FOLLOW THAT BALLOON...

What a week, I'm exhausted, so many things to do, so many events to cover and very good ones too! There was Adicouture featuring All Blacks and plenty of glamour. Leo Malloy had a great night at Cowboy and Republic opened their new doors in Ponsonby. Also Tiffany had a new jewellery launch, always handy with Christmas bearing down on me like a demented Santa Bull! Where has this year gone? No...what made this week even more frantic than usual was the arrival of one, Justin Timberlake and the lengths gone trying to get a snap of him... he's good...he's very good at keeping out of the spotlight.

I knew when he arrived I would be getting calls and txt messages from all over town reporting sightings and to be fair you have to check them out, you just never know! Les Mills was a favourite, various hotels around town, heli pads, golf courses, beaches but the best was the hot air balloon! Have you ever tried to chase a hot air balloon in a Land Rover...not easy! I had a tip off he was up by Helensville in a hot air balloon, just to let you know - I live in Howick, not exactly on my doorstep and in ruch hour traffic, in the morning, why couldn't he be fishing off the pier down at Maraetai that would make life easier. So off I went, I told the ASSASSIN so we headed off on a mission, after hours of scouring the horizon for a balloon, we heard he had already landed in a field outside Helensville, bugger! Now where? We knew he was keen on surfing so headed down to Muriwai on the off chance, that became, no chance. So we belted back to Auckland to the hotel and waited and waited - it was getting hot in the Landy.

A well known restaurant on Ponsonby Road called, at last a real lead, Justin was seen going in with a group of peolpe about 30 minutes ago. I park a good way from the place and load the camera into an old backpack and head of to check it out. Ponsonby is busy as usual with lots of people yahooing and having a good time. I walk past the restaurant and glance in ..he is there ..I saw him and I'm sure that was Jessica with him, right at the back of the place, I turn the corner and think.. right what do I do, should I wait for him to come out and just pounce or walk round the block get a longer lens from the car and pap him from across the street, its pretty dark in that restaurant. All these things are going through my head as I make my way back to the restaurant to have another peek. When out of nowhere comes a girl I haven't seen in ages, she is gorgeous but a bit loud, NORRRIEEEEE how are you babe ..eh great I say ..look girls it's Norrriee, about half a dozen promo girls screech NORRRIEEEE as they all run towards me, what are you doing here they say, Ah nothing just hanging out, then one of them says OH.. MY.. GOD... YOU'RE LOOKING FOR JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE..eh.. nah ..no no no ..I'm not ..IS HE HERE ?..they look around and realize where they are - outside the restuarant..IS HE IN HERE?..OH JUSTIN'S HERE JUSTIN'S HERE, they all start going nuts it's just then I notice the security guy positioned outside the restaurant take more of an interest in me. I feel my Harry Potter Cloak of Invisibility begin to unravel at a rapid rate of knots. In situations like this you're left with only two options:

OPTION ONE

Gather all the girls around you laughing out loudly.. 'JUSTIN WHO? Don't be silly lets go and have a drink', swagger past the security guy, keeping on laughing take them to the nearest bar, buy them a bottle of Verve and sneak back out and take up positon across the street.

OR

OPTION TWO

Go for it...so I went for it. Pushing out from the girls, the following events are like something out of a John Foo movie, in slow motion, think 'Mission Impossible' you will get the idea. The huge security guy rises up from from his chair and makes a move towards me as I am making a dash for the restaurant doors. I manage to side step him and duck beneath a huge swinging arm, I crash through the doors sending drinks and drinkers flying. There is a commotion but it hasn't filtered up to where Justin and Jessica are having a tender moment in their private booth, his hand is coming up to caress her face and they are drawing close together for a kiss, I whip out the Nikon and without bringing it to my eye starting firing off in their direction as I run towards them! Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop they kiss, gotcha money shot..that's the holiday in Bora Bora paid for and kids school fees. Justin realizes what's going on and turns around and does the classic trying to shield his face with his hand, Pop, pop, pop, pop, as I run past him I hear him shout Get that Paparazzi! Too late I'm off, I crash through the kitchen doors sending pots and pans flying the entire kitchen staff turn at me with meat cleavers in their hand and charge, I slide across the floor knocking them over like ten pins, on the way, pushing over scalding vats of soup making it impossible for them to follow me, without them falling over. I burst open the back door into the cool dark alley and there waiting is Anastacia my Russian ex KGB ex model waiting on her motor scooter. Did you get him babe?..We got him ...

My pocket is vibrating, I can hear ringing.. it's my phone, it's the ASSASSIN. "Any sign of him?" "Nah, all quiet"

Now, where was I? Ah, yes, Anastacia zzzz............