cheetah gems

I visited the two cheetah that reside at Auckland Zoo.  They are not disdainful of human admirers, more indifferent to them.  Lions might be called regal and tigers majestic; cheetahs are something else, something lighter but very special. They are lithe and muscular, focused and dainty.  As we walked through the near empty zoo, they were alert but relaxed.  A feral chook came just a little too close, a burst of action nearly saw the end of that bird, Anubis only slowed  at little by the woman on the other end of his lead.  Only male cheetah are selected to be 'ambassadors' to have such close interaction with members of the public.  This is becasue they are even-tempered, apparently the females get irritable and unpredictable at certain times of the month.  We accompained the chhetah back to their encloseure wherer they had breakfast of bunnies and bit of wild, culled horse.

cheetah magic

My husband and son bought me a cheetah experience for Christmas, but it wasn't until the 11th of July that I could use it. Worth the wait!  I got to the Auckland Zoo early, the time with the cheetah starts at 8.00am and lasts for 1 1/2 hours so that we had the zoo practically to ourselves.  There was one other person, a young woman on the tour with me, four zoo staff and 2 cheetah.  Anubis and Osiris are twins, orphaned early and have spent all their lives in zoos.  They led us around the zoo grounds, into the elephant enclosure (Burma wasn't out of bed at the time), to look out at the skateboarders and geese in Western Springs, to look at the traffic along Motions Road, through the Vetinerary Dept, past the NZ birds free flight area and back to their enclosure.  Although they were on leads, Anubis and Osiris were in charge of where we went.  They have mastered the 1000 metre stare, looking into the distance, sometimes right over my shoulder.  They leapt up onto rocks and tables ti improve their view, but also to allow us to stoke them.  One of them has a short mohawk sort of mane, the other has more belly fur.  The large dark brown spots and interspersed with smaller lighter spots.  Their toenails don't retract, they look a bit like dogs' nails (very sturdy).  Their ears are expressive whilst the rest of their face remains still.  Their eyes are dark brown with a round pupil (unlike night-hunting cats with a slit pupil)

loop recorder

I have a weird condition which means that I check out for about 30 seconds every so often.  On average once every two months.  That said, it can either be a year between blackouts or less than a month.  Being unconscious for such a short time doesn't seem such a big thing, but  once when driving I caused an accident, fortunately everyone was wearing seat belts and I wasn't driving very fast.  My mother in the passenger seat thought that I had died, it was pretty scary for her.  Usually I just drop whilst walking, then pick myself up quickly and carry on.

This condition has lots of names: blackouts,vasovagal syncope, drop attacks, swooning.

On Thursday the 13th December 2012 I finally went into North shore Hospital for an operation to get a loop recorder.  Over the 5 years that I have been a victim of the drop attacks the various doctors that I've seen have not come up with any diagnosis.  No diagnosis; no treatment; no cure.  The loop recorder monitors my heartbeat and if my heart stops during an attack (as I think it does), the device will note that too.  It is the size of a flash drive and will go just under the skin over my trapeezus muscle

Mum drove me down to the hospital, so anxious for me that we got there at 6.55 for the 7.30 appointment.
I was taken in to the ward, asked to undress and given a "delightful" gown.  3 nurses fussed over me, checking my identity, lack of breakfast, drug-freeness, allergy status plus washing my left breast and shoulder.  A 'lure' was inserted into my right elbow joint, and sticky domes placed over me seemingly randomly.  A little later I walked into the operating theatre.  Everyone masked and gowned and the room slightly chilly.  It was odd to be lying there with nothing to do, whilst everyone else was busy.  A nurse washed me yet again, twice.  They plugged me into various monitors measuring heartbeat and oxygen level.
Gave me a slightly painful local anaesthetic, pumped some sedation into me through the lure and dropped a paper sheet over my face making sure that there was air space in front of me.  I was totally out to it, came to to find the incision already glued together, plastic bandage over it.  They wheeled me back to the ward and I  dozed for an hour.  The nurses bought me water, coffee and very welcome club sandwiches. I waited for another half hour than Mum came to pick me up at just after 11.00 am
  

Trial underway

The defendant is accused of dealing in large amounts of Methamphetamine in a role which puts him as a wholesaler. As presented by the prosecution he has little to do with manufacture of Meth or smuggling of the raw ingredients into NZ. He is a businessman and his transactions could be of any product were it not for the secrecy involved.

Jury composition

The selection process for juries has worked wonderfullly well in the case of this jury. We are a very representative group of New Zealanders. There is a 50 year age range, half a dozen races and grat diversity of occupations. Most of us speak out and are confident either to ask questions or to give our opinions though one man only ventured to speak when he was directly asked to present his view. We return to the seats that we chose when we first entered the jury room eash time we go there for morning and afternoon tea, just as we take th same seats in the jury box in the courtroom. One of our number is consistantly late in the morning, always the last to arrive and once even holding up the court from starting!

cellphone transcriptions

The case really begins. we are given notepaper and pens, logbooks of comings and goings outside a factory gate, and a huge folder of cellphone transcriptions. We each quietly count the number of pages (over 300) and estimate how long it will take to get through them all.
A recording of the 'phone conversation is played. We can hear comprehension. anger, confusion from these but as they are held in several foreign languages we don't get any of the content. This is remedied by a policeman reading the transcripts aloud to us, as we follow in our own copies. He has a very prosaic voice.

new courtroom, same jury

Back in the High Court we each are taken to a new, modern courtroom. the 'staff' introduce themselves and their roles. The judge a kindly, older man thanks us for our attendance and makes various reassuring remarks. The registrar a formal, Indian man is our guide in court matters and ushers us in and out of the jury room and hands our the evidence folders to us. There are two prosecution lawyers and one defence. Prosecution are in front of the defence lawyer, who is in turn in front of his client, who is accompanied by a police/prison officer. The clerk of the court sits near the judge and records proceedings. We, the jury are on the judge's left, straight across from us is the witness box. Judge, registrar and lawyers are all in black gowns.