Paul Hickey: Decorations up, football fun, super-size catch, Fill the Bus

Paul Hickey, Salvation Army staff and Motion Entertainment staff during last year's Fill the Bus. Photo / Andrew Warner

OPINION:

With December actually here now, there can really be no more complaining about Christmas decorations “being up already”.

The big tree is up in Te Manawa, the Professionals McDowell Real Estate Christmas Lights Trail is under way, Christmas functions are in full swing, and yes, we’ve got all our decorations up at home now, too.

Every year, my wife Katie expands with something new, and this year it is some Christmas music at the front door which is activated by standing on the doormat. The cats are finding that very confusing!

One thing we don’t do, though, is put decorations up in the toilet and bathroom; apparently 25 per cent of us do exactly that.

...Do you?

***

The Football World Cup is under way, and despite New Zealand not being involved, it still gathers plenty of interest here. It also created a funny moment for us over the weekend.

Our son Joel is a fan of the team for Argentina, which played on Sunday morning. He wore his supporter’s jersey while watching the game at home before we went out for breakfast at Bird The Word on Fenton St.

While sitting enjoying our food, three actual Argentinians came in wearing their jerseys and starting talking to us in Spanish. Bad news - we didn’t understand. Good news - everyone was happy. Really good news? Tourists!

***

In the area we live, we are used to hearing stories about big fish being caught at Lake Tarawera or Ōkataina, but this is a super-sized catch story that’s hard to picture.

Not a trout – but a record-breaking goldfish has been caught in France. An angler dragged a 30-kilogram specimen from Bluewater Lakes.

A carp fishery released the behemoth known as ‘The Carrot’ 20 years ago, and it has since grown to be one of the largest in the world.

It took the fisherman 25 minutes to reel her in, before they snapped a few photos and let her go.

Experts say the enormous size of The Carrot serves as a reminder not to release pets into the wild, because certain types of goldfish can grow to enormous sizes.

Imagine trying to find a bowl big enough for keeping that one on the kitchen bench.

***

And a final reminder and invitation from me to support The Hits Fill The Bus, which is coming up on Wednesday.

We’re out all day collecting for the Salvation Army Foodbank, including visiting schools, ECEs, and businesses to add their collections to the bus.

We do have public drop-off points on the day in the morning before school, at lunchtime in town, and late afternoon.

See thehits.co.nz for those location details, and hopefully we’ll see you then. And, I will be broadcasting my entire day show from 9am-3pm from on-board the bus, talking to lots of locals who have helped us in the collection. I can’t wait!

Paul Hickey is your local host on The Hits Rotorua weekdays between 9am and 3pm. Featuring Rotorua news, information, and giveaways, plus trending stories from around the world. Listen on 97.5FM or download the iHeartRadio app. PLUS follow The Hits Rotorua and Paul on Facebook and Instagram.