Steve Braunias: Secret Diary of Mike Hosking

MONDAY

I was ironing my socks this afternoon when I noticed a loose thread at the toe.

Well, that's life for you, isn't it. It unravels. It comes apart. The centre doesn't hold. And you're left holding a sock that still works, still performs the function you require of it, but it's suffered a bit of wear and tear, and at the end of the day you have to wonder whether it's worth putting it back on your foot.

I was holding it up when Toni rang, and told me she was leaving Seven Sharp.
"We've had a good run, haven't we," she said.

"Yes," I said. "A very good run."

I said I'd see her at work, and went back to my ironing. No one will notice there's a loose thread, I thought. Put it back in the clothes basket. It's all good.

But then I went looking for the matching sock, and couldn't find it anywhere.

TUESDAY

I lay out by the pool this afternoon and looked at my feet. One of them was bare, and the other wore the unpaired sock.

I'd pulled at the thread a bit, and now my big toe and the one next to it stuck out of a hole.

I wiggled the two toes. It was like they were waving at me.

But were they waving hello, or goodbye?

WEDNESDAY

I heard today that Patrick Gower has resigned as political editor at Newshub.

Well, good luck to him. He came about as far as he could. He showed a bit of flair when he moderated the leaders' debate this year.

I mean he was lacking in experience, and authority, and gravitas, but good on him, he gave it his best shot, and he can leave with his head held fairly high knowing that he wasn't a complete disaster.

THURSDAY

I lay out by John's pool this afternoon, and said, "Well, that's it. I'm off, I'm done, I'm finishing with Seven Sharp tomorrow night. It's over."

"You're doing what I did," he said. "You're leaving at the top."

I said, "They phoned me up four years ago, and they said, ''We've got a few problems on this particular programme. One of them's called Jesse Mulligan and the other one's called Alison Mau.' I think they had a third problem but no one can remember their name."

He said, "It was a shambles."

I said, "You've got that right. So the challenge was to turn Seven Sharp around and get an audience and rebuild it and send it on its way."

He said, "And that's what you did."

I said, "That's why they paid me the big bucks."

He said, "But there comes a time when you've just got to walk away."

I said, "And the thing is you know when the time is right to do that."

He said, "End of an era, mate."

I said, "Same era as the one that ended when you left."

We didn't day anything for a while. Just lay out by the pool sharing a bottle of 2005 Dom Perignon, lost in our thoughts.

FRIDAY

I threw out the sock. It had got a bit smelly.