Kia Ora, no post last week.  I was actually waiting to see how my Dragons would go as I was starting to feel pretty confident about my magical inspirational tweet powers.  But Hubris bit my ass big time.  The Dragons got beaten by the Doggies and I felt just a bit too sad to put down any words.  I fear I may be coming a St George Tragic.  It is a known condition and is referred to on the excellent Ladies Who League blog.

http://www.ladieswholeague.com/index.php/EasyBlog/giant-st-george-tragic.html

One of the parts I particularly enjoyed in this post was Mary writing about making her banners.  A few years ago, Mum went over to Sydney to stay with Sister Julie when the Warriors were in the Semis, unfortunately I don’t remember all the details.  Sister Julie does vividly.  (FYI Sister Julie is not a Nun – although she does rock a habit, she is my sister, ok glad we sorted that out)

Mum invested a lot of time and effort in making the perfect banner.  Her first attempt got a bit of flack from opposition fans (she used the back of wallpaper – not good enough) so the following week she went all out.  Nek Minnit her, Cousin Richard Warrioring it up and her banner were getting picked up by the cameras.  Good times.

Anyway onwards and upwards, the Dragons have a bye this week.  They meet the Roosters next week.  Who hopefully will be beaten tonight by the Warriors.  The poor Warriors of course had to fly to Perth last week to get a hiding from the Bunnies.  All the best for tonight guys.  (I think I will send you a tweet, they work sometimes)

Many great things to focus on this week however.  For starters today is International Gin Day!!!!  I am so glad this lovely clear spirit gets a day all to itself.  As you may or may not know Natty Bugle is a bit partial to the occasional (ahem) G&T.  And not that I need a reason but I have found on the excellent Gin Monkey site 52 reasons to love gin and who am I to argue with that?  Number 7, who knew?

http://www.ginmonkey.co.uk/information/52-reasons-i-love-gin/

Coincidentally last night Brett and I attended the Property Council of New Zealand Property Industry Awards.  Yes it was just as exciting as the name would suggest.  But there were some highlights.

• Rogue Society Gin had this awesome caravan and were serving gin cocktails.  Hooray.  It is probably just as well, I did not find this until the end of the evening.  But a very cute innovation, I think it would look fabulous at the Lodge

  

• Bic Runga sang 3 songs, her voice is so lovely.  I had never seen her perform live before, but she was great.  And it wasn’t like she had a particularly easy crowd.  Put it this way if a killer virus hit the Vector Arena the well liquored white middle aged man population of NZ would taken a major hit
• I got to try and stalk Mike McRoberts for a Silver Fox Selfie.  Unfortunately having survived the major world trouble spots as a journalist he knew enough evasive tactics to keep out of my way
• Guy Williams entertained us as well and he was very funny, but quite nervous.  I saw his hands shaking.  I am pretty sure it wasn’t because he was so overwhelmed at getting to talk to Nick Smith
• And finally I had a good time because it was a chance to get glammed up, eat and drink and spend a night out with my lovely husband.  So I can put up with a few tedious speeches for that.  And trust there was a bit of tedious going on

But a woman can’t live on gin alone.  On Wednesday night we went to the Metro Top 100 Wines tasting at Glengarrys.  This is a great way to try some different varieties or wines that you are too mean to buy and to talk to some of the wine makers and distributors.  I don’t know what it is (maybe I just had my wine glow on) but people in the New Zealand wine industry really do seem to be a nice friendly, genuine bunch.  And I would like to make it very clear that the reason I tried and enjoyed the Babich Irongate Chardonnay, had nothing to do with the fact the young man serving the wine had that lovely dark Dally look going on, and everything to do with I wanted to try a good Chardonnay.

I was also impressed with the

• Framingham Gewurtztraminer (the Framingham crew were great and very generous with their servings – I may have spent a bit of time there, just to be friendly of course)
• Tyrrell’s Stevens Semillon
• Rutherglen Muscat
• Leveret IQ Brut – this is a really good yeasty bubbles and a great price
• Did I mention the Babich stand?

Another fun thing (for me) at the wine tasting was being able to meet Simon Wilson Metro editor.  Unlike Mike McRoberts he did not have enough field experience to escape me, so he was forced to smile and nod while I told him how much I appreciate and enjoy his work.  But I do regret not telling him how much I love his 10 Rules of Writing – because love them I do.  I don’t always do well with rules, but I really do find these inspirational.

http://www.metromag.co.nz/editors-blog/the-10-rules-of-write-club/

I didn’t actually take any photos at the tasting.  Sometimes I do try to be in the moment as opposed to recording it – believe it or not.  However on my run that morning, I did get a nice snap of a sunrise at Coyle Park.  If you stop to take a photo during a run it doesn’t count as resting #nattyrules

It hasn’t all been alcohol and stalking men this week.  I did manage to discover 3 new apps.  That’s right, I might be nearly 50 but I am all down with this technology shit (we won’t mention the fact I still can’t get the tv to work without written instructions)

Clever Brett found the first one.  We have now joined the Spotify whanau.  I don’t know about you gentle readers but Mr Apple used to get a few of our hard earned dollars when we would purchase songs.  Particularly on weekends after a few wines, when you just had to buy that album then and there.  But now for $12 a month we can just go crazy musically, and needless to say yes we do.  Love it.

My second app is called Flossie.com Concierge.  Made by a New Zealand team.  It is basically an app that lets you search for local beauty services, their availability and make a booking all from your smart phone.  Very quick and easy.  Not something I will use very often, but ideal if you find out you are going to a very interesting Property Awards Dinner and you want/need some beautifying at the last minute.

https://www.flossie.com/

My final app of the week is Uber.  I had obviously heard of it, but I was a bit dubious about the safety and reliability of online booking of private transport.  But after last night I am hooked.  It was a wet and cold Friday night in Auckland, and we couldn’t book a taxi.  In 10 minutes however, I was able to download the app and have us being driven in a nice Prius with a lovely driver called Michel.  And leaving Vector super easy and quick to find someone to take us home at a great rate.

The main reason I mention these apps is because I find it a bit freaky and clever and amazing (all at the same time) that you can see technology changing models of operating and behaviour so very quickly.  Lord knows what will be happening in 5-10 years time.  I am however pretty confident I still won’t know how to turn the tv on.

Finally I do want to make a shout out to some people whose work I appreciate this week.  Duncan Garner thank you for bringing attention to the plight of people in inadequate state housing.  Keep that up, and you might get a Natty stalking.  And this guy – White Man Behind a Desk.  Sometimes I despair, thinking young people have given up on politics (Young Nats don’t count ok)  But this guy is very funny and clever, and the Bollinger twins that produce these clips went to school with Lauren.  Kia Kaha Western Springs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1RL1Y4FFKw