Sideswipe: September 10: Rooster thief

Photo / Joanne Sullivan-Gessler

Cut off at the knees

The bronze sculpture of a rooster balancing on the back of a chair has been plucked from the square in the Albany Village. Howard Williams from the Albany Village Charitable Arts Trust writes: "On Tuesday morning, Auckland Mayor Len Brown was in Albany Village to talk about local issues and unveil a new sculpture by local artist Margot Symes, a beautiful waka anchor stone in granite, sited in Kell Lane. After the unveiling we took the mayor to see Balance, the bronze rooster, only to find the chair still there, but overnight some low-life had sawn the rooster off his perch!" Balance was created by local sculptor Joanne Sullivan who also created the life-size bronze statue of Phar Lap in full gallop, now in Timaru, where Phar Lap was born.

Woman's wit tops the list

Althea Hill of Thames Coast writes: "Over the years I've often enjoyed a smile at the amusing names people tend to choose for their motorhomes. The other day however, I saw one that took out first prize in my opinion. It sat there on the Thames Coast and was just like Edelweiss - small and white, clean and bright. Using her great wit, the owner had called it 'My Sanity Pad'."

Hiking the price

Jason Cameron took his son to an event at Vector Arena this weekend. "We parked in the carpark by Britomart which advertised 'Event Parking'. If you pressed 'Event' before submitting your ticket you were charged $25.00. The price if you don't press 'Event' ... $16.00. Go figure."

Best of Twitter

"You know you're the oldest at the table when you talk about the dotcom bust and they all think you're talking about a German guy's arrest." (@Brianholland)

Just a suggestion

Maree writes: "On the new smartphone app for getting kids to bed: when my kids (now 18 and 16) were young, I had a really cool device called 'rules and routines' to get them to sleep and it worked wonders. Sadly I think it may be obsolete now."

A wannabe ad copywriter chalked this sign outside a pharmacy in Avarua, Rarotonga. Photo / Michael White

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Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz