Sideswipe

Behold Aphrodite and Athena...

Kerikeri glass artist Sue Hawker says there is no need for expensive research to determine what men and women are thinking. She put this teaser ad in a local paper before unveiling her new pieces - sculptures of goddesses Astarte, Aphrodite and Athena - to a packed pub. Moving about the crowd during the evening, she discovered that all the women there thought the ad indicated that a few lonely single ladies were wanting to meet men at the bar, but all the men thought they were going to see strippers.

* * *

A Los Angeles police officer gave Mayvis Coyle, 82, a US$114 ($180) ticket for taking too long to cross the street. The elderly woman insists the light was green when she started walking across with her groceries, but by the time she crossed five lanes of traffic it was red. One local TV station found that the signal at the intersection where she crossed turned from green to red in 20 seconds. (Source: reason.com)

* * *

Careful what you throw out in your inorganic purge this year. A British waste management firm surveyed 100 waste transfer stations and household tips across the country to find the strangest things people throw away. The top 10 were:

1. A mattress stuffed with more than £5000 ( $14,500). Savings left by an elderly lady who had forgotten it was there.

2. An entire collection of long-running children's comic The Beano spanning 25 years. The first issue alone sold for £12,100 in 2004.

3. A suitcase full of human skulls and bones from a biology lab.

4. A £3000 wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses that were supposed to have gone to the dry cleaners.

5. A week's worth of family washing.

6. An entire male wardrobe including golf clubs thrown away by a disgruntled wife who discovered he was having an affair.

7. Contents of a police evidence bag for a court case.

8. Top secret documents and blueprints for a British aircraft carrier.

9. A hoax bomb that initiated an army investigation.

10. Travel agency takings of £200,000 that were thrown away in black bin liners and required a major recovery operation.

* * *

Ports of Auckland say the gates pictured in Sideswipe last week didn't belong to them and don't come from the fence line on Quay St. Spokesperson Karen Bradshaw points out that Ports of Auckland's fence is listed by Auckland City Council as a Grade A heritage object and it spent more than $500,000 refurbishing it to its former glory in 1992. She adds: "We think [the fence mentioned in Sideswipe] was one of two that used to be in the Viaduct Harbour area. Ports of Auckland sold this area in 1996."