Flight fright
A flight in China was delayed after an elderly passenger boarding the China Southern Airlines flight from Shanghai to Guangzhou threw nine coins into the aircraft's engine for good luck. Fellow passengers alerted airline staff and it prompted a full examination of the engine, which delayed the flight for five hours.
Scrum chums
"Every single bloke in a red rugby shirt looks EXACTLY the same and I'm honestly quite concerned about how they're going to keep track of each other. But I'm also imagining some adorable situations where, like, they're in the kebab shop and Barry's, like, 'Hang on, where's Gaz? Who's this geezer then?' and the guy's, like, 'I'm Bert, sorry, I thought you were my friend, Dougal, this entire time' and there's a tense moment of silence and then Bert starts singing the chorus to Angels by Robbie Williams, waveringly at first but then they all join in and hug rapturously and wipe their tears on each other's stubbly chins and leave the kebab shop as best mates while roaring 'LADS, LADS, LADS, LADS! C'MON MY SON'..." (Via @HungryandFrozen)
Snail mail
"Two weeks ago I sent some baking 'overnight' by courier to my uni-student son in Wellington," writes a reader. "When I could see that it hadn't been delivered the next day, I phoned -- the first of 8 times to the 0800 number, and was told:
• It would be delivered the next day.
• It couldn't be delivered because there was no access to the property.
• It couldn't be delivered because there was a yellow line road marking on the road outside the house.
• It couldn't be delivered because there are roadworks in the street.
• It would be returned to me.
• It would actually be delivered to the original address.
• It is on hold.
There are tax documents as well as now very stale, mouldy baking in the parcel ...
It finally arrived after 12 days ... for an overnight delivery."
Picture this: How sperm whales sleep.
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Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz