Sideswipe

Winston gagged or just a well-placed address sticker?

While on holiday in Europe this year, a reader overheard two American friends talking about their time in England. One said to the other, "Oh, Windsor Castle is so beautiful ... It's just a pity they built it so close to the motorway."

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While following a Mt Albert mother and her preschooler, another reader overheard a lesson in times tables ... "Come on, you've just forgotten ... say after me: Three sevens are thirty-seven."

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The first sentence of Hunter S. Thompson's hilarious, drug-fuelled Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: "We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold." The first sentence of Donny Osmond's soon-to-be-published autobiography Life Is Just What You Make It: "It happened one night at a gas station somewhere around Fresno, California." But there, unfortunately, the similarity ends.

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The consensus regarding Orlando Bloom's acting ability is, no, the pretty boy can't act: This reader sums it up perfectly ... "Orlando Bloom is quite good on the eye but positively tragic as an actor. Anyone who had the misfortune to see him in Troy can testify to the fact that he was so wooden they could have used him as the horse."

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Is it reading too much into the fact that the TVNZ HQ in Wellesley St has a three-storey banner hanging from it with the words

Rescue me across the bottom?

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Sucking up to the boss outranks office gossip and serial late starters as one of the most hated behaviours at work. A survey of 766 people by networking website company LinkMe.com.au found 41 per cent of respondents absolutely hated it when their colleagues sucked up to the boss. Inconsiderate behaviour towards colleagues also irritated large numbers of workers, with 51 per cent saying they were peeved when their workmates did not take their feelings into consideration. Gossip mongering colleagues made 37 per cent of respondents' livesa misery at the office, while 30 per cent said they became upset when their workmates arrived late for work.

Also making the list of annoying behaviour at work were smoke-breaks, swearing at computers, listening to the radio and laziness. LinkMe spokesman Tony Mittlemark commented: "Most employees work in tight spaces with colleagues in cubicles, open plan offices or workstations. You get to hear their arguments with their partners, you become au fait with their personal grooming habits, you are the brunt of their sneezes, coughs and viruses, and watch while they eat weird food concoctions at their desks." (Source: AAP)