KEY POINTS:
Top 10 unusual searches for New Zealand destinations (compiled by online accommodation website Wotif.com).
1. Orkland (Auckland)
2. Piehere (Paihia)
3. Wanka (Wanaka)
4. Whycato (Waikato)
5. Gisbourne (Gisborne)
6. Rooapayhu (Ruapehu)
7. Tawpo (Taupo)
8. Hammer Springs (Hanmer Springs)
9. Glassier, Glaceer, Glasier, Glassier (Franz Josef or Fox Glacier)
10. Te Rnow, Te Arnow,
tearnow, trnow (Te Anau )
Wotif says they have added a number of misspellings and colloquialisms (Rotovegas, Dorkland, The Nacki) to the intuitive search engine to ensure that even those who can't spell can find a place to stay.
* * *
An open letter to the teenage girl who stole a digital camera from a display work table at the Auckland Museum during the Remembrance Day Service on Sunday morning.
"Your little act of dishonesty was captured in full on closed circuit TV. If the camera is not returned to the museum in good condition before Friday the 16th, then the police will be handed the videotape for their investigations. We know what you look like and the type of clothes you were wearing.
We have a clear description of you and the adult woman you were with. You were with an older woman, dressed in a brown top with dark blue slacks and you were also with three other children. You took the camera at 11.24am, handed it to someone else, who then took your picture with it standing in front of the table you stole it from.
Your group then carried on walking through the galleries with the stolen camera and finally left the museum at 11.46am. Please return the camera to the museum front desk. No questions asked and no further action will be taken."
* * *
Andrew Robinson says his favourite absurd British law is the one that mandates every able- bodied male to attend archery practice at their local parish church every Sunday. "Needless to say, I was never arrested despite being a serial offender," he says.
* * *
Strange names keep on coming: Gerard Bird says the Newmarket engineers Stiffe Hooker in Sideswipe this week once had an associate called Nunn. "Despite the earnest wishes of the engineering community he was never made the third named partner," he says.
When driving along Rosebank Rd in Avondale a while ago Jonathon Thomas of Mt Albert spotted a business called Fuchs Lubricants and, a little further along, another called Auto Relief. "Make what you will of this strange name pairing but do the two go hand in hand?" he quips.
Charles Goldie of Remuera remembers a small garment-pressing business in Wakefield St not so many years ago, which was owned and run by Chub Keith, whose building signage was "Drop Your Tweed At Chub's".
Dorothy Pickering says while working for the Labour Exchange, as it was known then, her sister told her of a man who signed on. "His name was Napoleon Raspberry and the following week his brother also signed on: his name was Wellington Raspberry."
Robyn Wills says Otumoetai Intermediate's music teachers (Mr Blow and Ms Screach) were just a precursor to Otumoetai College's teachers - Mrs Jelly who taught home economics, geography teacher Miss Hill, and Mr Dick ... well, he was a biology teacher.
Today's Video Webpick: According to the blurb on YouTube this clip is a rare theatrical trailer for the 1964 Italian classic Italian Spiderman featuring Franco Franchetti of Mondo Sexo fame in his last ever role before being killed in a spear fishing accident in 1965. Whatever truth there is in that spiel, this spoof is damn funny. Watch it here.
These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.