Sideswipe: September 25: But that's the way you say it ...

Grown-ups need nannying too

Traditional nanny duties include preparing meals or doing the school run, and in some tribes the modern nannies' duties have been extended to look after the grown-ups too. According to an article in The New York Post, there's currently a "fleet" of super nannies in New York City who are tasked with giving their boss a massage and even blow-drying their hair. One nanny-consulting business in Manhattan, revealed that they have a client - a family, with children aged 4 and 7 - that requested a yoga-certified nanny, to "make sure everybody in the household was balanced and mindful".

Mobile snoozers

One woman would ride her motorcycle late at night - she had no idea because she was sleepwalking. Others cook meals, preach sermons and commit murder while sleeping. It's estimated that 30 per cent of us sleepwalk at one time or another. Unsurprisingly, Sigmund Freud linked sleepwalking with the fulfilling of repressed sexual desires, but although modern scientists believe it's triggered by stress, anxiety, and alcohol, it is totally unknown why we do it. "Are we simply on auto-pilot? Trying to fulfil our fantasies? Or perhaps something stranger ... Science hasn't always provided satisfactory answers to the many questions raised around sleepwalking. Throughout history, the mysteries of sleepwalking have lead many to come up with their own theories - drawing on spirituality, pseudo-science, and folklore - with sleepwalkers seeming to exist somewhere between this world and another." (Source: Vice magazine)

Dad Bod mannequin

Dumped car can linger

"This car was dumped in our Christchurch street about 10 weeks ago," writes a southern reader. "Complete wreck, piece of someone's unwanted trash. The road tax has expired. I called the city council to ask to have it removed. They told me sorry, but it still has (incredibly) a WOF that expires in January so we can't do anything. That means it would have sat there for more than six months. Is this the best they can do? Maybe contact the registered owner and ask him to remove it?"