Draped in his mayoral chains, a small-town New Zealand politician raised his arms in jubilant celebration - at the opening of a discount department store.
David Ayers, the Waimakariri mayor, had reason to celebrate.
He was about to get some new underpants... and it had been a while... four years in fact.
Ayers was front of the queue, Thursday, as the doors opened on the new Farmers store on High St, Rangiora, in north Canterbury.
According to Stuff.co.nz, Ayers was “personally vested” in the store’s rebuild as he had “publicly pledged to not buy a new pair of underpants until the Farmers reopened in a stand to back local businesses”.
The website quoted Ayers as saying of the store’s opening: “This is a huge vote of confidence in Rangiora and North Canterbury, something the district has been waiting for for four years.”
The mayor was later pictured beaming while holding a Farmers bag aloft, presumably containing some new undergarments.
Ayers later announced his purchase to his 339 Twitter followers, which prompted an obvious question about the state of his four-year-old pants.
Ayers responded.... but only briefly..
A subsequent question inquired about who footed the bill for Ayers’ fancy new pants.
It wasn’t taxpayers..
According to Stuff.co.nz, the old Farmers building, on the same site, closed in 2012 because of safety concerns after the Christchurch earthquakes. It was demolished in 2014.