I’m not really a follower of Robbie Williams — who tomorrow night will be rocking Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium — and would struggle to name more than a few of his songs. But I have spent about 10 hours in his close company and really enjoyed the experience.
Let me tell you more. I’ll leave it up to you whether you want to believe it or not — plenty haven’t, even with the rather dodgy photographic evidence included here.
Not being a fan, I became anxious I’d end up face-to-face with him and have to stammer some conversation that didn’t show my ignorance of his career. And, naturally, that happened, up the front of the cabin. I had on my very loud paisley shirt and he noticed and smiled and nodded in a "hmmm — very nice shirt" kind of way. "Cheers" I muttered semi-audibly and awkwardly (thank goodness for the engine noise), and scuttled back to the safety of my seat.
At least I think that’s what happened. It’s hard to say as I was fairly flummoxed and out of my depth in the business-class environment. I remember thinking nobody would believe me, so snapped a quick shot of Robbie taking his bag out of the overhead locker once we’d landed at Heathrow.
It’s quite a coincidence that happened exactly two years before tomorrow’s Dunedin concert (not taking into account the time difference). I’m pleased I’ve got the photo. And really pleased I’ve still got the shirt.
Anyone out there have any similar stories? Please email me your brush-with-fame moments.
You remember I said Wendy Soper’s 3.8m sunflower would take some beating? Well, sorry Wendy, look at this one. Steve Holden, of Waiwera South, measured his tallest plant at 4.2m on Wednesday evening, while Jack and Jock kept watch. ‘‘An amazing growing season this year,’’ he says. Photo: Paul Gorman
Walking to work
Still not feeling brilliant today but I think all the vitamins and sleep mean I’m on the right side of this cold.
I had an interesting walk down the hill to work. Talked to a lovely lady about the beautiful fuchsias which dangle over her fence on Stuart St — my kids used to squeeze the very tempting buds and call them "pop bombs" (sorry, more gardening in the column). Then I got cross a little further down the road where someone has left one of those old mock-log electric fireplaces out on the footpath, presumably for some mug to take away. Why can’t people get rid of their own rubbish and not clutter up the pavement?The Octagon was buzzing with cruise-ship passengers. One North American gentleman was using a selfie-stick but pointing it away from him, along lower Stuart St. "See that pretty little building down there," his loud commentary went. "They call that ‘the railway station’." He made it sound as if "railway station" was some quaint, local term for it. And I couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed that if he walked down the street, he’d soon find it’s not little but actually pretty damn big. Sigh.
The last on lilies
Jim Douglas writes to confirm we have the name of Anne Moir’s pongy plant correct.
He says earlier suggestions that the flower may be Amorphophallus konjac are incorrect, based on the photo.
"I undertook production research on konjac for several years and knew it wasn’t that so I referred your photo to Dr Eric Walton in Auckland for a definitive answer.
"The smelly flower was identified by him (from your photo) as Dracunculus vulgaris from the eastern Mediterranean, known as the dragon arum and also black arum or voodoo lily."
Good we’ve got that sorted.
Now I get it
Phyll Esplin seems to have got to the bottom of the Meridian Energy outage mystery.
"Last year I received a similar email saying the power would be off between 9.15am and 9.25am, and another time later in the day, sometime after 4pm.
"What really happened was the power went out about 9.20am and returned at 4.55pm. It was the middle of winter and I lit the fire for the first time in over 10 years.
"So my understanding of the notices is that the early time slot is when the power will go off and the later time when it will return. It’s just poor communication."
Thanks Phyll, I hadn’t thought of it like that. Perhaps Meridian needs to make it all a little clearer to its customers in future?