It's been 39 days since the election, 19 days since the final election results were released, and there's still no Government.
That's despite a constant chorus of "we're making progress", "we're going as quickly as possible", and "strong, stable Government" from National, ACT, and New Zealand First MPs.
It's a chorus that's teased the nation throughout, right from November 2 when ACT Leader David Seymour said a "deal could be done in a matter of days".
In hindsight, that was beyond wishful thinking from Seymour. If only he knew then what we all know now.
On that same day, National Leader Christopher Luxon was saying "we're moving with tremendous urgency", confident he could "move through this very quickly".
Hindsight's taught us that quickly isn't that quick at all.
We also heard aspirations of a "strong and stable Government" on repeat for a month.
Newshub's cameras caught Luxon saying it at least 42 times. His MP Simeon Brown said it 10 times in the space of 3 minutes. Even Seymour, Shane Jones, and Winston Peters rolled out a varying version of the line.
Time will tell if that wish comes true.
Speaking of time, Chris Bishop couldn't stop saying "good things take time" - before adding a gag about Mainland cheese.
There was a deluge of "we're making good progress" over those 19 days - a broken record that felt like the soon-to-be Government was trolling the country. Possibly it was good progress, but it was also slow.
Peters kept hopes alive with comments like "speed is of the essence" and "it's going with the greatest speed possible". The speed of a Lada traversing Russia, perhaps.
Then came the barrage of promises that talks were in the "final stages" - those final stages have taken more than a week.
Someone buy them a dictionary.
There was one issue. Then a few. Then "one, two, three issues" that needed to be navigated. No one ever knew the real number of stumbling blocks.
How long was this piece of string? How far away was the try line? What distance is the home stretch? How many more metaphors would there be? What should one read into Shane Jones' Shakespearean and Biblical quotes? It's been a hard journey to interpret.
Watch the full video above, edited by Tamara Finau-Moir.
