It was a Sunday afternoon in 1986. Pippa Mahood and husband Brian had shared a long lunch with friends.
Wine was consumed and the phone rang. It was Sir Ross Jansen calling to suggest Pippa run for council.
"Pffft! I told him. I couldn't think of anything I'd rather not do!"
Sir Ross kept on at her, suggested she meet him at council to talk about it. She didn't know where the council building was. He told her the meeting would take 10 minutes.
"An hour later I got back to my car and a parking ticket."
Sir Ross told her if she didn't make it on to council, so be it. And if she did, but didn't like it, she could resign.
"Just to get him off my back I said I'd do it. He said 'I think you'll like it' and how right he was. I loved it."
So much so she's become Hamilton's longest-serving city councillors. She's served nine terms - 27 years. At the 2010 election, she was the third-highest polling candidate.
Soon after being voted in three years ago she decided this would be her last term. At a full council meeting earlier this month, she announced she wouldn't be standing in the next local body elections in October.
She joins Daphne Bell, Peter Bos, John Gower and Maria Westphal in deciding not to stand again.
"It's time for me to go. I've just kept a seat warm," she says modestly.
Now it's time to devote herself to her family. Or at least, more than she already is. The past couple of months have been a whirlwind of family drama. Brian, who has MS, took a downward turn; their daughter, Caroline, gave birth five weeks early to her second son, then developed septicaemia; Caroline's older child contracted chicken pox which he's passed on to his mother; and amid all that, Pippa found herself bedridden for two weeks with a nasty bout of 'flu.
She plans to stand for the Waikato District Health Board again and has a couple of ideas about ventures she would like to be involved in as a volunteer. Whatever she chooses to take on, the prerequisite is she has to be something she's passionate about. She'd also like to spend more time on her art, get in more cycling and take to the slopes. "I adore skiing. 'Mental health days' on the ski slopes on a navy blue sky is my idea of heaven."
Pippa has worked with seven mayors, chaired myriad committees and was deputy mayor for a time. She'll miss the staff and fellow councillors she's worked with for several terms. But most of all she'll miss the community she's advocated for for so long and being involved in planning for the city.
"I will miss the wide ranging interest in the city's future. I've found it's not what you do today. What's important is what you plan for the next five, 10, 15 years. That's what matters.
"We've made some wonderfully good decisions that stand the test of time, and some that clearly weren't right. For me it's not about playing the game of politics, it's about thinking what is the best thing for the city and hopefully we leave the door open for others to make good decisions.
"Really my forte is that I'm a community person. I've understood the community. That's what makes me tick; being a voice for the people."
Her advice to candidates standing in the October elections is to "remember who you are representing".
THOUGHTS OF A RETIRING COUNCILLOR
On the V8s: I won't ever regret we had them here. What I'm sorry about is how it turned out the way it did from a community point of view. It was tremendous for this city. When we agreed to take the V8s on here I remember distinctly the city smelling the petrol fumes. There was almost euphoria that Hamilton - Hamilton! - had got something major. And it gave people the people a belief we had finally made it on the national stage.
On Ruakura's inland port: Whatever the outcome of the District Plan, the fact that the inland port is part of that is really important. I don't know how it will end up but for the long-term wellbeing of the city it is essential we allow progress to occur and be supportive of it.
On the mayors she's worked with: They've all been different. One I liked was Sir Ross Jansen. He was complex but he had a good way of seeing the future. Some of the most sensible advice was from him - you've got to get on with your colleagues whoever they may be.