Fame

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Over the years I have 'met' a number of quite famous people. By met I mostly just mean 'occupied approximately the same space' rather than anything more substantial. Easily the most famous of these is George Bush Senior.....or rather rather he WAS the most famous. Yesterday, as I was dropping people off at their hotel I met Sir Peter Leitch ( aka The Mad Butcher). In case you haven't heard of him, he is the 41st most influential person in Auckland (source: Wikipedia). Impressed huh?

He was being interviewed by a film crew right outside the room of one of my riders and insisted on saying hello to us all. Apart from the obvious question of 'who the f@&?k are you?' I was also strongly minded to ask why he was being interviewed outside room 8 of the Tudor Court Motor Lodge. Thanks to wiki I have an answer to the first question but not the second!

My missing bag has been returned to me so I am once again the model of fragrant sartorial elegance. A rider has paid me the NZ$6000 he owed for his trip so I am once again solvent and a replacement bank card is being posted to me by a wife who has a cold and a very busy week (again......sorry!!!!!!!).

Yesterday I drove out to check the first day of the route and it is very lovely but chuffing hilly. With memories of last year flooding back I could only smile quietly in the knowledge that I won't have to ride it.

For all those who hate me for swanning around playing tour leaders rather than doing proper job I would like to point out that is is gloriously sunny here and set fair for at least the next few days :-)

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