Played RPG over Skype this morning for the first time. GREAT!! I must admit to missing the RPG sessions, but having found an online dice roller, courtesy Wizards of the Coast, it proved fairly easy to join in. You miss out on the facial expressions sometimes, but you can’t have everything.

Still on the search for a watch, Louise had had a brainstorm and checked out Warehouse online where they proved to have a number of possibilities for a new watch. We decided to head for Palmerston North, both to look at motorbikes and to check out the Warehouse there which seemed bigger than Coastlands.

We’d phoned up the Suzuki dealer in Palmerston North before we left, they actually had two VSTROM DL1000s and four VSTROM DL650s!! Except………….the manager had taken three of the 650s out on a jolly with some of the staff – not back for a couple of days, and the only DL650 left was a brand new one. One of the DL1000s was also a new one.

I thought we’d fill up with petrol at PaknSave before we left, and everything went fine this time …….. nearly. I sort have had a senior moment and we were halfway to Palmerston North (about 45 mins away) when I realised that not only had I forgotten to close the petrol flap, but had also forgotten the petrol cap!! We carried on anyway, but I just knew I wasn’t going to live that one down for a while. I was right – “senior” jokes all day!

Excellent fun, not only did we test ride the secondhand DL1000 but also a Bandit (just for the experience obviously! The Bandit was FUN, but no matter how much fun it was on the main roads, it would be of limited use on some of the gravel roads we’ve travelled across in the past! The DL1000 was a heap of s**t! There were 1500kms on the clock, so must have been around the clock at least once, the engine was ropy, noisy and smelly and there seemed to be an inordinate number of rattles all over the place. We decided not to get this one!!

The Warehouse here was indeed HUGE!! We easily found a watch, and Louise put the bad memories of yesterday aside and spent a happy few hours looking around what seemed to be EVERYTHING! Ended up buying the odd bit of stuff over and above the watch – but to be fair, she got some excellent clothes bargains!

Checked the garage on the way back, but no luck. Looks like I’ll have to drop in to get a new one from Repco or something…………………

Unfortunately we had to have steak and salad again for tea when we got back.