David Conway, aka 'Dr DC' is the pen name of a should-be-retired consulting engineer living in Auckland. In December 2022, he set himself a New Year's challenge: to write a 'Ditty a Day' inspired by items in the New Zealand Herald. Prompted by cartoonist Rod Emmerson's daily output, Conway turns a selected news item into a playful poem capturing the humour and quirks of life in Aotearoa - and beyond. He produced just over a hundred ditties in 2023 before Covid paused the project, but later, reviewing his verses, he found they formed a lively record of the year's events. Realising their charm and topical wit, he decided to gather them into a book for others to enjoy.