Short rides, I just wear whatever I'm wearing, usually jeans and a T-shirt.

I get pretty hot on my commute into town in Auckland weather, so I wear clothes I don't mind sweating on, usually 3/4-length yoga/gym pants, a cotton singlet and a nylon shell jacket, and change into work clothes when I get there. I'll probably add a polyprop for winter. I used to wear jeans (I've never mastered the trick of riding in skirts) and just take a change of tops, until I realised how much easier it was to cycle in something stretchy. I've also got a fluoro bag cover and a hi-vis vest that I wear sometimes, plus I never go out without my cycling gloves. I like the kind with fingers.

Especially because coming off the cycle path (which I use because it's still preferable to sharing the road with drivers who are Very Angry that I'm not on the cycle path) puts you in an awkward position at those lights. I'm never sure the waiting traffic's seen me, so I feel much safer heading through near the end of the pedestrian signal.

We have enough water to produce dairy without polluting we just need to do things differently.

Which is why the proposed South Island irrigation is so frustrating. We have plenty of water in most of the country (well, most of the time - if climate change keeps producing droughts in areas like Northland, things get scary), but they want to farm in the rain shadow of the Southern Alps as if they were in Taranaki.

And, as you say, it's perfectly possible to produce dairy without polluting the waterways - even at current stocking levels, riparian planting and managing artificial inputs to reduce runoff would make a difference.

The place feeds 22% of the world’s population with 10% of the world’s arable land.

IANAF either, but what they're doing right is mostly not eating meat. Plant calories are a lot more efficient to produce. Their food situation will get more difficult as more affluent Chinese consumers eat more meat and dairy, which is why they want to buy NZ farms.

Most of China isn't well suited to dairy - it's less the soil fertility than water availability. Cows use a lot of water, and the water supply is already overallocated. Plus a lot of it is fossil water, which is being used up fast.

Last year I needed to spend a voucher, so I went in to Whitcoulls Corner armed with a list of fairly mainstream YA. I eventually found my seventh choice, with the usual markup, and reaffirmed my relationship with the library. Borders used to have a pretty decent SF section (I've long since stopped looking for SF in Whitcoulls), but I could never afford their prices with any regularity and they put me off early on by refusing to accept Booksellers Association tokens. Good for a coffee and a social browse, though.

Libraries all the way. The Auckland selection is fantastic if you're willing to wait for requests, and I've had good luck suggesting purchases when they didn't have a book I wanted. (Space and money - I don't let myself buy books any more unless a) they're so out of print I'm lucky to find a copy or b) I know I want to read them more than once.)