Of course for many of us, it's an ongoing battle to stop those unwanted kilos piling up, but spare a thought for the very much overweight Christchurch woman in urgent need of medical attention last week. She needed a firefighting crew to lift her out of bed before she could be taken to hospital. Two ambulance staff arrived at her home in the wee small hours and after assessing the situation they called the Fire Service for assistance. It took four firefighters to move the unconscious woman with the aid of a special lifting harness, out of bed, on to a stretcher and into the ambulance.
Such dramas have become increasingly common, with one case of a 320kg woman needing medical attention in a rural area.
But there is hope - well, in Christchurch anyway. With such incidents reported to occur more and more regularly, their central city rescue truck now carries a purpose-built lifting sheet with handles to assist with obese patients.
In line with oversize caskets becoming increasingly necessary, we must accept that it's a sign of the times.
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While still on the subject of food, the prime site on the St Andrew's roundabout has at last had an image uplift after the BP service station went belly-up five years ago.
Since that shameful ordeal, driving through that intersection of Old Taupo and Otonga roads and Devon St has been a depressing experience, with the building getting increasingly tatty.
But now, after a painfully long "watch this space" wait, things have changed with a spanking new takeaway food shop. And I can say from first-hand experience that the food is delicious.
On opening night, when I called in, the place was humming. The pork sandwich was absolutely yummy and ducking down to buy another this week is a strong possibility.
With Super Lucky Takeaways being the name of place, it is no surprise that it is operated by a Chinese couple who have been working for some time to get their venture up and running.
Five-star rating from me and others with whom I have spoken and it will be a great asset to the area. Let's hope they do well.
Rotorua temperatures
The response to my investigation has been overwhelming regarding the two degree discrepancy between Rotorua's daily maximum temperatures - currently recorded out at the airport - shown on evening television and what they actually are in the city.
Most readers agree that something must be done with respect to putting up an alternative site and that we should get cracking as soon as possible.
On average, the maximum temperature is two degrees warmer in town. I have been noting the difference each day and from time to time I'll publish the weekly discrepancy in this column. Last week's temperature difference between the airport and my Springfield weather station was an average of 2C.
• Brian Holden has lived in Rotorua for most of his life and recently celebrated 10 years of writing And Another Thing.
