For the past week I’ve been suffering with firstly a cough, then a cold, and now a “upper respiratory infection” that has drifted into my inner ears – that is, according to the nice South African doctor who I saw at Whitecross Medical Centre in my lunchbreak.

After the diagnosis (not, thank goodness, a bacterial ear infection, just a common old run of the mill viral one) and a prescription for nasal spray (which runs down the back of your throat and tastes dis-gus-ting) and some penicillin, (just in case a bacterial infection does eventuate) I popped into the local department store, tried on and bought a skirt, then visited Jeans West for a browse before ducking into the pharmacy to collect my drugs.

As I wandered back to the office I thought to myself, you know, that’s pretty good. There’s not many places in the world where people could see a doctor and shop in one hour.

Whangarei, it ain’t so bad.