Finales

It's been a fairly eventful week. There have been some extraordinary occurrences in Australia and the world throughout. Some are more mundane than others, but each have there own characteristics of interest.

In Canberra last weekend there were some damaging winds, accompanied by some rain. With the reservoirs now at 75% and looking to reach 80% soon, Canberrans are eagerly awaiting the easing of certain water use restrictions. The winds, however, knocked down several trees including some along the boulevard of Northbourne Avenue. Luckily, the damage wasn't too significant and there was no disruption to general city life.

Less can be said for Christchurch. New Zealand's South Island's largest city (sometimes mistakenly referred to as New Zealand's second largest city) was shaken by a powerful earthquake that measured 7.1 on the Moment Magnitude Scale (MMS). I'll spare you the boring details but the MMS is what scientists use although it is more commonly called the Richter Scale. It seems that there was significant damage to the city, although no deaths. The South Island is considerably less tectonically vibrant than its northern neighbour but is clearly not immune. The earthquake building code probably prevented more significant damage although at a certain point there's nothing that can be done. It will take some time to clean up after the quake but New Zealand has experience with this type of thing so I wouldn't be too worried.

And keeping with the disaster stream, it seems northern Victoria is in the midst of floods. The Australian Defence Force has been called out to assist. While this will go some way to relieving the drought, especially considering the low levels the Murray River has suffered recently, it's still a great inconvenience.

On another topic, Australia finally has a government. After some political trading, the final 2 independent members, Windsor and Oakeshott, sided with the Labor Party. This gives them the 76 seats required for a majority and Julia Gillard remains PM. I understand that Kevin Rudd, the former PM, will be Minister of Foreign Affairs which is where he made a name for himself before. I had a chance to watch Windsor and Oakeshott announce their decision in a press conference. Windsor was fairly brief but Oakeshott took forever to announce his decision. He droned on and on and listed the reasons for the decision. I think the consensus is that this was his moment in the sun and he wanted to get as much out of it as he could. This new government, technically a minority one, will be interesting if not only to see how long it lasts. All parties, though, are talking as though the government will be allowed to complete its full 3-year mandate barring anything surprising.

I had a great opportunity yesterday to be a goal umpire for the ACTAFL Division 4 Grand Final at Manuka Oval between Goulburn and ANU, and what a game it turned out to be. The day was sunny and warm with only a hint of wind. The game was close throughout and when full time came around, it was a tie. This necessitated the use of a special procedure for tie-breaking wherein 2 additional 5-minute periods are played and at the end, whoever is in front wins. In the end, the result was 1 point in favour of ANU; final score Goulburn-84, ANU-85. I think that not only was this the best game I've officiated this season, I think it was the best game I've ever officiated. I haven't seen that full game assessment from the umpire assessor but the half-time report was quite positive. It's always an honour to be asked to officiate a grand final, it means you are one of the better umpires throughout the year. Barring anything unusual happening, though, or being asked to be an emergency on-call replacement, I think this is the end of my season. Next week the Under-18s, the Division 2 and the Division 1 grand finals will be played and that will end of the season officially. I think I've ended on a very positive note and I can't wait for next year.