I was going to try and put together a lengthy post as a document of Dr Nick Smith MP for Nelson, and the saga of his battle with the Family Court.

After looking through the weekend news and the commentary from all the pundits it seems to be pretty much a waste of time. All that needs to be said has gone. If I could vote for the man, I probably would.

If I could be bothered - which at the moment is unlikely.

We were looking to go north to mow the lawn this weekend. Then Shirley took a fall on Tuesday evening while assisting at the International Hockey tournament down at Lloyd Elsmore Park. That shook her fairly badly, only bumps and bruises and a couple of stitches in the nog but some of the bruises are still coming out.

So, no trip north. A wise decision seeing that we spent a (comparatively) short while in the car this afternoon and she was quite stiff after.

What to talk about? The weather? The past two weeks have been fantastic. The next week is looking good. In between? Saturday - chore day perfect. Sunday - flying day someone left the door open. Souwesters at 30 up to 50 (knots, not kph). Sat on the beachfront (in the car) this afternoon for a bit watching the sailboarders on the estuary at Bucklands.

Welcome to Jasper Michael Renner Allen.

As always fate has to toss a down against the up. A 'Net acquiantance whom I know as "Retusaf" has been taken very poorly (cause unknown but probably age related) suddenly with a most serious prognosis. So, I have (his wife's e-mail has done the rounds very quickly) sent my wishes to him, his wife and family.