Dave Cannan

Do you love where you live?

"That's awesome - so cool!'' It was the perfect quote from Debbie Pettinger when we rang to tell her she had won The Wash column's "Awesome Autumn'' colours contest.

Weeding out the winners of this year's garden competition wasn't easy, The Wash's Dave Cannan discovered.

Dame Dorothy Fraser was farewelled in brilliant Dunedin sunshine yesterday, being remembered at her funeral service as an inspirational and pioneering woman who had devoted much of her life to public service.

This is, in many ways, a classic story of a modern day romance - with just a twist of showbiz to spice it up.

Can you begin to imagine what it's like to play in the final four of the New Zealand Open? Picture it if you can.

For the record, Australian golfer Daniel Bryant and his professional partner Marcus Cain failed to make the cut in the teams event at the New Zealand Open yesterday.

Once the handshakes were over and the cameras stopped clicking yesterday, partners Sue Moller and Steve Wilson drove their new car to the Blackhead cemetery and ''shouted'' their respective sons a beer.

Ask anyone who is afflicted with the rose ''bug'', a compulsive obsessive disorder for which there is no known cure, and they will tell you there is always room for one more rose in their garden.

ODT columnist Dave Cannan gives his thoughts after spending some time on Dunedin's cycleway network. 

Yay, it's Guy Fawkes night! Pretty fireworks everywhere. Happy, smiling children aplenty. Retailers' cash registers working overtime. Yay some more! 

If the ho-hum reaction from my colleagues yesterday is a reliable guide, then it's possible I'm the only person in the province who's outraged by the news the Seekers are not, repeat not, coming to Dunedin when they tour New Zealand later this year.

It had been a long, long time since I last ''confronted'' a book by Irvine Welsh, the ultimate in-your-face author.