"My wife and I live in Auckland, but we were recently in Adelaide to clean out her late father's house to prepare it for sale," writes Brendan Boughen. "He had lived in the house for over 40 years, and was a bit of acollector / hoarder. Anyway, in the very last cupboard my wife went through she found a small piece of art hidden at the bottom under some boxes of slides and photographs. It immediately piqued her curiosity and so she took it to an art valuer in Adelaide. Turns out it was an incredibly rare original work by world famous Australian Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira. It has now been identified as one of his earliest known works, and will be going to auction this weekend with a reserve price of $18,000, but at this stage it is expected to go for more than that."
Daddy's little girl...
A father writes: "Most days I like being a Dad to a headstrong four-year-old girl. But last week I went to Rocket Park, in Mt Albert with my moppet. She rode her bike around, slid down the slide and made me go up the rocket to the top, where there was only the smallest of margins between my middle-aged beer belly and the opening at the top of the ladder allowing you to ascend to the next level. All good fun, until we got to the swing. After 15 minutes of "push me higher" I tried to suggest we leave. She wasn't having it. Not even a promise of an ice-block would move her. I had no choice but to pick her up ... at which point she yelled, in her outside voice, "You are not my father!" We swung for a further 10 minutes."
Amy Pomana writes: "Last Thursday, I was chewing gum in the Pioneer New World store [in Palmerston North], next minute I was accused of consuming the cashew nuts I had just bagged up at the bulk bins. I was supposedly seen on camera. I pulled my gum out of my mouth for her [a staff member] to inspect by way of an explanation and she finally left me alone. I sent an email complaint in requesting the footage to be reviewed and hopefully I then get an apology."
Tea a total waste of water
Prakash Srivatsan writes: "A tiny tea bag you use to make your cup in the morning usually consumes close to a 100 litres of water in the growing process, excluding the energy spent to dry, process and package them. What is the standard capacity of your cup of English breakfast? 200 mls? The regions where they are planted in India and Sri Lanka used to have super tall trees lining the mountain tops that contributed to South-West Monsoon during June-August season about 200 years ago and that provided steady water downstream to places that relied on water supply for another H2O guzzling crop, rice. Now, there are hardly any monsoon rains. The tall trees have been replaced with tea plantations. Monsoons have turned into wild weather patterns that destroys slopes and fields. The next time you take a sip out of that tea cup, remember all these."
Old and terrifying joke.
Picture this: This truck was spotted in Florida. You might be alarmed if you were following it, until you saw it from the side and see that it belongs to a company selling blinds.
