Sideswipe: New Zealand Road

David Duignan's family took this picture in Nova Scotia.

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A reader shares her expensive romantic weekend away in Christchurch: "Plane tickets - $300, hotel room - $240, room service breakfast - $60 ... Having sex at the foot of the bed, losing balance and falling back into the TV at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (who for some unknown reason don't have insurance and force you to pay on the spot or they'll call the police) - $1500. Sharing the story - Priceless!"

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Stupid job interview #1: Leanne says she went for a job interview this year with a construction company as a PA to the chief executive and left utterly gobsmacked. "The interview was going so well until I asked if there were any personality clashes. The bloke replied, 'Not really, but we do have the old guy out the back who is absolutely obsessed with giant breasts, so don't worry, he won't be looking at yours'. Silence. He realised what he said, I cringed and curled my toes inside my shoes and that was the end of that interview. I did not get the job and worse, I sat there thinking, 'My breasts aren't even that small!"'

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Stupid job interview #2: A reader writes: "In the UK, tests were often conducted as part of the interview. I was shown to a room and left there for three hours without anyone turning up. I sat there like a fool waiting, thinking it was some test or the like. Truth was they had just forgotten me."

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A reader from Waitakere visited an Asian shop at the weekend and noticed some folding rat traps. "I was about to buy one when I noticed the photo on the front which put me right off - a tan and white short-haired guinea pig. China obviously has a better quality 'rat'."

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A reader suggests Ocean Coffee sounds a lot more palatable than this brew being imported into New Zealand. According to its website Weasel Coffee gets its name from a Vietnamese brew which is made from coffee berries that have been regurgitated (or defecated) by local "weasels", ie, the Asian Palm Civet. (Source: www.weaselcoffee.co.nz)

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Please advise your reader who swallowed the button batteries to seek urgent medical attention. "My 4-year-old toddler lodged one in his nose and developed a 1cm hole through his septum in the time it took to get him to A&E and have it removed. When ingested, they can become lodged in the oesophagus and can cause severe burns or even perforation in as little as one to two hours."

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Len Hill has worked out how to deal with the Northern Gateway Tunnel. "I timed the trip on a couple of occasions and found that through the tunnel took five minutes and around the coast road took around 12 minutes. I figured if it's going to take longer than six or seven minutes to pay the toll, it ain't worth bothering with and I'd take the old road."

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See today's Herald cartoon