Interests

It's 9:30 on a Monday morning and I am sitting in the sunroom of the new Chez Dick, high on South Hill in Oamaru. Below me, wearing a garment of light early morning mist and smoke, the town stretches to the north.

It's been a very busy year for Allan Dick. Catch up with him here.

I went to Argentina last week - now that's something I never thought I would write.

Here we go again on another round of dumbing down New Zealand motorists until the gorse bushes at the side of the roads will have more skill than us.

This is being written just hours before the wrappers come off the plan that will amalgamate the various councils in greater Auckland into a single unit - the so-called "Super-City".

I say the following, not to aggravate, but because it is something I am a firm believer in - I support the so-called anti-smacking legislation.

Instant Millionaires, David Bain, Simon & Garfunkel, MIcrowaves, Eels and much more.

After several delays, I finally roared out of Auckland around 12:30 on a Wednesday afternoon and sneaked back in at 8:15 the following Monday evening. I'd had five and a half days on the road, covered 4,500km and had the time of my life.

Read Allan's May blog right here.

The stunning new novel from Costa-Novel-Award-winning novelist Maggie O'Farrell is a portrait of an Irish family in crisis in the legendary heatwave of 1976.