Sideswipe: Aug 27: Confusing the kids

Photo / Supplied

There are some confused kids in Gulf Harbour (from Steve Bloem).

A bit of heavy reading

"Has anyone else injured a librarian?" asks Lisa. "I was dropping off some library books in the after-hours returns slot. I posted the first, a very large coffee table book, and was given the fright of my life when a cry of 'Ouch!' came from down the hole. Then, as I was bending down looking into the eyes of the injured librarian and asking her how she was, a man sauntered along chuckling and said 'Talking to the books eh?' (and sauntered off before I could explain). I still had two more books to post so I had to yell out 'Coming through!' before I sent them down. I laughed all the way to work - must have been the after-effects of the adrenalin. "

Hard sell to recent arrivals

Am I the only person appalled that travellers arriving at Auckland Airport are hustled by people exhorting them to buy duty-free goods? I have never seen such a display of brazen hucksterism. Can the airport not require these franchisees to comport themselves with some dignity?

Fun with headlines

1. Daily Star in Britain on university research showing less attractive men made better lovers: 'The Good in Bed Are the Ugly'.

2. Sports Illustrated on 1978 Wimbledon men's singles final: 'Connors tried lobs but Borg wasn't Bjorn yesterday'.

3. Sydney Morning Herald above picture of the Royal Australian Navy submarine skipper in front of conning tower on story about the Australian Government selling its submarine fleet: 'Care to Take Her for a Dive, Sir?'

4. Auckland Star on a story from St Louis, Missouri, of a man who collapsed and died of a heart attack while in a florist's ordering a wreath for his brother who had died. 'Make That Two'.

BBQ cleaner than clean

Going the extra mile yarn ... Pete from Titirangi writes: "From 2003 to 2005 we lived in Samoa and we had a house girl to do our housework and look after the kids etc (for all you naysayers this is a huge earner for the locals - and we loved our 40-something house-girl). Anyway, Lisi decided one Friday to clean the BBQ. That night I found she had scrubbed all the black non-stick off the plate and got the plate back to bare metal. You had to laugh at the situation. She had really worked so hard to clean it ... "