Sideswipe: July 2: Farmers with a sense of humour

Farmers with a sense of humour.

Landlord's intrusive insurers

Like Paul the landlord, Grant the landlord's insurers are equally as onerous and also require an inspection and a written record of the outcome every three months or have no cover in the event of any drug contamination. He explains: "I have had insurance cover from this company for over 15 years and this new term was introduced about five years ago. Yes, I could have changed insurer but the increased cost was not warranted and ultimately the rent would have had to be increased to cover it; even then there could be no guarantee that an alternative insurer would not also invoke a similar requirement at a later date. So I have to continue disturbing my tenant every three months, even though they are good tenants who have been with me for four years with no sign such trouble — surely good track record should allow for some discretion. One could infer that it is a breach of a tenants' right to 'quiet enjoyment' without interruption and contrary to the requirement under the Residential Tenancies Act for inspections to be undertaken that frequently — six monthly maybe, but three monthly is just too frequent."

Searching for a baby's name ...

A baby in Indonesia has been named Google, just like the search engine. The baby's father told Indonesian media he considered more common names but decided that none of them were quite right. So he ended up looking at names of technology companies and products and ultimately settled on Google because the search engine can help many people and he wanted his son to "become a useful person to others". The parents admitted that people like to joke about their choice of name for their son, saying that if they ever have another child they'll name it "WhatsApp".

Anti-Nike logo

Anti-Nike logo.

A startling coincidence

Robert Bringans was travelling through China mid-1987 "when public transport was a hard seat on a bus or you just rode a bike and tried not to get run over by thousands of cyclists. My friend and I booked into a hotel in the town of Xining, which was a converted prison from the 1950s Communist era. The 'hotel' was segregated with women in one part and males in another. At night a very thick metal door was locked in the main hallway to ensure no fraternising. A couple of large Alsatians kept guard, just in case. In our three-bed 'cell' we suddenly heard barking, the metal door being slid and footsteps. There was a knock at the door and a dishevelled guy entered with his backpack slung over his shoulder. Who'd have guessed another Kiwi — my next door neighbour from Howick days at primary school!"