ROGER MORONEY
Twenty-eight years ago, at eight minutes past the 18th hour of the eighth day of the month, Karl McCabe arrived in the world.
Oh, and it was 1980 and he's not sure but he thinks he "weighed in at eight pounds".
So how old was the Napier man when he first
realised the number 8 sort of popped up a bit in his life?
"When I turned 8," he said with a laugh. "My mum pointed it out to me that I was turning eight, on the eighth day of the eighth month and it was 1988."
To the Chinese, the number 8 is lucky, and Mr McCabe reckons it's been pretty good to him so far, and he hopes it will continue when the team from his Palmerston North birthplace play Southland tonight.
"I love Hawke's Bay, it's awesome, but I still watch the Turbos (Manawatu), so I'm heading down there to see family and watch the game."
His prediction for the outcome?
"Twenty eight to eight, to Manawatu."
Oh, and Manawatu is an eight-letter word.
He'll celebrate later with seven or eight mates at a pub, where a game or eight of 8-ball will probably be on the menu.
He said one of the big bonuses to having a life ruled by the number 8 was that no one forgot his birthday.
"So that's pretty cool."
So how does he reckon his 88th birthday will go?
"Mate, that'll be a real whizz-bang job. Hopefully, I'll still be around."
Part of this birthday will be to buy a Lotto ticket he hopes will be accordingly lucky.
"I'll pick my own numbers and there'll be plenty of 'you know whats' in there."
But he's not the only one in possession of pieces of eight.
Working in the automotive paint supply business, he came across one customer who had an apprentice who was born on 8-8-88.
"Yeah, you could say we've got something in common."
As it was eight minutes to deadline there was time for one more (the eighth) question to pose to Mr McCabe. The obvious one. What is his favourite number?
"Nine. I play rugby at halfback. That's my number."
Of course.
