Sideswipe: Dec 21: Merry jape backfires for Santas

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Spotted on St Heliers Bay beach early on Tuesday night. "The Santas are my husband and his mates who run together every Tuesday, the men in white a St Heliers tae kwon do group whom the Santas sneaked up on and joined. The tae kwon do leader quickly got them all into a full push up - at which point the Santas all moaned, groaned and gave up."

Flight attendant 1, Rude Cow 0

A reader writes: "Being polite pays off - my seat was double-booked and the other lady was being a right cow about it being her seat so the flight attendant gave her the seat, then turned to me and said, "Come with me, how about business class?" So I got a free trip in business class while the lady who was rude was left moaning about being stuck in economy."

Move over Wilson, Susie's got the ticket

Purr-fect Cat Burglar II: Karen Bentley's cat Susie brings her owners a number of "presents" each night. "They have ranged from socks, men's trousers (I don't know how she drags them), underwear and bank statements (I did ask for money!) The classic was a scratchy ticket. My husband was doing the actual scratching on the deck and an unscratched one blew away and fell through the deck cracks.The next morning when I got up the scratchy was sitting in the hallway and when I scratched it, it was worth $40!"

Noel takes Tigger for a spin

After a stay in hospital, Selwyn Heights Retirement Village resident Noel took his mobility scooter for a spin around the internal Hillsborough Ring Rd ... for kicks and to celebrate his 85th birthday, explains another bemused (and amused) resident. The roadster's email to family and friends reads: "The first day back I rode Tigger for three full circuits around the internal Ring Rd just for fun, before diving on to the recliner ... The next two days have been spent largely in the recliner reading my Kindle as I regained some of my strength."

Local: There was no name on the letter, but Mr Winters would like the writer to know this: "Thank you and your apology is accepted It was taken about 5 years ago and is of pure silver I'm delighted on its return"

Picture this: A gallery of Sellotaped faces. Wonderfully liberating and hilarious seeing such lack of facial symmetry!

Mobile holiday: Somehow searching for Large Margarita jugs on Trade Me threw up a number of caravans - this fancy $80K one (which might be the future of home ownership in NZ)

and this more modest $8K 70s one...

Could you live in one?

Video: The Christmas Story, told by Kiwi kids will melt your cynicism away (at least for a moment). (Made by St Paul's Church, Auckland, New Zealand in 2010).