Oh dear, it looks like a pedestrian has become the first road victim of the new year

Alf takes no pleasure in recalling the warning he sounded just two days under the heading New Year booze warning: the first steps you take in 2012 could be your last

He was reiterating a warning being sounded in the US about January 1 being the deadliest day of the year for pedestrians.

And he cited a post reporting on work by an American economist, Steve Levitt, who compared the risk of drunk walking with drunk driving and found that the former can potentially pose a greater risk.

Advice to the Popatas: when you’ve done with protesting, limber up for the Olympics

You will be left behind if you can't maintain a brisk pace.

Alf has cause to take a fresh look at the Popata brothers, a stroppy twosome best known for roughing up the Prime Minister at Waitangi a year or so ago.

They are wasted in their occupations as a researcher and an interviewer.

Their forte – it transpires – is walking.

They are shaping up to be world-beaters.

Their strongest competition for an Olympic gold medal would come from those who have joined them on their hikoi from Cape Reinga to on Wellington.