Have been treated to a delicious pre-birthday meal with our lovely friends, including this fabulous cake with actual miniature liquers on top!

Also got to experience the new Oculus device which was very impressive.

Hope tomorrow is as much fun!

We have finally finished our latest DIY project to add some life to the bathroom, replacing the original pea green with a darker Goblin green, plus printing off some of my nature-themed photos and getting them framed.

After getting a ridiculous quote for a new blind Wor Lass bought some remnant fabric and recovered the existing blind at a total cost of $14.

The big story of the day in NZ was the ousting of opposition leader Judith Collins.

It also happened to be the day we had an end of project drinks at Backbenchers pub up the road from work and next to Parliament, featuring large puppets of famous politicians including one of Judith just next to our table.

Not two minutes after I took this photo the lady herself walked into the pub, settling at a table 10 feet away from us (and her puppet) with her team.

Naturally this being NZ everyone played it cool and totally ignored them as they drank (surprisingly upbeat and relaxed given the day’s events I thought).

You know you’re a regular at your takeaway when they recognise you with a mask on and have written down your name and what you’re going to order before you say anything.

(blog title being a Cheers reference for anyone that didn’t get it)

If there’s one little pleasure to be extracted from insomnia it’s that point, usually around 2am, where you give up the tossing and turning and trying to settle and think “bollocks to this, I’m getting a drink and a snack”

Then you sneak into the kitchen, get momentarily blinded by the light of the fridge before trying to silently retrieve a glass and pour some milk, then retreat to the bedroom with a handful of biscuits or chocolate like Billy Bunter raiding the tuck shop (a reference for the younger readers there).

Meh, looks like another night of crumbs and podcasts.

Reached a scarily low battery level of 7 kms of charge left on the Leaf this morning. Thought I might be trailing extension cables down the hill to charge it up for the last half a kilometer.