Editorial: Why steal a swan?

best I can think of to say about a pet swan is that it would be marginally more fun than a pet goose.WHO would steal a swan? And what would you do with it once you did?

Henley Trust are concerned about the disappearance of a swan and two cygnets that haven't turned up for their regular morning hand feeding. And since no swan bodies have washed up along the lake, the bird watchers suspect fowl play.

I can't imagine why you would want to steal a swan unless (bird lovers may want to skip to the next sentence) you were planning a large feast of roast fowl.

I can't imagine they would be the nicest of pets, swans being not that cuddly as a rule.

And given the amount of swan deposits around the Henley Lake walking paths, I would think they'd make quite a mess in the backyard.

The best I can think of to say about a pet swan is that it would be marginally more fun than a pet goose.

I'm not ashamed to say that when the geese at Henley Lake waddle on to the path and fix me with their mean little eyes, I give them a very wide berth.

In today's paper we would, ordinarily, be giving away a Garden Barn voucher to our favourite letter of the week. Unfortunately, all our regular letter writers must still be on summer holiday.

When we relaunched the paper last year, one of our aims was to restart the conversation with our readers that had been missing from the opinion pages.

We have enjoyed having your thoughts and views on these pages. They've made the new Times-Age a livelier, more engaging read.

I look forward to welcoming your letters back to these pages next week, and giving away another Garden Barn voucher to our favourite correspondent.

Send your letters to editor@age.co.nz, or post to PO Box 445, Masterton.