Minutes before that I'd missed an incident in Napier where a naked motor-scooter rider was stopped by police for not wearing a helmet.
DoC then rang to tip us off about two penguins shot dead at Westshore.
Soon after a man was arrested after allegedly wielding a speargun in Maraenui.
Then, at our 4pm meeting, a court reporter rang in a story about a father sentenced to 16 years for rape.
Newsrooms are a broad church.
Don't expect frigid weather to preclude the full gamut of moods in one short afternoon.
While it might sound like an adrenaline rush, which it often is, it's also why us reporters can be forgiven for craving a more regimented vocation. One with less emotional investment.
For myself, I often dream of becoming a postman, a courier, a layer of lino.
But I digress.
What I did wonder was whether this colourful whirlwind of stories had a take-home message. That is, whether they accurately reflect the human condition. Or more importantly, whether they're an accurate delineation of the Hawke's Bay condition.
Take our two unlucky penguins. Happy Feet washed up on the Kapiti Coast last year and met with favourable shores.
Yet a year later two of his cousins arrive in the Bay only to be assassinated on the spot. Perhaps this pair confused Westshore for the friendlier West Coast. Navigation is crucial.
But of course I've been in this job too long to regard any one week, let alone any one edition, let alone any one story, to serve as some sort of social barometer.
Today's paper is simply today's paper.
