News Trivia and the truth

On Tuesday mornings around 9.30am the team (the five of us) usually meet to discuss the matters raised at the Steering Committee meeting held earlier that morning.

Today first up we discussed the Australian Idol result . Only one of the team doesn't watch the show - a reality show naysayer. My standard reply to those types is "Oh don't get all high and mighty - given my job involves boring research and writing all day - give me a break and let me go home and watch something entertaining and vacuous!"

I have over time had the same to say to any person who dares to judge my desire to access a form of entertainment which is less than the standards they set for themselves. Why do I constantly have to inform myself - can't I just be amused and move on to the next piece of bubblegum. We (the women that is) also talked about the rest of our Monday night viewing that is, SATC and how strangely compelling and enigmatic Mikhail Baryishnikov is despite the fact he is close to 60.

We did eventually talk about work and then towards the end of the meeting F our boss (and my friend) pulled out the Sport lift out from the Courier Mail on Monday October 11 and read from page 19 a small article by "The Ear" with Mark Oberhardt.

" No Names Files: A popular legal eagle, junior football coach and racehorse owner described as rubbish a suggestion he sent his wife to investigate when thieves tried to break into their home. He added the way he has been punting the burglars were wasting their time."

We were all highly amused. Last week F told me she would be in to work early last Thursday so that she could leave that afternoon to head up the coast to spend the rest of the vacation with her children who she sent up earlier with her mother. F failed to appear early and when she arrived after 10am her reason was that she had been dealing with the police.

At 4am that morning she and her husband T were woken with a start when they heard an almighty crash coming from the downstairs rooms in their house. F thinking it was her brother after a very late night/early morning got up to investigate however because the noise was so alarming T in a daze and being quite short sighted had trouble finding his glasses followed her soon after. When they reached downstairs they called out and the people who were trying to smash one of their french doors in with their outside furniture took off.

We concluded that the journalist who decided to post this piece must have had very little sporting news to publish this week. A tenuous sporting connection made to T (who is a Senior Counsel) through his role as a parent supporting his children's sporting endeavours and a share in a race horse. The only thing with a ring of truth was that I could certainly see F's husband declaring "rubbish" to the suggestion that F was urged forward to investigate. Because we knew there was no urging that was just the way it happened.