Lurgy and internet addiction to welcome me home

(This is the Online column, written for The Southland Times)

Did you miss me?

After weeks of getting my column written while enduring adventure and excitement in the wilds of Australia, I was stopped in my tracks last week by that most dastardly Australian predator, the dreaded lurgy.

So, sorry for my absence, but I was too busy battling my Aussie germs while trying to cough up a lung.

It was nice to get home but the actual flights were awful. I thought my ears were going to implode and Air New Zealand changing our flights from Coolangatta to Christchurch, then Christchurch to home to instead take in a wee detour to Auckland before hitting Christchurch wasn’t appreciated at all. Especially since we had to retrieve our cases at each stop along the way and check them in again.

Even at Christchurch. Despite assurances from two of their staff that we wouldn’t have to.

It was all made worse by the fact each flight was late getting in, meaning we spent what little time we had frantically finding our cases, checking them in again and hoping like hell we’d make our flight.

Being crook, I finally just got around to unpacking on Sunday, which is when I realised that not only had both our cases been damaged during their trans-Tasman adventures, but a necklace and an ear-ring were both snapped in half and some things were missing from my case. Lovely.

And now, to top it all off, a bunch of boffins in China reckon I’m afflicted in more ways than one. Okay, so perhaps I wasn’t named personally in the report but the bottom line is this: China has declared internet addiction a disorder.

A disorder? So now I have the lurgy AND a disorder? I might need another holiday.

But wait, there is some good news: Microsoft has decided to cut Xbox prices in the leadup to Christmas.

The Xbox 360 Arcade has been reduced by $50 and now has a starting price of $349, making it the cheapest hi-definition console on the market by far.

The 360 and 360 Elite have both had $100 chopped off the RRP, making them $449 and $599, respectively.