Posts by Felix Marwick
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Dunedin PI Wayne Idour has now been linked to the story. Specifically in connection with one of Investigate's sources - namely the woman who accused Dunedin Police of setting her up for her murder conviction.
Make of that what you will
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When I was a teen binge drinking was the norm, and so too was driving home afterwards.
However I note most teens these days frown on their peers that drink drive. Now if we can have this sort of attitude change in two decades then maybe there is some hope for instilling a responsible attitude towards drinking.
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As a former long term resident of the Garden City permit me to say a few words in its defence. In my opinion it's no worse, and no better, than any other city when it comes to violence.
Sure there were areas where I wouldn't wander alone late at night (Colombo St down by the overbridge being a prime example) but I'd say the same about areas in other cities as well.
I had a late night sojourn in Newtown not so long ago that had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end and the pulse racing. I also recall a very dodgy evening nightclubbing in Otara many years ago (white boys go into nightclub, cue Once Were Warriors music and a huge collective stare - gulp)
As for the issue of cellphones leading to out of control parties I'm not sure that stands up completely. The grapevine has always managed to operate fullsteam regardless of technology.
Cellphones were completely unknown when I was going through my teenage binge drinking years in Motueka yet that never stopped hordes of people arriving to whichever party was humming on a Friday or Saturday night. Especially after the pubs closed.
Once my parents came home to find well over 100 people in various states of inebriation lolling around the property. We were about as country as it got yet that didn't stop the multitudes taking the time to drive (largely under the influence) 15 km into the boondocks and descend upon me and my mates. Fortunately my mother had a somewhat steely reputation and by dint of intimidation, and fearsome gaze, had the surrounds vacated within about 10 minutes.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is mass boozy parties have been the norm in Kiwi culture. It's also worth remembering the weekend's events, while tragic, remain the exception and not the norm
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What do you mean, Felix? I am just curious.
There are not many benefits to be had from having various bones broken multiple times. However the old wive's tale about old breaks twinging before a cold spell rings true for me.
Just call me the weather whisperer - actually weather whinger would probably be more apt
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horses scare the bejesus out of me.
While horses don't scare me they've certainly been responsible for a fair few ACC claims as far as I'm concerned.
On the plus side it means I can detect a Southerly about 4 hours before anyone else
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Felix, that was brilliantly told (the nutcracking tale) - and I laughed out loud, sad as it is, and as much as it probably hurt the poor bugger. Thanks for sharing another's pain so eloquently!
Cheers for that.
Though I suspect I have just reinforced every stereotype about the ability of journalists to delight in the misery of others.
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YOOWWW!
That one gets my vote for best/worst.
Let me hasten to point out it was not me. My injury moments are much more mundane.
Though there was one very bad month of May back in 1991 when I did break a wrist. The problem being I was never quite sure which accident was responsible.
Was it the drunken fall down a very steep flight of stairs? It could have been the horse that kicked me, but equally it could have been the car accident where I had a penetrating encounter with a windscreen. (That was definitely the cause of a scalp laceration).
Of course it could have also been the tree that fell on me (no joke) while I was teaching a bunch of Japanese holiday-makers how to ride,
It was a hectic three weeks. :-)
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Ok testicular stories. I'll name no names but anyone who was at Motueka High School 20 or so years ago will know exactly who I'm talking about.
The young lad in question had his misfortune occur one lunchtime while messing around the school pool. In summer it was open slather at the pool for students during the lunch break so on hot days it was a pretty popular place to hang out.
Anyway teenage boys being as they are are fairly prone to show off - especially when there are girls around - so fun and hijinks on the diving board were very common.
(anyone see where this is going?)
So imagine the scene. It's a blazing hot summer's day and our young man is doing his best to impress on the dive board. Unfortunately while attempting a maneuveur, which involved a double jump and bounce, his footing slipped and instead of landing on the diving board he came down straddling it with an almighty crunch.
Witnesses to this day swear they also heard a gentle popping sound.
There he sat ever so briefly in a twisted rictus of pain. But uttering not a sound. Then ever so gently he toppled sideways off the diving board and (maintaining the same pained sitting position) fell straight to the bottom of the pool.
There he lay unmoving for several seconds - though I suspect it seemed far longer to him - before others realising his predicament dived in and plucked him to safety.
Unfortunately the angle of his connection with the diving board had been such that he'd crushed a testicle and ruptured his nutsack. It was no wonder he never moved while lying at the bottom of the pool. One suspects drowning would have been much more pleasurable than the agony he was enduring.
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If you have to break a wrist make sure you do them individually and not simultaneously. Having two arms in plaster can make certain areas of personal hygiene rather challenging.
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Without wishing to pick on this comment in particular but there have been several comments in this vein.
I agree we aren't good enough. But I disagree that we should expect to be this bad
In line with what you were saying about pitches I think there is a case to look at the surfaces we play on here and how they compare to what we compete on overseas.
Invariably the normal NZ pitch is well grassed, has a fair bit of sideways movement, but rarely does it have genuine pace. As an example Eden Park has become synonymous with low and slow.
Now our players are brought up on this diet so we tend to perform pretty well against touring sides. However when we go overseas and come up against something that's hard and fast and is exploited by bowlers of genuine pace we don't always do so well. Ditto for the sub-continent and the dustbowl pitches that turn square.
The issues here are two fold; One - our batsmen are only exposed to a limited dimension of bowling conditions. Two - our pitches don't encourage the development of genuine fast bowlers (Shane Bond is an exception), and they don't exactly make life easy for spin bowlers either (Dan Vettori another exception).
In essence to broaden the abilities of our players, and to encourage talent development in areas other then medium pacers, a long hard look should be taken at the types of cricket pitches we're producing in this country.
Variety, they say, is the spice of life.