Hatpin panic
Hatpins ultimately allowed women of the early 1900s to travel alone, because they could defend themselves against "mashers". A young Kansas woman was touring New York City when she boarded a crowded stagecoach and when the stage jumped, an elderly man ended up touching her — "hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder" and then "lifted his arm and draped it low across her back" as it was reported at the time.
The woman took her hatpin (which was almost a foot (30cm) long) and plunged it into the man's arm ... But then stories about wounded innocent people emerged. A young woman playfully thrust her hatpin at her boyfriend, but she fatally pierced his heart. A young New Yorker felt a sharp pain behind his ear on a streetcar — an accidental prick from a stranger's hatpin — and died within a week.
They were also seen as a tool for lady civil disobedience when 100 female factory workers, all wielding hatpins, attacked police officers who arrested two of their colleagues for making anarchistic speeches.
In 1910, Chicago's city council banned hatpins longer than nine inches. "If women care to wear carrots and roosters on their heads, that is a matter for their own concern but when it comes to wearing swords, they must be stopped," a male supporter said. A female supporter replied: "If the men of Chicago want to take the hatpins away from us, let them make the streets safe. No man has a right to tell me how I shall dress and what I shall wear."
Animals behaving badly
1. My dog will randomly stop and lie down no matter where he is if he doesn't fancy the direction/place you are going. We call it flomping. It can be embarrassing and he's a 27kg English bulldog so no carrying him!
2. My cat brought a leg of lamb home once. A few days later a neighbour was telling me how some bugger stole her Sunday roast while she was out of the kitchen. I was like "Really? You can't trust anyone these days."
Before the boom
"My late husband Alan and I were married on 30th May 1959 at the same time as the official opening of the Auckland Harbour Bridge," writes Ann Clarkson-Palmer. "We were leaving Auckland to live in Christchurch the next day, so felt we must say we'd driven over the new bridge. So at 9am the next morning, we drove across and paid the 2/6d to the toll operator. We were greeted warmly and when we told him that we were on our way to Christchurch, he suggested we drive through, turn around, then go back south. So we paid another 2/6d then crossed back over. There didn't appear to be many cars around at the time. Could only have happened in 1959."
Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz