Sideswipe: April 20: Praying for Buddha's return

Snappy measurements: "Americans will use anything but the metric system," tweets Klara Sjoberg.

Bring beloved Buddha back

A reader writes: "For over two years our Buddha (pictured) has brought joy to our neighbourhood in Challenger St in St Heliers — many stopping to rub his belly for good luck. I'm not sure if you know about bad karma but hope you return him to his rightful home."

The real hot pants

"The igniting pants of 1930s farmers was no rural legend," writes Roger Clarke of Te Awamutu. "Sodium chlorate was used to kill ragwort by sprinkling a little on the weed. For this reason, farmers and farm workers would generally carry a small jar of it in their pockets. Dad would tell the story of one of their family's farm workers riding his bicycle when the friction of his pumping leg created sufficient heat to ignite the sodium chlorate in his trouser pocket. Fortunately, he was close to a water trough and threw himself into the water to douse his burning trousers ... Sodium chlorate was still being used in the 1950s when a neighbour and I, as young lads, learned we could make an impressive explosive by mixing sodium chlorate with sugar. This was trialled to great effect by putting the concoction down rabbit holes and dribbling a trail of petrol as a fuse. We somehow survived our fraught childhood."

Did you know

1. Members of Mötley Crüe were confused by chants of "Mutley Cruh" when they performed in Germany, as the Germans were actually pronouncing the band's spurious umlauts.

2. Turkeys can fly up to 100km/h despite their 9kg heft. They roost high in the trees at night, but spend most of their time on the ground, causing the misconception that they are incapable of flight at all.

Lockdown limerick

Here's Monday's update of #Covid-19
What does moving Level 4 to 3 really mean?
Well you can't cut your hair
Or restart that affair
But you can espresso a takeaway cup full of beans
(by Tony Gavigan)