Sideswipe: August 13: Enlightening mail drop

Famous British regatta changes dress code

Yes, that's the sound of a hundred of monocles dropping into brandy glasses in outrage as women are finally allowed to wear (gasp) trousers everywhere at the Henley Regatta. Previously women could only wear a dress or skirt with a hemline below the knee to gain access to the Steward's Enclosure at the annual event in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
For the first time in decades women can now wear trousers and trouser suits. It comes after a petition last year by a University of Oxford rower who called the dress code "draconian" (the dress code was only adopted in the late 1970s). Men are required to wear lounge suits, or jackets, or blazers with trousers, together with a tie or a cravat. Henley Royal Regatta involves rowers battling it out on the River Thames over five days of racing, and attracts huge crowds. It was first staged in 1839 and attracts participants ranging from Olympians, university and school teams, to novices.

Only hetero, nuclear families please

Spotted by Glenda Southey

This sign at Tairua wharf details the fares, including eligibility for a family concession. And there's only one type of family eligible for the family concession. Spotted by Glenda Southey.

19th-century wisdom

French writer Diane de Beausacq philosophised about life in the 1800s and much of her ideas still have resonance today.

1. There are two ways of diminishing the tedium of a tedious task — to do it with all your might, or in the company of one you love.

2. Those who die a lingering death are never so bitterly lamented; they have been mourned in advance.

3. There are people who spend their lives in searching in the conduct of others for some cause for anger.

4. Of the lives of others, we see only the pretexts.

5. To spoil children is to deceive them concerning life; life herself does not spoil us.

6. Men resemble one another most in the heart and differ most in character; we can speak of the human heart, but not of the human character.

7. The less a man thinks of himself, the less unhappy will he be.

8. Strong reasons determine our resolves, slight reasons arrest us, on the eve of executing them. Most of us have looked forward eagerly to going a journey, and yet, when the hour of departure has come, many a one has been stopped by the fear of the bad cooking and comfortless beds of the inn.