Bob and The Bunkbed

In all my planning, I forgot to account for Sundays. As in, days where everything is actually shut. I arrived in Nelson today to find I can't actually proceed with any of the preparations needed for my 4-day hike in Abel Tasman. The weather's also taken a turn for the worst AND I urgently need to find a piercer to reset one of my piercings, as it came loose in all the excitement of mountainbiking. I've had it reshot on 2 previous occasions already and as I really don't fancy another needle through re-grown cartilage, this takes priority. I'll probably delay my hike by a day or two.

In the meantime, let me tell you a short story about a teddy called Bob and a bunkbed. I generally don't have issues with bunkbeds. Or at least I didn't until yesterday. I was sharing a bunk with a Great Dane (The Viking variety, not the canine) and as I was on the top, I had only limited storage for essentials such as my flashlight, water, book, wallet and erm... Bob. After much faff, I'd finally found a good enough solution to fix them all in place somewhere and fell asleep.

In the middle of the night however, I got awoken by a loud thud. When I turned on my flashlight I realised to my horror that Bob had tumbled to the bottom bunk, alongside my book. The Great Dane on the other hand, was sound asleep and blissfully unaware. Now here's the dilemma: It's 3 am. Do you slip down to try and recapture your teddy and book at the risk of waking said Dane or do you wait till morning and ask him for it outright? I sat up for half an hour trying to make up my mind. When I finally slid off the ladder to try and recapture it, I noticed to my horror that the Great Dane was hugging Bob in his sleep. Seriously. Now you tell me, what is one suposed to do on such occasions?!? There's a serious need for self-help guides on Embarrassing Moments.

I decided to wait till morning. I had an early bus out so would be up before anyone else and hopefully by that time, the Great Dane would have parted with Bob. At 6 a.m. I found Bob on the floor. You've no idea how relieved I am that the Great Dane didn't wake up while I was crawling underneath his bed.

- Homes away from home, my hostel -