Katie Holland: Flat battery triggers a sleepless night

RELIABLE: Clockwork mechanism won't let you down.

THERE'S nothing that guarantees you a terrible night's sleep more than knowing you have to get up extra early the next morning.

We all know the drill - you have a 6am flight or early meeting, with the alarm set for 4.30am. Then you bolt upright in bed convinced you've slept in and missed it. Only to discover it's 11pm and you've only been asleep 20 minutes. Then it continues, every 30 minutes, and each time you're convinced it must be time to get up. When the alarm finally goes off you're exhausted.

Turns out the same thing happens when you rely on your phone as your alarm clock, but your charger's broken.

On Thursday I arrived home a smidgen past my usual 9pm bedtime - on a school night no less and for the second time that week I'll have you know - so it was straight to bed.

11pm. Phone battery 12 per cent. The dilemma begins. The only way of charging the phone is on the stereo at the other end of the house. Do I wait for it to charge, thus ensuring the alarm will go off in the morning? But I'm really, really tired. My days of school night partying are well and truly behind me and and the effects of the St Patrick's night craic are still being felt, two days later. I'll risk it. To bed.

1am. Bolt upright. Phone battery 9 per cent. Turn off all settings that could potentially drain battery.

3am. Upright again. 7 per cent. Get up, take phone, put it on stereo. Fuzzy mind internally debates whether I will hear the alarm from my bedroom if I leave it there. Turn volume up to loud. Remember I am a sleep monster and would sleep through pretty much anything. Eyes drooping, take the phone back to bed.

5am. Wake up worrying whether that photo on page 4 of that day's paper was laid out big enough. Decide I absolutely must know, that second, even though there was not a single thing I could do about it if it wasn't. Pull out laptop from under bed, turn it on, log on to work system. Laptop runs out of battery. Of course it does. Get out of bed, find plug, plug it in. Log in again. Photo's fine. Wide awake now. Wonder how the phone's going. 10 per cent. We might just make it. Eventually get back to sleep.

6.55am. 7 per cent. 35 minutes till alarm time, yes I think we're going to make it.

7.30am. Alarm goes off. 5 per cent. I made it. Hit snooze.

And then, safe in the knowledge the alarm had gone off, I make a rookie mistake. I get greedy. It had been an exhausting night's sleep after all. I press snooze again. And keep right on snoozing. Waking with a panic sometime later to a blank, dead phone screen. I'm late.

On another note, the reason for the uncharacteristic social butterflying was the opening of Ponsonby Rd, the latest addition to Eat Streat. So let's sneak a mini review in here for those wondering what Tamati and Tim have done with the former hairdressers'.

And the boys have "done good". Tamati confessed, as he welcomed his VIP guests on the red carpet (all very glam for Rotorua, I must say), that it had been a bit like one of those TV makeover shows, frantically putting the last touches in place as the guests arrived. He had me fooled.

The lounge bar is gorgeous, very grown up and sophisticated and unlike anything we already have in the city. For those asking about food (and don't we all want to know about food!) - it's bar food only - the focus is more on relaxed lounging for a pre or post dinner cocktail or wine. You want dinner - there's no shortage of options nearby, including the soon to be relocated celeb favourite Leonardo's a few doors down.

The "who's who" of Rotorua were there to celebrate the opening, including a number of other hospo owners from around town. It was a supportive, positive vibe that had many commenting how proud they were to be from Rotorua. With thousands of visitors flooding into town this week for Crankworx, I'm looking forward to seeing the town keep buzzing.

Sigh. Looks like I better invest in an old fashioned alarm clock - one that doesn't need charging.