In the cold light of the next day, it's perhaps worth a recap of yesterdays events.

There is a patch of carpet in my house, just to the right of coffee table which is now a little more worn. That was my spot. That's where I stood. It's right in front of the corner of our L shaped couch, which is my favourite spot to sit. However, between 4:30 and 7pm yesterday, the All Black forward pack couldn't have pushed me into the seat. If I stand there, we do ok.

It's amazing the superstitious bullshit that comes into one's head during a tense sporting match. Stand in the same spot, don't log off work, don't turn off the coverage, don't drink any water, don't change ANYTHING. We lost both wickets yesterday as I checked the score & Taylor was dropped when my family got home and they sat on the couch. I swear to god, if I'd sat down, Bumrah would have held the catch. Even as of this morning, I can't say I don't truly believe that.

I woke up yesterday with that nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. Timmy's couple of wickets the night before giving us a sniff. I'm always much better watching us bowl, than bat, but I couldn't do it yesterday. Went out for a 30 min bike ride at 10, which lasted nigh on 2 hours trying to keep my head off the cricket (sorry boss, not an overly effective day for me yesterday). By the time I got back, India were 5 down I still thought we had a sniff .... so I turned it on, put the laptop in front of me & settled in. And they walked off for lunch. Shit. 45 mins later, I settled in again, meeting coming up at 2pm, what could we do in that hour ... not much for a while. Head accepting the draw. BOOM, Wagner! Back in it. 2pm comes and goes, sit down. A few mins in, "so thats setup, Matt could you please ....FUCKING YESS!!!!!!" ... Oops. Supposed to be working. Trent in the wickets! Time for the inevitable slog from the tail enders. Come on guys, these runs are gold to India .... c'mon .....Timmy! Again, Timmy!

Breather. Shit. I promised the wife we'd go and get some clothes for her sisters 50th this weekend. I don't think I can watch it anyway. Resting heart rate is about 256 as it is. Off we go. 45 mins odd later. Gotta check. 19 without. Tea. Phew, negotiated that first session. At the picture framers now picking up the gift. "What do you think of it hon", she says "sorry, what, just checking the sco...FUCKKKKKKKKKK". Latham's out. Here we go. Phone away, pay attention. Drive home ... unpack car. TV on ... 44/1 .. awesome, under 100 to go. Big appeal and .... shit. Conway. Literally first ball of turning the TV on. What do I do?? Hit up the fern, and offer my predicament. Whilst doing this, an over passes with no drama. It's obvious now isn't it. Leave the TV on & we'll be fine. Hang on ... I've been watching the cricket from this spot, and then checking work / TSF in the over breaks. OK, thats what we do from here on in. Commentator is going on and on about run rates / dot balls. And it's working an absolute treat on me. Nervous shit needed. Can't do that, could cause a wicket. So stick with the plan. Getting fidgety. Drinks. What does that mean? Can I have a drink? Can I sit down? Not sure. Decide to change nothing. Wife leaves to get the kids. And suddenly the runs are flowing. Half way there. What the fuck is a mallet on the pitch for??? What does this mean? Can I drink some water now and have it offset by the mallet? Don't come back wife/kids, we are doing great. Oh, you're back. "Edged and ..... dropped". Jesus Christ. Do I need to kick the family out?? Not sure. Dot balls again. Dot ball commentator is back. Need a shit again ..... and we're scoring again. Under 50 to get. Surely our tail can get this now? Under 40 ... Under 30 .... ... Kane Dropped! It's in the stars, it's happening, nothing can stop us. 50 for Kane! only 7 or 8 to go. We're going to win! Can I have a drink now ... NO!!!!! Ross on strike, it's in the air ... it's 4! IT's over! We've won!! We've won!! We've won!!!

There is enough praise for the team above that there is little I can add honestly. It's a colossal moment in time for NZ cricket & it's so fitting that Ross & Kane had the unbroken partnership at the end. What a team. Perfect balance of youth, new players, legends, and team men. Although arguably they are all legends now.

Jamieson was officially MOTM and this arguably should be shared with Kane. Anchor in both of our innings. However, for me, its the players in the moments which really count, those who step up when the heat is on who should get this accolade. Think Carters drop goal / penalty in 2015 RWC, think Wilkinson for England in 03. Think Stokes for England. It's can be only person for me in this match. 3 times in the one test he had those moments. The value of his 30 runs in the the first innings cannot be underestimated. No lead, no psychological edge. India innings 2, both openers out lbw. No wickets, India without loss going into the last day with a handy lead. Different gravy. Remember I mentioned above India into he tail slog. Who cleaned up the last 2? Extra 20-30 runs on 4/5 less overs. Different gravy.

MajorRage MOTM of the WTC Final - Tim Southee.

What a day.

I was top tier in the temporary seats for 2011 final.

When Cruden got injured and tehre was a delay, i nipped down to get some beers ... in my haste to get back, I tripped over entering the stand (beers were ok though), and as I stood up and continued walking in, the cop/security guard standing there, put his hand out to stop me. I was expecting all sorts of shit, and questions as they were being pretty hard on drunken behaviour. Started panicking about kikicked out etc. Instead he slowly turned his head, looked me dead in the eye and said

"Before you go back to your seat, you need to know that Stephen Donald is now on the field"

SA Rugby In Shock After TMO Correctly Rules In Favour Of The Away Team

Shockwaves went through SA rugby today, when a TMO (television muppet official) correctly ruled against the home SA team for the first time ever in a televised game. Late on in the match, with the Lions looking to close out the match it looked for all money that the Lions had scored with time almost up to put the game beyond reach. Despite the ball clearly having not been grounded, expected transmission began with the assistant referee running in to let the referee know that the ball had indeed been grounded correctly, and he'd had a clear view.

However things began to unravel shortly after, when the referee decided that it was worth another look, leaving all viewers confused. After looking at 3 angles, of which the clearest had correctly been blocked by a spectators head, the TMO then sent seismic waves through the community by correctly saying the ball hadn't been grounded. The Blues then went on to score a last minute winner, although replays clearly showed there were at least 5 potential reasons for the referee to completely fuck up and call it back.

Lions coach Johan Ackermann when asked about the incident was inconsolable and somewhat confused. "I didn't really see it and haven't had time to review it, as like all good coaches I wasn't looking at the 42 live screens in front of me all showing the replays. This is however a huge shift change for SA refereeing, and I'm wondering if there is any point in even having home advantage anymore. Fans don't turn up, and if the referees are going to police things correctly and without bias, then we may as well just play away".

Team captain Warren Whitely concurred, simply saying "it's not my job to comment on referees decisions, but if the home teaming isn't getting all the 90/10's, let alone the 50/50's, it's going to be tough from here on in"

Blues coach Tana Umaga was delighted with the result, the first time in his tenure that his team actually did anything decent. "It's great to get a win against a well coached and strong Lions team, although I don't have time to talk right now, as I've got to help Sonny Bill get a flight to Port Elizabeth - he's got an old pal or something there he wants to catch up with".

SA referees were approached for comment, but politely declined as they, quite rightly commented that like all controversial decisions their view is firmly to have their heads up their arse.

And she's finished ... What a labour of love that was. I can't drive it properly yet as it needs to go through the Caterham check, then the government check (IVA), then registered etc. All of this is expected to take around 6-8 weeks, so it should be ready right about when spring is really kicking in. Perfect timing.

I did take it for a quick spin around the block though ... and the front wing fell off! Which I guess is good, as it gives me something else to fiddle around on.

It's been an absolute labour of love, full of swearing, foul language, frustration, irritation and pure anger.

But look at her. Isn't she beautiful. I can't wait to go and hang the arse out.

All this talk of respect - seriously, fuck off.

Year and years of Richie's a cheat, New Zealanders are classless, the constant fucking moaning against everything NZ rugby, the pissing and bitching from Aussies during RWC visit, I'm totally fucking over it.

I really can't be fucked with insults & advice from Australians about respect in sporting circles.

On the whole, I've done my best over the years to provide some reason where I think we are getting ahead of ourselves / shown arrogance / demeaned the opposition. But over this weekend, there has been a clear narrative to do everything in their power for global "neutrals" to demean the fantastic achievement of 18 wins in a row and divert attention away from it. The usual shit of Ab's offside (we were, we got penalised btw), AB's favouritism from refs, and then the final nail if this shower of shitness, the global attention on Chieka's whinge being FAR FAR greater than that of the achievement of this bunch of blokes.

And people want to talk to us about respect, or lack there of.

@stargazer said in All Blacks v France Test #2:

@tim Good to know that basically nothing has changed since last weekend. Hope the media (esp those of the NH), which generally either lacks intelligence or pretends it lacks intelligence, understands it, too.

[tin foil hat]

Don't be so naive. The NH media has really ramped things up, and you want to know why? Because Gosper, Pichot and co, LISTEN TO THEM. They write unbelievably one-eyed biased bullshit, and will continuously attack attack attack at points which are not really relevant to the context of what happened in the game, to divert away from anything which could be written as positive. And, "co-incidentally" enough, it's always NZ, or if not NZ, at least the SH, which is in the bad.

It's fucking bullshit and frankly, for all that is written about NZ, rule leniency etc being a "blight in the game", it's the cancerous journo's who really are the blight on the game. Here's a short list I've compiled:

Luke Pearce, the English ref. Apparently in test one, he was "let down by his TMO peers", or "leaned by the pro AB crowd", or "succumbed to the world rugby sponsored view that the AB's play to different rules".

Paul Williams, the NZ ref for Ireland - Aus "a disgrace to the game" - this was tweeted DIRECTLY at Gosper. Wanna know why? Because he didn't give Ireland a yellow card for continual Aussie transgressions. Maybe a point, but a DISGRACE? Especially after a week of continual media hum drum about the "unfair yellow" (where the poor young outstanding english ref was let down by everybody around who wasn't english) ruining the game in NZ.

Gardner - "should have certainly taken ALB's run into account", "a red card for ALB shouldn't have been out of the question given his part in it" ... this isn't from rabid one eyed fans, this is from JOURNALISTS ... who are sending messages to Gosper!! Seriously, here's the fucking video:

ALB did JACK SHIT. His eyes were on the fucking ball too, it doesn't even look like he touched him, let alone ran from 50 yards away to directly push poor skinny Fall into Barrett to milk the red card. The world rugby media release here is COLOSSAL BULLSHIT, written purely to appease the same NH media they infuritated with their COLOSSAL BULLSHIT media release from a week earlier about Ofa.

And you want to hear the ultimate shit in the face ? During the England - Tunisia football match, Harry Kane was tackled in the penalty box, rugby style .. One Walrus wrote ... "Some of the high tackling on Harry Kane in the Tunisian box would have even got an All Black carded. Lord Harry I should say"

Not a big deal really, for the pompous alanis morrisette style irony fellow, but you know who liked it?

His BFF Brett Gosper.

[/tin foil hat]

@antipodean said in Bledisloe I:

we don't have many right wingers running around,

Try the politics forum.

@booboo said in Black Caps v India - Semi Final:

For the Ganguly fans.

Fried bum face.

https://t.co/dMqC576nlE
(

I’m a bit drunk but I have zero criticism of Smithys commentary there.

His chin, yes.

I'm not sure I'm ever going to feel well again. Shit got real in Singapore. I'm going to tell the story from the start.

When you let an almost 40 year old male with 2 young kids off the leash, in an Asian city for 48 hours, at which time, said male will attend a concert of a 90's rock icon ... I'm not sure what you are going to expect. But it happened.

Blasted down on Friday early doors, straight into a pub to watch the cricket, rugby, consume, consume and consume. At 2am, I was done, having taken about 250 selfies with people due to my red bandana, axl sunnies, and gnr singlet. I walked in in standard white man attire, polo, jeans etc, but somehow at some point, acquired some kit - I have no idea where from to this day. Little was I to know that at current figure, how much I actually did look like the singer - well, when standing on the scales anyway. Anyway, woke up Saturday on concert day with probably the worst hangover seen since the sevens a few years ago. Had crashed on the floor of a mates hotel, after my accomodation source had trap doored earlier on whilst I was busy signing off a bar tab for rining the bell at Mogambo's and subsequently buying the whole bar a shot.

So, as I raised my weary head, and casually checked my wallet to make sure my GnR ticket was still intact, the thought occurred to me that today was going be rather tough. To cut a long story short, after a casual lunch, an hour getting a foot rub and a long shower I started to turn for the better, so casually made my way to meet the boys at a hawker centre for pre loading. The food went down well, the ice cold beers, gentlemen jack less so, but then at 6pm, a mate of ours called Dave announced that our bus was here. So we trudged off and about 50 metres from the car park started to hear the relaxing, dulcet, calming, measured sounds of SWEET FUCKING CHILD OF FUCKING MINE. Our transport, was proper, proper baller. Decked out van, with a sound system Jonah would have been proud of, complete with ice boxes loaded with piss, a smoke machine, a light show and leather chairs .. there was a pole too, but I'm not sure what that was for ....

So we get in, in front of a crowed of about 100 people, and make our way out. Took for fucking ever due to the retardeness of Singapore to hold a 35,000 person concert (apparently) in the middle of nowhere with no public transport. Think Eden Park ... but in the middle of Karaka. Anyway, so fianlly get there, the drivers like I'm gonna fucking own this, and drives right through the crowds of people to drop us off about 2 metres from the entrance. It was fucking epic.

Anyway, get in, make our way to in front of the sound box, have about 15 mins to get some beers in , before they come on stage. So, I guess I should now right about the concert.

Nigh on 3 hours of their greatest hits. Fucking epic set list. Yeah, Axl is fat, and his voice is pretty bloody ordinairy these days, but the band is as good as they have ever been. Slash is just a god, Duff still has it (in a truck driver with egg on his shirt sort of way), Fortus is more of a lead guitarist than an Izzy, but he let nobody down, and Ferrer is arguably a better rock drummer than either Adler or Sorum are (to give credit to Adler though, the Appetite sound is lot to do with his drumming). They didn't miss a beat. The light show was awesome, the rig and setup was great. If I wanted to complain, I could say it wasn't even close to loud enough, but if you read the above, I was ok with that. And maybe the setlist was perhaps just a little too long ... don't get me wrong, but when you play November Rain (complete with about 5 minute intro of Layal), Coma and Estranged in full ... well, thats about 45 minutes right there. I would have happily sacrified a bit of knockin on heavens door, chinese democracy songs, and etc to really hear more of Axl giving it top beans as opposed to saving his voice. 90 minutes of old Axl, would shit on 2hrs 45 of new. He did his best on the jungle intro, and gave it shit for parts of Nightrain, Paradise & a couple of others .... but you know, he's old, he's fat - there's lawns to tell kids to get off these days and cheeseburgers to eat.

Annyway ... so it finished up at around 11:15am ... and given the complete clusterfuck of traffic, we were wondering how it was going to work. Litttle did we know ...

The driver of the baller-mobile, had basically ignored a whole bunch of Singaporeans cannot, and blasted his beast right through where you were supposed to stop and parked up EXACTLY where he dropped us off. People were streaming out everywhere wondering what the fuck this van was - he had paradise playing this time, with full light show, full smoke effects literlaly right in front of the main fucking gate. Oh, and he'd fully restocked the bar with fresh cans of beers, vodka, mixers and kit. I asked him if he had a cheeky durry ... at which point he leanded over and casually flicked open the glove box to see a selection of MArlboros finest. Unbelieveable.

Anyway, the boys piled in, and after rejecting about 5,000 people looking for a way home who were asking to join, trundled off through the crowed. We had the windows down, GnR on full tit, beers flowing for the 90 minutes it took to get back, literally crawling through swathes and swathes of people slowly trudging back to their cars/buses. IT WAS EPIC.

Anyway, the rest sort of peters out after that ... it was another late night and slow start yesterday, but nobody wants to read about that.

So, in summary ... yeah, GnR still have it, Axl less so, but fuckin hell, he gives it a go. Singapore is not a great place to go for a rock concert, but if you organise things right ... there is simply nowhere better.

Kudos to a team playing well.

This hooker is playing off the scale

@dogmeat said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:

@majorrage You seem to have missed my point.

Delta unquestionably changed the MIQ situation. Before Delta it was possible to get spots in MIQ . Now it is nigh on impossible and a primary reason is economic refugees from Australia which was the point of my post. So when you say Oz apart you ignore what I was saying.

No, I don't agree with your point. You may be right, you may be wrong.

Time is the game changer. Not delta. In 2020 I wasn't in a rush as I did believe others had more pressing needs than I. I personally knew of people that were going in/out of Hong Kong to NZ, doing two way quarantine to attend funerals, see their children etc. I was ok as I thought things would improve with time. I'm now seriously pissed off because over a year later, absolutely nothing has changed. Nothing. I started looking the second Cindy made her stance clear that they would only open corridors with other zero covid countries. That was never sustainable, or going to last long which was known by anybody with half a brain. Thus, I accepted I would have to do quarantine and started looking. And what's happened??

As I've now said probably 250 times oaths thread. Nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing.

As for your three point wishlist

More acceptable quarantine spaces - You mean more spaces? Which means more hotels? If so government has been trying to expand but there are limited number of suitable places that will work as MIQ and when one is touted locals really get angsty. Was an article about this in press this week. Govt want to open a new MIQ facility in Rotorua but local council and DHB are dead against it

Well, so what? Ever thought of thinking outside the box? There' currently thousands of cruise ships doing nothing. I could drive down the coast and see 3 of them anchored off Weymouth right now. Why couldn't they be leased for a fixed term - a year or something, with guaranteed full rooms / catering etc? Has anybody looked into this?

Realistic measures to stop website scrapers snapping up the places and selling them at profits - This was disgusting and just shows that there are always assholes prepared to profit from others misery. I think the new lottery system is designed to prevent this?

I don't know enough but my first (admittedly, cynical) thought is whats to stop scrapers/professional fluffybunnies from being the people in the queue?I could put my name down, whilst some tech nerd could probably fabricate 50 names. Thus 50x more chance of getting it than I.

Allow people to quarantine at home. - Won't work. Hasn't worked in Singapore. We have enough self entitled pricks breaking the rules here. It is wishing on a star to assume you wouldn't get the same amongst people crossing the border. You could put an ankle bracelet on them but that only tells you where that person is, not whether they are hosting a BBQ. The govt were moving towards trialing something like this until Delta.

I do actually agree it won't work to keep the country Covid-zero. But perhaps there are other thinkers out there who could throw some ideas out on how to make it work.

I really do feel for people in your situation. The only answer is NZ has to get its vax rate up. The govt's not going to relax MIQ until that happens. Of course Cindy being Cindy she'd about turn in a second if it was costing her votes but I'm afraid for your sake it isn't For everyone that wants the border restrictions relaxed there's someone else who would completely close NZ if they had their way.

The govt's not going to relax MIQ. Thats the sentence. That's all there is to it. Which is why people like me are getting seriously pissed off with the process as it's designed & it's complete lack of evolution.

I am as keen as you are for MIQ restrictions to be relaxed for my own selfish reasons. I hope for all of us that this will start happening for nominated countries by Q2 22. That is what I am being told from people within MoH. The experience with the Aussie bubble has screwed all the planning.

I can only repeat myself and say that a retarded monkey knew the Aussie bubble couldn't last. Zero-covid is not a sustainable plan and either Cindy is the last to realise that, or she believes her voting public don't care. And she may be right.

To be honest now, I'm kind of just repeating myself and getting wound up. Don't take anything I'm saying personally, none of it is meant that way.

@gt12 said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:

@majorrage said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:

@jc said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:

And start planning for it 18 months ago so that we have it up and running about now.

Bingo. Any sort of foresight of the length of this issue would have this in place. Any sort. But you know, perhaps a media not sitting in awe of the NZ PM would have been the right starting place.

How about you simply put up the money you would pay for MIQ and get a bracelet to wear or a phone to carry (ala Taiwan) or a landline (ala Japan) and if you are not there when the phone rings or onsite at the address (with testing on days 3, 8, 14) then you lose your cash? Plus, you get charged.

The thinking on that one (rightly or wrongly) seems to be people cannot be trusted to abide by their laws by themselfves i.e - they are making the assumption that at least one carrier will not abide, spread it widely when out 'n about and off we go again ...

@jc said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:

And start planning for it 18 months ago so that we have it up and running about now.

Bingo. Any sort of foresight of the length of this issue would have this in place. Any sort. But you know, perhaps a media not sitting in awe of the NZ PM would have been the right starting place.

@no-quarter said in Climate Change:

I can't stress enough how absolutely unwatchable this looks. People will side with climate change after this.

Wonder how many times they'll mention China being the largest problem here.

@antipodean said in NH International Rugby:

@crucial that's a non-story if ever I've read one. "coach tells senior players to remain competitive to keep getting selected"

You say it's a non story but I can think of plenty of players this hasn't applied to as they got on. Most notable of recent times being Kieran Read.

@crucial said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:

Agreed. Has been the big risk in going to Oz to live for decades now. No support if things turn to shit. Can't blame NZ if you want to run home to take advantage of the support here.

Ask yourself if you'd hold the same view, if (for whatever reason) you hadn't been able to get your son back an he was still stuck in the UK unable to get a MIQ spot.

@crucial said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:

They really need a prioritised system. They have had plenty of time to work out criteria and requirements.
I do get the feeling that some of the problem is caused by people who need to see the reality of the situation. I think Hipkins said this a while back and got flamed for it so they have steered clear.

I really don't undersand why you couldnt' have just left your post here.

Can't believe the number of people bitching and moaning that they can't get a place because they 'want to come back and see their newly born cousin/nephew etc' FFS, the kid won't know!

How completely and utterly heartless of you. the kid won't know so it's not really imporant. Jesus Christ, thats a disgusting comment.

I get that family is big for some people but when when something like that clogs up the system for people trying a possible last visit for their parent with cancer or someone trying to return home for good once an overseas job has finished. Even businesses that, I'm sure might be able to do better with in person meetings, aren't going down if they don't.

Do you not get it yet? I think almost all of us in this situation actually agree with the above. But this excuse has a shelf life. We are so far passed that now.

It just seems like car drivers complaining about the congestion on the road when they are part of the cause.

You draw a great parallel here. Hows that working out for Auckland's traffic btw? Just the 90 minutes shore to city commute still?

Even if 50% of the places were put aside for a priority queue it would help those that truly have to get back and not just want to.

Yeah, right. Instead of actually doing something about the huge demand for a limited product, lets instead ask people to not do the things that matter most to them in life. For 19 months and counting.

@dogmeat said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:

@l_n_p Not having a go at you or any of the other Ferners struggling to return to NZ but there is a lot of fake news about MIQ as well.

There is a lot of fake news, true. But there is a lot of true news that the government is completely ignoring doing anything about. Lack of response to a pressing situation creates fake news.

The dialogue is that there are tens of thousands of Kiwis clamouring to return to NZ who have been locked out for nearly two years and the government is disregarding them in a cruel and callous way.

Thats the way I feel, correct. As do my parents, correct.

Leaving aside the fact that a sizeable number of current residents want the government to shut the border completely because it's filthy MIQ bastards causing all our issues, the situation as I described it in the first sentence is more nuanced and while I'm not that bothered some of the commentary irks me.

Yes the latest tranche of MIQ slots to become available was massively oversubscribed which is a clear indication that demand currently outstrips supply. However the notion that this has been a constant since February 2020 is an absolute nonsense. As recently as March this year you could get a slot in MIQ relatively easy. You might have had to be a little flexible over dates and you couldn't decide to book on a whim but plenty of slots were available.

Correct. However, February was a year into the pandemic . It's now 19 months into the pandemic & the frustration is not about not getting in today. It's about not getting in in the next 6 months and probably more. That will be over 2 years. Thats a huge game changer espeically for people like me whose folks are early 70's and on the slide.

Delta like in so many other ways was a game changer, particularly after everything started going tits up in NSW.

Sorry, this is wrong. Delta isn't a game changer for the quarantine / getting into NZ. Delta is actually working FOR those of us as NZ has decided to move away from wallowing in self praise, to actually sorting it's shit out for the long term!

A large number of those wanting to get into MIQ are economic refugees who had a chance to get back to NZ in 2020 and decided to ignore it, presumably because they decided life was better where they were.

You really think this? I don't know numbers, but I do know that missing out on life with family for a year is very very fucking different from missing out 2+ years, and possibly forever.

I am getting tired of media reports from 'Kiwi's' who say they have been trying to get back into NZ for two years and are being shut out and we've had to sell the house coz we lost our jobs and, and , and IT'S SO UNFAIR.

I'm sorry you are getting tired of it. I'm not tired of not being able to see my parents. In fact, I'm losing it mentally because of it.

Here's the reality for these people. Covid struck. Oz goes into Lockdown. You lose your job. Oz govt policies means the welfare safety net doesn't apply to you. NZ suddenly looks very attractive. Well it will as short term option but really you've lived in Oz for over 10 years, your kids were born there, your friends all live there and but for the Oz govt you're dinky di Ockers with a funny accent. All of which means that as soon as the situation improves for you back across the ditch you'll be straight on a plane back to wherever you currently live.

Oz part aside, like everything I OWN all my decisions. I OWN my decision to live on the other side of the planet. I am in the situation I am because of my own fault. And the one fucking time I ask the govt to help me out a bit my entire life, the one fucking time. It completely ignores me. Fuck them.

But NZ's the arsehole in all this?

That's not fair.

As I said I appreciate the above is not true for everyone and there are really sad cases of families being unable to reunite etc - many of which have been shared here. I genuinely feel for these people, but what's the alternative? NZ are not in a position to open the borders (yet) to everyone because our health system won't cope.

Why does it need to OPEN the borders and flood things crazy? Why can't it do one of the following

1. More acceptable quarantine spaces
2. Realistic measures to stop website scrapers snapping up the places and selling them at profits
3. Allow people to quarantine at home.

I do think that Immigration could and should look into cases more deeply and apply some sort of hardship weighting. Stopping giving priority to the Wiggles would be a start. The govt is trying to set up more MIQ hotels but is meeting resistance from local communities as wo wants a plague hotel next door?

Although I understand your point here, NZ has to make a decision if it wants to be part of the world or not. Covid is out there. Its not going away anytime soon. 5 year cycle is the most realistic prediction. I am not asking the govt to go all open season on the borders. I'm asking it to consider that those of us citizens abroad, of which many pay tax & are on govt negotiated visa's which have now expired (leaving people in precarious predicament), to perhaps look at things from a different standpoint.

For all the talk, unchallenged bullshit. Not one single physical thing has changed. Not one.

I never used to drink coffee. Then a few years ago with a newborn and no sleep, I swung by the coffee place en route to work and bot a breakfast blend.

Fuck me. Anxiety through the roof, uncontrollable shakes, absolutely terrifying. Didn't put two and two together and went to see a dr. 3 mins into talking he asked if I did anything different that morning - anything at all. Then it clicked. Turns out that coffee, like most drugs, is tweaked and tweaked to get more out of less. Thus, the caffeine levels now are much higher than when I quit coffee ....

Embarrassing.

And as others have alluded to, I never ever drink coffee on a hangover. Anxiety is not worth it.

Still plenty to talk about on that game, so not going to lock it over one of the silliest spat's I've seen on TSF.

Ball, not the Man, team.

@stockcar86 How do you find the hunger with this?

I am low carbing / no alcohol at the moment but I am seriously hungry in the evenings.

It does work though as I've dropped 2.5kg since 31st August (most of that probably water retention from alcohol if I'm honest with myself).