The other thing to note of course in the above scenario is Nats + ACT + UF = 61 seats from 122, so they then need the Maori Party. If I were Tariana and Pita I'd be thinking hard about what I want from my coalition agreement...

Once again, I am the type of interesting medical specimen that makes health professionals say 'hey, come and have a look at this!'.

Those are the words you really don't want to hear. A few years back went to my GP practice for something, and the nurse was having a squint in my ear for some reason. This is a large inner city practice with a shared open plan nurses area in the middle of the consulting rooms, so lots of people milling around.

She took a look in my left lug and muttered a little "um, er", took a look in my right, then back to the left again, and then uttered the aforementioned words.

Ten minutes later, and having pulled my GP out of a consult to have a look, it felt like everyone including the cleaners had peered into my skull, and I wondered if I should be selling tickets.

They said it looked like I had no ear drum in that ear. What the...?

Went off to see an audiologist who took a look and explained I had a "hump in my forechannel" (I know sounds like something that might appear in those movies Emma likes, but its nowhere near that exciting). It basically meant that the reason the GP couldn't see my ear drum was that her little scopey thing couldn't see around corners.

Now yesterday I've baffled my dentist, not least when I told him the amount of fairly serious painkillers I'd taken. He seemed to think I should be unconscious, and not sitting at my desk at work, and still in agony I might add (my time-lapse response to painkillers - taking about 2-4 hours to have any effect, by which time I may be delirious with pain - being another medical mystery to be proud of...).

Oh and don't start me on my resistence to antibiotics...

this just in - sorry to join so late...

I feel a little guilty picking on sports stars and announcers as it really is like shooting fish in a barrel, but... it really irks me when players/coaches/commentators talk about single players in the plural, as in "we really need the Dan Carters and Richie McCaws/Jacob Orams and Brendon McCullums in the team" to "stand up and be counted/dig deep/take the game by the scruff of the neck (insert cliche of your choice...)" There is only one of each of them, last time I checked.

Sticking with irksome, word of the week seems to be: outyears.

Which I guess is where you end up when you've finished going forward, as long as the pre-planning has delivered the desired outcomes.