Mincing the fruit for the Juic(er)y fruits in Auckland on the Freelove Freeway

It feels like a lifetime ago that I was sitting in a pseudo-Slough office, across from my friend Nick, trying to catch his eye in order to make him laugh about this, that, or the other. It was definitely the kind of comaraderie that begins as work colleagues and quickly turns into a great friendship.

The world had only known David Brent for about 18 months, and I was riding on his coat tails here in Wellington. Living vicariously through his cringe worthy moments by working a room at parties with my impersonations of David Brent; husking my voice to sing Spaceman/Freelove Freeway and tilting my head in a downwards motion despite continuing to inflect the end of my sentences ('racial'), telling people that the reason why women wear necklaces is really to draw attention to cleavage and asking people if the reason why they were travelling was to discover themselves 'down under'.

Nick would often educate me on Brentisms, dissecting them, always showing the utmost faith that Gervais' character really was a good apple in the end. We both had a mutual hate for Chris Finch, my goodness that guy was a tool. If I was on the phone, I'd almost lose it if Nick would stand up and interlock his hands while smugly mouthing 'synergy'. Crikey I'm losing it now just re-living the moments!

As has often been stated, The Office has this amazing way of reaching out, worldwide, to the monotony of the office. It drew out the stereotypes of figures within a company, regardless of what business the office is in. Keith, Neil, Dawn, Tim, Gareth, the pregnant woman in season 2...you watch that series and everytime you think 'my god I have met that person in every job I've worked.'

It took a couple of days of planning around our university timetables, but Nick walked into the office one morning only to find his clippy clipper (essential stationery item at EFTPOS NZ) completely dominated by a bowl of yellow jelly.

But all good things must come to an end, and the dynamic duo of Morris & Buck reached a hiatus when the better half moved to Auckland to spread the sunshine.

So....

Nowadays Mr. Buck can be spotted working the CBD circuit at the famous Juicery. While it's a shame I've not yet been able to grace the joint with my presence, I can't wait to think that I've 'died and gone to heaven' after sipping on a boysenberry smoothie that undoubtedly so many people have done since The Juicery opened last year. I've only just discovered Nick's blog here, and going into summer, there is some handy info to arm yourselves with in order to start slimming, trimming and shaping up for summer. Happy Monday, and if you're in Auckland, or frequent Albert Street on a regular basis, please call in and see Nick, provide feedback on the music he plays, and enjoy the goof...goodness that this brilliant friend of mine no doubt has in store for you.

He's thrown a kettle over a pub, what have you done?

L.