounted...
Nevertheless, about 45 minutes later the Poo Truck did arrive. Let me tell you, being the driver of the Poo Truck is high on my list of jobs I never want to do. The potential for complete disasters if you were to pull the wrong lever or leave the wrong valve open at the wrong time does not bear thinking about.
And the first joyous event was when 
we spotted it's number plate... truly one of the coolest personalised number plates in existence. But the "washed and empty" sign bought the full terpidity of the Poo Truck driver's existance home to roost. Not only did he have to drive a large tanker full of poo around, AND pump it in and out of his precious truck, but after that he presumably had to wash everything down...
and surely that involves some degree of opening chambers that just should not be opened. *shaking my head in disbelief* Thank goodness for Poo Truck drivers. Without them our lives would be somewhat less enjoyable...
Then, we spotted the second sign.
This one was on the side of the Poo Truck and is the subject of today's German Reader's Vocabulary Expansion Lesson.
"Human Septage!?" we all exclaimed in unison. "Human SEPTAGE!??" What sort of terminology is that to be exposed to at breakfast time!
Human Septage indeed!
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Wake Up Richard Bock
New Zealand cricket fans should be a LOT more pleased than they on the whole appear to be. Richard Bock, cricket writer for the New Zealand Herald, as is his usual style seems to be not just riding the bandwagon of popularist thought bemoaning the performances on the field but seems to almost relish whipping up the frenzy of talk-back-radio blood letting. I think there is a lot to celebrate.
The following aspects of the three performances so far seem to me to be extremely positive:
- In Hobart against Australia, despite bowling badly in the first ten overs, the New Zealand bowlers, and in particular Vettori and Patel, backed up by some good fielding choked the powerful Australian middle order, reducing the Australian run rate from up around 7 down to close to 4.5.
- Ross Taylor's performance against a very strong Australian bowling performance in two games, but particularly in Hobart, has been very positive.
- Mark Gillespie's bowling has been outstandingly good. He has looked right at home, has troubled the bowlers, and I think has been the real success story of the trip to Australia.
- The inclusion of MacMillan in the touring side caused me to do a double take, but he has delivered brilliantly so far, and I am not just talking about his innings against Australia the other night. His fielding has been very very good, and his bowling has not been bad either. Good on him I say.
Despite losing three games, I am not that down. In the first game, at 161/3 we were right there, giving the Australians a real fright. The collapse that followed, 7 for 21, was abysmal. To me, that shift from being toe to toe with the Aussies and right up with them, to completely falling apart is symptomatic of a lack of mental focus. The three glaring errors against Australia at the SCG - Franklin's dropped catch from Clarke, the botched run out and MacCullum's dropped chance up close also look like symptoms of the team's heads not being focussed.
Bracewell's performances in the last couple of press conferences - see http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10420392
However, despite this lack of focus, this tension in the camp, possible ructions and discontent with the rotation policy from some players... and despite us not having fielded anything like our strongest side so far in the series... it is important to note that we are only JUST losing (I think the game in Hobart was actually much closer than the eventual 105 runs margin suggests). And we are only JUST losing to a very strong Australian side with a well tuned bowling attack and a formidable batting line up.
A lack of mental focus, distractions for the players with tension in the dressing room etc.... these are things that can be fixed relatively easily. It's certainly much easier to address than if we were losing and losing badly because of a fundamental skills gap - where the other teams are clearly better sides, and where our players have technical deficiencies.
We have Bond, Oram, Styris, Sinclair and Vincent in the wings, and that is in the wings of a side that's not exactly devoid of talent as it is. I hope that Franklin will be omitted from the side today and am looking forward to seeing how the team goes in Adelaide.
BC
