Sideswipe: July 2: Don't park there

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Off your trolley ... what happens to people who don't understand what a disabled car park is.

Fashionably back to the future

Lookalikes: Patrick McGoohan as Number Six in 60s cult TV show The Prisoner and our team's official Olympic uniform. Neil writes: "McGoohan woke in a strange dystopian English village populated by people riding penny farthing bicycles and every time he tried to escape he was chased by a giant white ball. This sounds strangely similar to daily life for our Olympians in their Olympic village and I expect Kiwi victories at the velodrome and ball handling events to follow."

Dog registration balls-up

Tanya has just received her application to re-register her dog. "And despite being registered as a neutered dog all of last year, suddenly he is unneutered (increasing our fee by another $30). I rang Auckland Council and was told "it's a miracle" by the guy who couldn't control his laughter but was hugely apologetic. Now I have to prove he's been desexed. A photo won't suffice so even though our pet was at the vet two weeks ago for vaccination, a vet must 'formally verify' he has had the chop and give us the paperwork stating so. No wonder some people don't bother."

Taxing time on IRD website

"Normally if you forget a password for a website they have a reminder phrase you have supplied to them," a reader writes. "They tell you the reminder phrase, and bingo, you remember the password. Not so for IRD's online services. YOU have to tell THEM the reminder phrase. If I knew the reminder phrase, I would probably remember the password. And getting the reminder phrase perfect is harder than getting the password."

High on real estate patter

A reader writes: "Visiting a property a few years ago we were warned by the very young agent that the man renting one of the outbuildings could possibly be aggressive. Pointing to a scraggly plant out front, he whispered. 'I think he is on drugs ... and if I'm not mistaken that is a P plant'. He was absolutely serious. It was very hard not to laugh."

Sleeping rough opens eyes

I won't forget my Lifewise Big Sleep Out experience in a hurry. I got a cold and my bones are aching after a night tossing and turning on the concrete. I can't imagine what it would be like to do it day in, day out. But I've raised $3300. So not bad. The top fundraisers were Neil Whittaker from Fuji Xerox who raised more than $9000 and Martyn Levy and Michael Goss, both from 2degrees, who together raised more than $15,000. In total the event's 60 fundraisers pulled in $123,000. There was a real sense of camaraderie and I met some great people from the business community, some who admitted to having their eyes opened by the experience.