Kiwiblog

My net worth on iPredict is now up to $5,900, and I currently am invested in 28 stocks, and have 11 active buy or sell orders.

Some of my current stocks are:

• PM.2011.NATIONAL – this has climbed from 66c to almost 77c. As it does not pay out until end of 2011, this is a very high price.
• TOPTAX.33-35 – I have purchased this stock in the hope that the top tax rate in the budget will be restored back to 33%, where it used to be before Cullen. Is at 88c.
• UK2010.CON.ABS is at 50c and pays out if the UK Tories gain an absolute majority. Recent polls had shown this was unlikely, but in the last few days their lead seems to be growing again.
• AKL.RUN.TAMIHERE is at 45c. I am selling this as I do not think he will stand for Mayor (more likely for Council).
• AU.USD.2020.1 pays out if the Aussie dollar matches the US dollar in 2010. I have sold this stock and it is at 34c.
• I have sold all four leadership stocks, paying out if they lose their jobs, so I think Key, English, Goff and King will all be there at years ends. Prices are Key 5c, English 10c, Goff 15c and King 15c.
• MIN.DEP2.2010 pays out if there is a second Ministerial resignation this year. I sold this at 58c and it is currently at 63c. So I am hoping no one else stuffs up!
• MIN.HEATLEY pays out if he returns to the Ministry. Is at 15c, and I sold it at 17c.
• MINWAGE.1STREAD pays out if Sir Roger’s bill passes first reading. I short sold this 52c and it is now at 1c as National have said they will not vote for it.
• Have short sold the two stocks for the ACT and Maori Party agreements with National terminating. The ACT one is at 6c and Maori Party 9c.
• By just 0.1% Obama had a positive approval rating on the 1st of March. I was nervous as I had $600 on him not being negative. His current net rating is 2.8% positive so I have short sold the OBAMA.DISAP.1JUN which is at 27c.
• I have short sold both the OCR increase stocks, getting 31c for the increase by 1 April and 82c for the increase by 1 Jul. I am confident on the 1 April one and think 1 July will be a close call.
• PRES2012.PALIN pays out if she announces she is standing by the end of 2011. I short sold this at 51c, which is where it still is.

Going to be on an area with little or no Internet coverage until Tuesday, so lite blogging over the weekend. Have scheduled the general debates to appear each day.

I haven’t seen the movie, and only picked up the book at the weekend. I found it very addictive, and can see why it has become so popular.

The way Niffenegger lets the story unfold, starting with the first time Henry meets Clare (but not the first time Clare meets Henry) is superb. She uses the time travel to let parts of their story be slowly pealed back, like an orange.

There are many warm and happy moments in the book, and not not a huge amount of suspense (as Henry and Clare both know parts of the future). The final scores of pages are quite emotional as something inevitable draws closer and closer.

I’d go so far as to call it the best book I have read in the last six months or so (and I read a lot of books!). The movie sounds like it was pretty crappy, but I do recommend the book.

I blogged on Saturday on Alan Gibbs address to the ACT Conference, which I enjoyed.

I missed the speeches by Emma Gibbs and David Seymour – which many said were the conference highlights.

I wasn’t impressed with parts of Muriel Newman’s speech. I can’t remember the exact words Muriel used but to describe the National/Maori Party confidence and supply agreement along the lines of the biggest disaster for race relations in all of history was excessively hyperbolic. One can legitimately criticise the agreement, without going so over the top. Also in response to a question on customary rights, I couldn’t believe the answer was that the Treaty of Waitangi extinguished any customary rights. Apart from being totally wrong, it also contradicted an earlier assertion that the Treaty had no legal effect.

John Armstrong has analysed Heather Roy’s speech, and I agree references to black swans and the like were less than wise.

The conference over all did not feel like the conference of a party in Government after 12 years of opposition. Most people were too focused on how the Government was not implementing all of their policies, rather than talking about the areas they were making a difference.

Rodney’s speech was positive and upbeat, but the real outstanding performance from Rodney was on the Sunday on Q+A. I recommend people watch it to see Rodney be frank about his mistakes, but also talk about the wins ACT has had, and what they will keep pushing for. The only negative mark I give him is talking about Key and English keeping on the policies of Clark and Cullen, rather than the more correct “some of the policies”.

Colin James covers that ACT has managed to have significant influence, beyond their five seats.

I thought Don Brash’s speech on closing the gap with Australia was good, as he made a great case for bolder policies needed – especially over spending. He should have chosen better language than “venal and ignorant” in talking about *some* voters, as it has diverted attention from the point he was making about the failing of the education system and the media on basic economic issues.

Of course for many the real highlight of conference was the after-match party hosted by Cactus Kate for the younger members. Had around 40 people in the penthouse suite at the Bolton, so was a very comfortable feel. Was great to catch up with old friends and make some new ones. An amusing aspect was seeing Chris from Dunedin wind various people up so well, I was sure he was going to get slapped.

Cactus, Jadis and I did some of the shopping for the party. Not sure New World has ever sold so much champagne in one go before!

The party ended a bit after 3 am and as we started a bit before 5 pm, it was a solid ten hour affair. Remarkably, there was almost no damage to the room – even after a couple of people from Young Labour snuck in!

As much of a competition rub by Asia-Pacific Breweries, I organised a Drink Savvy party, and blogged about it here and here and here.

The competition for drink savvy ideas is still open until 31 March, but I am pleased to announce that I won the parallel competition between bloggers for hosting the best drink savvy party in January. I am obviously very pleased about this, as the prize is a S$3,000 holiday for two to Australia.

Yet to get exact details, but it looks like it includes Sydney and the Whitsunday Islands.

Yay!

In 2008/2009 we had 517 bottles, so 581 is an impressive 12.4% increase in consumption. I put it down to no election to interfere!

The average guess was 538, and I went for 533. The highest guest was Richard on 551.

Of minor interest is both corks and stelvins increased. Corks went up by 35 and stelvins by 29.

At 6 pm off to an ASPG event at Parliament on how the relationship between Parliament and the Executive — how it has evolved over the past 20 years and where the relationship might head over the next 20.

At 9 pm will be at Backbenches, where I’ll be doing a 60 second soapbox on the issue of the NZ Flag. I’ll even have some Canadian and Australian flags with me as visual props!

Tomorrow morning I’m one of three submitters appearing on the Electoral (Administration) Bill between 10 am and 11 am in Bowen House. This is the bill that merges the Electoral Commission with the Chief Electoral Office. The major issue all three submitters (The other two are Andrew Geddis and the NZ Law Society) have raised are that the new Commission should be an Independent Officer of Parliament, or the very least the appointment of Commissioners should not be decided by the Minister of Justice, but require parliamentary agreement.

Another year gone already!

The consumption pattern has been:

1. 2003 – 325 bottles (0% stelvins)
2. 2004 – 393 bottles (0% stelvins)
3. 2005 – 392 bottles (3.8% stelvins)
4. 2006 – 456 bottles (17.7% stelvins)
5. 2007 – 496 bottles (21.9% stelvins)
6. 2008 – 512 bottles (46.9% stelvins)
7. 2009 – 517 bottles (76.3% stelvins)

I hasten to add these are not all mine, but from a group of us!

People are welcome to guess (by 18 Feb) the total number of stoppers, and also the percentage that are stelvins.

Vernon God Little was the first play at Downstage that I didn’t really enjoy. There were parts of it that certainly were very funny and had me laughing, but not enough.

The play had 21 cast playing over 50 roles, and focuses on Vernon whose best friends kills 16 bullies at his school, and them himself. The media turn Vernon into a scapegoat, and he flees to escape a possible death penalty as an accomplice.

Most of my issues are with the plot itself (taken from the book), rather than the production. In fact some of the youthful cast from the Long Cloud Youth Theatre did an excellent job in playing their characters, and I would happily see more of their productions in future.

The play was billed as a biting satire of the America we love to hate. Now I love satire – Le Sud was an excellent example of satire at its best. But I thought this got closer to caricature than satire.

The trouble is almost all the characters were “ugly” Americans, and you (or me anyway) need some characters who are likeable.

I also found the play too long, with a convuluted story. The interval didn’t come until 90 minutes into it, and I had to check the programme to work out if this was the end or not. Upon finding we were only half way through I slipped out – the play just had not gained my interest enough, plus I was at risk of being towed if not out by 10 pm (I must check production times in advance in future).

Possibly not by coincidence, I find that Wikipedia says about the book:

Out of 4,000 Britons polled, 35% of those who started reading this book did not finish it.

I seem to be one of the 35%. As I said there was some very talented and funny acting achieved by the cast, and I did enjoy much of it. Possibly it is my own sensitivity to perceived anti-americanism that meant it didn’t resonate with me, and others could well rave about it. I understand an an intellectual level it was in fact trying to combat anti-americanism, but somehow it just didn’t work for me. Maybe if I had seen the second half, it would have.

However for a very different take, John Smyth at Theatre Review gives it high praise:

It’s a long but well-paced production, full of sound, fury and dark comedy that finally delivers the goods, not least with a well-crafted twist that ensures we don’t leave the theatre bereft of hope. While Vernon God Little has been validly described as the new generation’s Catcher in the Rye, its broad satirical theatricality also recalls Dario Fo.

I’d be interested in feedback from others as to how they found it.Or have you read the book and what did you think of it?

Thanks as always to Downstage for the review tickets.

Not once, but twice, on Thursday I had people come up to thinking I was Whale Oil. One asked me how my father, John S, was going and the other congratulated me on my campaign against name suppression laws.

The only consolation is that Whale will probably be as upset that people confuse the two of us, as I am!

A mate had to suddenly head off to Palmie North for a few hours yesterday and as his wife was working, I got a call to see if I could look after Master Ten and Miss Six.

Normally looking after demon spawn is not high on my list of things to do on a Friday and I was resigned to several hours of losing at pick up sticks. However the kids asked if they could go to the beach, and as my instructions said nothing about avoiding drowning, off we went.

Wellington is not actually renowned for great beaches, but have to say Oriental Bay was great.  The kids swam, played on the playground and built sandcastles, while I made conversations with the many Mums there, pretending they were mine.

The best thing of them not being your own kids are that when they say “Can we have ice creams” you don’t have to pause to say yes. And then “Can we have a double scoop” the answer is still yes and “Can we have a triple scoop” also gets a yes. After all I don’t have to look after them when the sugar high hits

At around 6 pm last night I got offered a free ticket to the AC/DC concert. I paused to consider my options. Either I could be responsible and finish the report I was working on, and also write my weekly NBR column (due in  by 7 am Friday) or I could go to the concert.

I pause and convince myself that I can get home by midnight and write my column then, and dive into my bedroom to hunt out a black t-shirt!

Never has Thorndon had so many bogans pass through it! I was not surprised to see Paula Bennett entering the grounds!

The UNITE union was outside trying to get people to sign their petition for the minimum wage to go to $15 an hour. One of them recognised me and asked me to sign. My response was that they should tell Matt McCarten to stop campaigning for measures that will destroy his own members jobs!

The crowd warms up to Shihad.

And then the main event! They rocked even though Angus Young stripping off reminded me a bit of a scene from the Love Actually movie

A concert goer who has found a cheap bed for the night!

We left around midnight. Of course the sensible thing at this stage would have been to head home and write my column. But when people say that magic word – Hummingbird – I can never resist. So down to Courtney Place we went.

I finally got home at 2 am. Set my alarm clock for 4 am, and luckily did not sleep through it. Two hours later at 6 am, I file my NBR column with an hour to spare!

Have had a great three days in the Mount. Swimming, bbqs, meeting a couple of the local cougars, reading and just generally relaxing. I find I can relax far better when I am away from home!

This morning I went out for what I was told would be a walk around the Mount. It turned into a walk up the Mount. We took the difficult steeper route (as locals say it is quicker) and I have to say was not the most pleasant of ascensions, but the view from the top is well worth it – a must do if you are in the Mount.

Now I didn’t take a camera up with me, so this photo is courtesy of Virtual Oceania, but it is the view you get. Hardly a cloud in the sky.

I’m in Mt Maunganui for the weekend, and my phone/Blackberry is is Wellington (long story) so don’t call or text me if you want a response -e-mail is the only thing I’ll see.

I grew up in Island Bay. Katie Chapman at the Dom Post profiles the suburb:

The sun beats down on Island Bay, the water lapping gently on the shore as fishing boats bob in the harbour.

The water is central to Island Bay life, says local fixture Carlo Muollo, 68.

He should know. His family has been fishing the local waters since 1902, and sitting in the kitchen of the house he’s lived in for the past 44 years, he rattles off tales of family fishing life.

Everyone knows the Muollos – or at least some of them. I went to school with a few of them.

The suburb’s name itself is one of the more straightforward around Wellington – simply reflecting Taputeranga Island that sits in the middle of the bay, while nearby Houghton Bay is named for Robert Houghton, the first signalman at the station above Newtown. …

A group of us once spent the night on Taputeranga Island. In hindsight not that fun

In 1908, Island Bay became home to one of New Zealand’s most revered women, when the Home of Compassion for the terminally ill was founded by Mother Mary Joseph Aubert. The hospital remained open until 2002.

I know the Home of Compassion well. My father worked there (not exclusively) for around 35 years, and since I was a infant we would go up there for Christmas Day. We still know several of the nuns, and have a coupel come around for Christmas every year.

The spire of St Francis de Sales Church was built to resemble the prow of a ship, in acknowledgement of the history of Island Bay as a safe harbour for fishermen and their families.

Heh I’ve climbed the spire and rung the bell. It is very loud when you are up inside it!

Erskine College was called The Convent of the Sacred Heart until the late 1960s when it was renamed in honour of former Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart, Mother Janet Erskine Stuart. The school closed in 1985 and today the building is privately owned.

I twice got chased off the property or Erskine late at night, when I was ahem visiting a friend

This week and next I’m at a remote beach which has very poor Internet connection. I’m basically logging in just twice a day for around half an hour each time – usually once to read the news, and once to do some posts.

Do not expect me to be reading or responding to comments during this time – it is just too hard. If you really have to, you can e-mail me, but to be blunt I’d rather you don’t unless it is urgent, until the 18th.

Well New Years came, and luckily the weather forecast was incorrect – it was a lovely warm day, so he decision to start around 4 pm with a bbq was a goodie.

Now first we had to make up the three punches:

Drivers’ Punch

This is a variation of the cocktail Falling Water, now named Dripping Tap!

A cocktail shaker with 1/2 a cut lime and a few mint leaves per glass, 1/2 fill the vessel with ice, add a long slice of cucumber, top up with Chi.

These did indeed prove a hit with the drivers, and a fair few non drivers also. Very cool and refreshing.

Pedesterians’ Punch

This is a variation of the popular Rose Bud cocktail.

Pour into the bowl 3 parts vodka, 1 part strained passion fruit pulp, 1 part fresh orange juice, stir until well mixed, add 4 parts cranberry juice and 4 parts pineapple juice and mix. Serve in a tall glass filled with ice and garnish with lime wedges.

I love cranberry juice so found this punch very drinkable. Was brilliant for a hot sunny day.

Passengers’ Punch

A slightly doctored Lynchberg Lemonade.

Pour into the bowl3 parts Jack Daniels, 2 parts freshly squeezed orange juice and 2 parts lemon juice, mix and top up with ice and lemonade, and and add lime wedges to garnish.

Now this one was definitely only for those not driving, and for lemon fans – with lemonade, lemon and lime all together.

Now no party is complete with drink alone, and when the co-organiser is a chef, there are few complaints about the food.

The early arrivals got whitebait sandwiches. Yum, yum, yum. A certain Mr Browne demolished around a third of them – I swear he has a West Coast soul in a Levin body

The whitebait may have gone early, but few people complained about having to cope with oysters and salmon only

The irony is that Chef Aimee doesn’t like seafood herself – but she loves cooking it. No wonder Chris married her.

As it got darker, we moved inside.

And to complement the punches, we had the full range of beer available. Mac’s Light 1% which actually was damn pleasant. Rarely go wrong with Macs. Speights provided the main 4% beer, and we had a few select bottles of Bavaria 8.6% and Crest 10% beer. I’ve had a couple of elephant beers in the past, but had ot had a Crest before. You certainly don’t want to spend your night on them, but they were good to try.

All in all it was a fun night. As the night before was New Years Eve we started early figuring people wouldn’t want to have too long a night, but it still went on for around seven hours, and was a damn nice way to start off the new decade.

Even though the party was part of a competition, I’m keen to do a repeat at some stage as I liked the idea of different punches for different people – gave people something to talk about, but also made sure everyone could work out their own safe drinking level.

Incidentally I’m now off to a beach for a few days (from tomorrow), so depending on wireless connectivity, might be light blogging for a while. But there may be the odd guest blogger also.

A wee while ago I was approached by Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd and asked if I would like to host a “responsible drinking” or “drink savvy” party, and blog about it.

This sounded a fun challenge, even without the chance to win a trip for two to Aussie thrown in. Any excuse for a party, as they say.

Now a drink savvy party is a bit more of a challenge than a normal party. Anyone can arrange a normal party – just just text a dozen mates and say BYO

So a planning committee of myself, Chris and Amie was convened. We decided to hold it at Chris and Amie’s as they have a sheltered back yard, ideal for parties.

The first decision was the date. Initially I was thinking New Years Eve, but figured that it is more fun on NYE to just head into town for the big parties. So we decided to have the party on New Years Day itself – a sort of recovery from the night before party.

Figured after NYE, people wouldn’t want to be up too late, so we have gone for a start time of 4 pm – enjoy some afternoon sun.

Then came the big challenge. As readers will know I’m not greatly into nanny state restrictions around alcohol sales etc, and am a free market sort of person.

So that got me thinking – free markets work best with perfect information. So the drinks for the party would be clearly arranged to allow party goers to make the best decisions for themselves, rather than nanny state.

We decided to put together three mixtures of punch:

1. A non-alcoholic punch, knowns as the drivers’ punch. Very yummy but alcohol free, so drivers of all ages are safe to drive
2. A punch with a bit of a kick, known as the passengers’ punch. This would be ideal for those who just have to get into and out of a car to get home. Allows them to have fun, without worry.
3. The third punch would be an in-between punch – alcoholic, but not too strong. I wanted to call this the cyclists’ punch , but in the end we settled for calling it the pedestrians’ punch. If you are walking home, you want to be happy, but not too happy.

Following this theme, we also went for three types of beer:

1. 1% low alcohol beer
2. Normal 4% beer
3. A few selected bottles of Bavarian beer – details in a later post

So I got dispatched to the supermarket for the party purchases. The list:

• 2 kg of oranges
• 2 kg of lemons
• 1 kg of limes
• 1 bag of mint
• 1 cucumber
• 2-3 large bottles of Chi
• 2 bottles of Schweppes Classic Dry Lemonade
• 1 vodka
• 1 Jack Daniels
• 1 large bottle of Ocean Spray cranberry juice
• 1 large bottle of pineapple juice
• 300-400 grams of passion fruit pulp
• Assorted Beer
• Diet Coke
• Apple Juice
• Lots and lots of cheerios
• Three big bag of chicken drumsticks

Took me a while to find the mint (I mean seriously!) and got the purchases back to the venue:

Hopefully the weather will be as good tomorrow as it was today.  We then discovered a threat to the party:

Chicken drumsticks and CoCo the dog make a bad combination. We managed to rescue the chicken in time, and gave her some cheerios instead.

Tomorrow will be the making of the three punches, and then the party itself.

Headed up to Paraparaumu Beach during the week to catch up with friends who have a holiday home there. I went to university with Michael and we catch up regularly for movies and drinks. I hadn’t seen his younger sister Elaine for around 20 years, so it was a bonus to catch up with her also.

Not sure I made the best impression on her kids though as she introduces me to her daughter who is 13, and I proclaimed “Fuck I feel old”. When I first met Elaine she was at school herself, so suddenly realising she has a daughter who is only a couple of years younger than Elaine was when I met her, really makes you realise how much time has gone by.

The weather wasn’t great but their dog still enjoys chasing sticks into the ocean. It really is nice having the beach five metres away from the house.

It got me thinking about where my ideal holiday home would be, if my finances get to the stage where I could afford one. I have a mental shortlist along these lines:

1. Marlborough Sounds. I’d love a place down there, preferably as remote as possible so we have no road access and no neighbours. It would mean I need enough money to buy a boat and a house there, and sadly that is more a pipe dream for now. Ongoing costs of a boat also a factor.
2. Kapiti Coast. My family had a small batch at Waikanae and then a farmlet (15 acres) at Reikorangi so I know Kapiti very well. It is logistically the easiest option as just 45 minutes from Wellington. The beach is nice, and the prices not too unreasonable. The downside is it isn’t really remote enough.
3. Great Barrier Island. I absolutely live the Barrier, and if I lived in Auckland that would be where I want my holiday home. I’d probably spend half the year there if I could. The downside is I do not live in Auckland, flights over there cost quite a bit if regular, and pretty expensive to buy. I’d be more tempted to build something custom.
4. Wairarapa. I don’t mean Greytown or Martinborough but rural Wairarapa. Three friends of mine have places north of Masterton, and they are wonderful remote. No neighbours, superb bush and views and the prices are actually quite affordable. The downside is having to drive there and back regularly, and the distance to the beach.

Not sure how I will ever decide. If there is ever a Mrs Farrar, I guess she’ll decide for me

At the weekend, headed up to Busted Blonde’s rural retreat in Wairarapa. Was a very pleasant day with lobster and sausages and some nice lamb chops which up until around three hours before dinner was prancing around the paddock. Always a bit weird to eat something that you have seen alive just before dinner!

Busted had her parents and son, with her and her Aussie Rock. Lots of fun conversation. One hilarious part was when these was a discussion of her son’s exes, and I suggested maybe one could discuss Busted’s exes instead. Her son piped up that he had a poor attention span so didn’t think he could pay attention to the entire list. Busted’s yells of protest about not saying mean things about her in front of her mum didn’t have much effect – I even got a reference to the Green Parrot in there.

Anyway the highlight came after dinner, where her Aussie Rock proved he was as good with his hands as he is with his …. mind. He brought out his miniature plane which he had made.

I had wondered what the strip of lawn was for in the middle of the paddock. Now I knew – a runway. And along it goes.

And we have takeoff. The plane had great lift – not quite a harrier, but could climb quite dramatically when needed.

The plane could go up hundreds of metres easily. It was damn fast also – I’d say it could give a car a good run for its money. I’m not sure what the range is, but it looked to me that it could get up to a km or so away without difficulty.

And it successfully lands again.

I really enjoyed the drive to and from the Wairarapa. The traffic was light and got over the Rimutakas in under 20 minutes. There are so many great rural roads out there, that at some stage I want to spend a few days there just exploring the more remote areas.

IrishBill blogs at The Standard:

David Farrar is largely to blame for the Nats running Melissa Lee in Mt Albert. According to a friend of a friend David decided the demographics meant she could win and convinced the caucus his crazy idea would fly. Note to DPF: learn to count.

I am not sure what is more hilarious – that Irish Bill blogs on an allegation from a friend of a friend (of a friend of a friend ….) or the assertion that I convinced Caucus.

Sadly Caucus don’t invite me to their meetings. It is possible that I did attend Caucus one day, and they surgically removed the memory of it from my brain. Maybe that is what he heard from a friend of a friend.

One could also quibble and point out Caucus doesn’t select the candidate. But hey lets keep facts away from this.

Anyway now that The Standard have acknowledged my power of control over Caucus (and by implication the entire Government of New Zealand), may I suggest some sensible strategies for those wishing to buy influence:

1. Ask me to review new luxury hotels in Queenstown for you
2. Insist I spend several weeks on a cruise ship in the South Pacific, getting the feel of it
3. Place me on the mandatory invite list for all games at the Stadium (esp the Sevens)
4. Take me out to dinner at Logan Brown
5. Propose funding of Kiwiblog interns to assist me

Now some corporates out there may feel this is not a good return on investment. But remember The Standard’s sources are impeccable – it comes from a friend of a friend!

Saw Avatar last night. The best description I can give of it, is that the experience was similar to when I saw Star Wars for the first time.

The film’s visual impact is top class. That by itself is reason to see it.

The plot is a wee bit two-dimensional. Gaia loving tall smurfs battle evil mining company to save the planet. Now that is a wee bit harsh as a summary, but in the end the action and visuals make up for the plot deficiencies.

Was going to just be a quiet dinner with Auckland Girl in Karori. A visiting mutual Auckland friend tried to head up at 11pm to join us but her Iraqi taxi driver did not know where Karori was, let alone the street we were on. And her cellphone died so she spent 55 minutes in a taxi looking for us before returning back to town.

We then decided after that effort we had to head down to Courtney Place to her (temporary) place. The party there turned serious with the introduction of Mexicans (don’t ask if you don’t know) and I got home around 4.30 a.m. A very funny night.

Anyway we have a caption contest from the party, as one person managed to fall asleep next to the blaring stereo!

The end of last week turned out to be one that, as someone on my Facebook page commented, Sir Geoffrey Palmer would disapprove of.

Wednesday night started at 9 pm and ended at 3 am. The Nat’s caucus party on Thursday started at 5 pm and again the night ended around 3 am and on Friday a boozy lunch started at 1 pm and I finished drinking around 9 pm.

I guess this makes me an official heavy drinker – like Karl du Fresne. And soon we will hear what proposals are going to Government to try and “fix” us.

Anyway back to the Caucus Party – it was a very fun night. The location of Premier House made it a very well behaved night also, so not a lot of extra pages for the book. It was my first time inside Premier House in literally a decade. I did enjoy asking a staffer if they had a tapu lifting ceremony performed there earlier in the year

Everyone was in a pretty good mood, and the election seemed a long time ago. The food was superb, but there was a slight under-estimation of the number of people who would still be there at 11 pm, when the food stopped. So someone did a whip around for pizzas, and I got to make the call to Dominos to deliver a dozen pizzas to Premier House.

What I found disturbing was when I went down to the front gate to tell the Police about the order, and the officer there greets me with “Oh you’re the guy who ordered the pizzas”. As I had ordered them just a few minutes ago from my cellphone, this reinforced my paranoia that I am being monitored

At some stage after midnight, a few of us went down to Courtney Place. By coincidence ran into several Labour MPs at Hummingbird, and enjoyed some drinks and conversation with them. I tried hassling one progressive Labour MP about the Easter trading vote, asking him if he didn’t feel dirty that they only won, because God squaders voted with them. The response was when you win, you only feel bloody glad that you have won. Damn it- he is right.

Eventually the Nats threatened violence against me if I remained with the Labour MPs, instead of the National ones so drifted across, and finished up around 3 am. It goes without saying I am firmly against the proposal to have bars close at 1 am!

Friday lunch was at the new Cafe Ortega on Majoribanks Street. The food was simply superb. Oysters as a starter, followed by a superb squid and chorizo sausage mixture. And my boneless chicken breast on pappardelle pasta was the envy of many. Highly recommended.

Busted Blonde blogs the lunch in more detail.

I was planning to get home around 8.30 pm last night, after a talk to a group of small business owners. I made the mistake of popping into Backbenches on the way home, which then led to Hummingbird in town.

End result is got to sleep around 3 am. I blame the MAF staff. Feeling decidedly slow today.