Sideswipe

Herne Bay eatery Andiamo seeks staff with specific attributes. On Monday morning the sign said it wanted a 'Buxom lass with tight buns...'

Mike Morris of Northcote sees the irony of New Zealand justice. He writes: "The star of television's Police Ten 7 this week who wreaked mayhem in Caltex Downtown, including headbutting a policeman, was charged with double assault, resisting arrest and was fined $100. A driver who fails to wear a seatbelt gets an instant $150 fine."

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NZ Post's publication listing all the new postcodes for this country of 4 million is the size of an Auckland phone book and costs $30. By comparison, the Australian equivalent is a slim A5 booklet and it's free. Oh, and the NZ Post tome has sold out and is awaiting a reprint. Here's a tip: it's all free on the intenet. Visit the website at www.nzpost.co.nz and click on "postcode finder".

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The readers of Britain's Daily Mirror have included the jandal among their "100 Most Annoying Things". Their top 20 annoyances:

* Cold callers
* Caravans
* Queue-jumpers
* James Blunt
* Traffic wardens
* Tailgaters
* Brown-nosers
* Ex-smokers
* Motorcyclists who weave through traffic
* Hangovers
* Loud mobile users
* Men in flip-flops
* Paper cuts
* Noisy neighbours
* Bad hair days
* Breaking wind
* Off milk
* Being put on hold
* Drivers who park in disabled bays
* Rude shop assistants

Other unusual modern-day irritants worth a mention include skinny people who complain they are fat, novelty ring tones, Crazy Frog, people who text in capitals, shoppers hitting your heels with their trolley, PDA (public displays of affection) and fake fingernails.

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Yesterday a reader noticed a group of men at the airport returning from a boys' weekend in Australia. One retrieved his wedding ring from his suitcase and put it back on his finger and Mike says that doesn't mean the bloke was playing around: "Let's never defend the indefensible, but in the interests of innocent until proven guilty, I offer you a possible explanation ... I travel away for a weekend once a year with the boys. My wedding ring comes off around midday on the Friday, and sometimes doesn't go back on until late on the Sunday afternoon. Men behaving badly definitely. Infidelity - no way. It just interferes with my grip on my golf clubs. It comes off every time I play, and playing three or four times on those weekends, it's safer in my wallet."

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Three English 12-year-olds from Halesowen, West Midlands, were arrested, DNA-tested, interrogated and locked up after they were ... wait for it ... caught climbing a tree on public land near their homes. Their shoes were removed and mugshots, DNA samples and mouth swabs were taken. The scared friends admitted breaking some loose branches because they wanted to build a tree house, but said they did not realise what they had done was wrong. Although the reprimand does not amount to court action and they do not have criminal records, their details will be kept on file for up to five years.