Friends of a friend were going away for summer holiday and leave the dogs behind for the first time ever. They asked Ne to stay there (about 6 Km in the country from our place).  Seemed like an easy gig, a couple dogs, a parrot and some ducklings.

How many ways can a house-sitting job go wrong? Well, the house is still standing….

1. Power cut / surge blows the big screen TV. She couldn't watch the DVDs she had rented for the first week stay. I brought out my 4” B&W TV out, but it isn’t the same, eh?.
2. She mucked up the login that had been set up for her on the computer so she couldn’t get onto the Internet.
3. They had two dogs—Buddy and Holly. Well, one morning Ne found Buddy’s body left by the door—probably hit on road.
4. Water only dribbled out of the kitchen faucet (turned out the filter from the tank was clogged).
5. The battery died and I had to go out to jump start the van.

 Holly

 Everyone reassured Ne that the dogs habitually run after cars and have been knocked about in past. They were actually feeling sorry for Ne and the bad luck she had. They want her back for a month in May while they are in the States. That could turn into another adventure...

Fez  

    The first mention in a diary was recorded for 18 Jan 1975: Gail quizzed Ian White and me from one of my trivia books.   Ian won and I noted it was because he has a better "classical" background than I possess.

Here is an excerpt from a letter written on 9 Feb 1985:
"Have also been trying to get up as many Trivial Pursuit games as possible. You and I are both way ahead of our times. We were playing it 15 years ago. Your letters were filled with Lance LaRue questions. I almost blush to report that I have won every single game so far. In fact, we usually play me against everyone else in the room. They have a rule for me that for the final question I have to answer correctly every (6) category on the card. I can see the day when they (friends, relatives and neighbors) won't want to play with me at all.
Things change and 20 years later I have a poor memory and have to settle for 2nd or 3rd best...

When we brought the game to New Zealand in 1985 we found that some had heard of it, but very few were interested in playing. So it was relegated to a dark corner in a cupboard until the 90's when NZ caught up with the rest of the world.   But rather than playing the game in one's home, it became a hot item to hold trivia evenings for the public to attend in groups. In 1992 I went along to a music trivia contest at a pub in Auckland and we joined the Whites at an evening in support of Waiuku College.   Since then we have been to quite a few trivia contests within 40 miles. We're always up there with a good score.

    Irene invited us to her place for Christmas in 1993 and in one those things I call "fate", we actually went.   All these strangers were talking about getting together the following Friday to play Trivial Pursuit and we said count us in; the rest as they say is history.   This group was 12-16 people meeting every Friday and only 8 times in the 11 years has there not been a game. But the group is now down to a hardcore 8 with a few casual members.   We meet in each others homes, bringing a treat to share. We draw up two teams and amazingly almost every game has been a draw!!

    Luckily, we have many versions of the game, but we tend to play the New Zealand Genus one the most frequently and after a couple years the questions have become old friends. At least to me - I am amazed that so many in the group don't recall that we have had a question at least 17 times before.