Nicholas Quirke was suffering on the 15^th February from not having had any sleep since 7 am on the 14th . He was able to check in for his flight at 3.30am with Qantas yet despite being 1^st in the queue he still got an aisle seat as he did not have the wherewithal to say he needed a window seat or a vegan breakfast. He was fascinated by the amount of people sleeping at the airport, and not just back packers; families, people his own age, and older, they must all have been in the same situation, unable to get a room in Auckland or nearby at a reasonable rate. He chatted with some Malaysian Lads who were sleeping on the benches near him. Nicholas also enjoyed watching the Airport come to life after seeing it close, with waves of employees beginning their day. The plane boarded at 5.20am and he was of course sat next to an immensely large girl and he was uncomfortably squeezed in his seat and would have to spend his journey spilling into the aisle.. He spotted an empty row, but a couple got there first. This added to the discomfort on the journey and meant he really was unable to have a sleep on the flight. He watched the appalling new version of ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, “Why Kenneth Branagh, Why”,  the only benefit was it did give him some opportunity to doze, though at 7.30 he realised that he had not slept for 24 hours and that he was unlikely to get any sleep till later. He finished the flight watching ‘Battle of the Sexes’, Billie Jean King Biopic, what a legend she is. He didn’t get to his Melbourne home till about 10 am and what a relief and excitement it was to see Kim again. They agreed he would shower, which had not happened for 2 days, do some writing and then get some sleep, but this was not before they talked about his time in New Zealand and about what Kim had been doing while he was away. He did not get to sleep and while Kim was out at a meeting, Nicholas went shopping for the evening meal. He had planned to cook, but when Kim got back he was just starting to doze. They decided to go out, have an early supper so he could get to bed early. They ate at G G’s where the waiters Tommy and Nicholas were great, even offering to allow them a free wine and tea which had not been added to the bill. Once home they continued to talk, role play conversations and laugh. Nicholas was so glad to have a laugh it felt like he hadn’t had such an enjoyable interaction  since he left Sydney. Finally, about 10pm he got into a proper bed and was able to go to enjoy the sleep.