Sideswipe: July 8: Must be Snoop Dogg's boat

Wedding woe

A reader writes: "Went to a wedding where the ceremony was down a track at a waterfall near Karekare beach where there was no phone reception. All waited ages for a celebrant who never turned up, bride was at top of track in blazing heat. Someone raced up the hill to try to call him, to no avail. In desperation, someone rang the surf club to ask if anyone could find a celebrant. As it happened, the guy who answered the call was one. He raced home, got changed and turned up. A wilted wedding party made their way down to the poor groom who was wondering if his bride was ever going to show. Ceremony went ahead with no paperwork or signing and as a few hours had passed the guests already had drunk most of the celebratory bubbles and ate most of the nibbles to survive. The celebrant had got the day wrong! A day to remember but it turned out lovely."

Strange but true ...

1. Children's names that have been blocked by New Zealand's Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages: Yeah Detroit, Sex Fruit, Fat Boy and Fish & Chips (for twins).

2. Thumbs down should really be a good thing: in Ancient Rome, it signified "swords down", which meant the losing gladiator was worth more to the presiding Emperor alive and was to be spared to fight another day.

3. Some excellent words that have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2019: bampot (a foolish or annoying person), chipmunky (like a chipmunk), fantoosh (fancy or showy), maltipoo (Maltese terrier/poodle crossbreed) and cannabusiness (we'll let you work that one out).

4. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now. (Via @qikipedia)

Last email of the term ...

Small-world stories

"Some 12 years ago my son's best friend went to visit his family in Beijing and invited my son to come along," writes Emile from Epsom. "One day while they were out, my son's friend called into a shop while my son waited outside on the footpath. Along the footpath came a girl who suddenly stopped, looked at him and went 'Noooo ... Martin?' Turned out she had attended Mt Roskill Grammar School with my son and his friend, but after completing secondary school she had gone to Beijing to do her university studies there. At the time, there were 18 million people in Beijing so the odds against this chance meeting, half a world away from where they first knew each other, would have been astronomical."