Sideswipe: December 16: Bollards too eye-catching for Whangarei

Whangarei District Council property managers have ordered a repaint of six bollards outside a well known gallery in the Town Basin as they were "enhanced" without permission. The resulting storm of protest on Facebook included this exchange: One local said: "Good grief! Who voted those people in? The colours are awesome, I just want to know why some are crooked." Another local replied: "We think they are crooked because they've been successful in their jobs as bollards." Another quipped: "I think some are crooked due to being painted a boring, blend-in-with-everything, what the hell did I just hit green." True to local government bureaucratic form, the bollards will be repainted the standard green by the time this goes to print. (Source: Whangarei Loves Hundertwasser Facebook page)

Ketchup ... it's not all sweetness and lite

"Well versed in the evils of sugar, a friend was telling me she had ditched the tomato sauce and her kids weren't happy," writes Rachel from Torbay. "I suggested lite varieties but she swore the sauce-makers just upped the sugar and reduced the fat and called it lite. The next day I was emptying a lite refill can into an empty regular t-sauce squeezable bottle and feel compelled to bore your readers with what I discovered. According to the packaging both sauces have the same level of fat (stuff all at 0.2gms per 100ml serving) but the lite t-sauce had half the sugar that the regular had (16gms/100mls as opposed to 30gms/100mls). So if you have to drench your kids' dinner in the condiment, at least you've got a choice."

How many retailers flow like this?

Not many. Spotted in Pt Chevalier.

Low prices pull in punters

"Damian has not got the full picture about cars queuing at the Carr Rd BP," writes a reader. "That service station must have the lowest prices in central Auckland and always has a long queue, but probably more so on a 'Thirsty Thursday' when it is an 8c promotion. I asked the attendant how the station could sustain such prices and he replied 'throughput'. Also most cars are not idling; drivers usually turn off their engines if there's a wait. Nobody minds the wait if the petrol is already cheaper by 10c or more than elsewhere. Another 8c is even more of a bonus."

Getting furcraea facts right

Continuing our discussion of the furcraea plant, Patrick recently visited Jalisco State, Mexico where tequila originates. "Tequila is made from the 'pina' (not a tuber, but the part where the leaves come together) of the blue agave. It is not made from furcraea, which isn't an agave. So tequila drinkers are not to blame for the disappearance of the century plant. Blue agave is planted commercially and is in no danger of extinction."

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