Satire - Don's Diary
For this week's Don's Diary, click here.
April 4 4.30pm
Pleasant lunch at Micky The Spic's with Ian Wishart, a well-turned-out but strangely intense young man. Was prepared for an interview but he seemed happy just to chat. My hearing is getting worse and particularly in noisy restaurants have trouble separating out voices from background noise. Turned out he has same problem and had his hearing aid out on the table. Seemed keen to ascertain my views on frontbums (whatever they are!) and haulage costs. Said I was sick and tired of them and felt we had all paid our dues.
April 5 8.00am
Good coverage in Dom-Post and Herald of my campaign to reclaim the beaches. Issued press releases explaining policy. No-one seems to have noticed wording identical to government hand-out, due to photocopier mix-up in Richard's office.
April 8 8.30am
Useful email from Helen. "At the request of the Prime Minister, the New Zealand Flag is to be flown at half-mast on all Government and public buildings today to mark the death and funeral of His Holiness Pope John Paul II. This instruction applies to all government departments and government buildings with flag poles.
The flag is half-masted by first raising it to the top of the mast and then immediately lowering it slowly to the half-mast position. The half-mast position will depend on the size of the flag and the length of the flagpole. As a guide, the flag should be more than its own depth from the top of the flagpole. At the end of the day, the flag should be raised again to the top of the flagpole before being fully lowered."
April 8 6.30pm
Finally got our flag to exactly halfmast (although nowhere near more than its own depth from the top of the flagpole) just in time to raise it to the top of the flagpole before lowering it at the end of the day. Frankly, could have done without Gerry's help on this one.