A reader writes: "I spotted this horse with its owner at a cafe in Orewa last Friday. After the coffee break they enjoyed a ride on Orewa beach*. An unusual sight that brought a smile to our faces." (*perfectly legal to do)
Dad stories
When I was a baby he burnt his eyebrows off cooking on a grill It wasn't until I was in high school that my mom told me this story, and I laughed, and she was like "wait, nobody ever told you this before?"
And I was like "haha no but why would they?" and she just looked at me and was like "You never asked why your dad didn't have eyebrows?" I had gone my whole life never realising my dad didn't have eyebrows.
In fact, I didn't believe her when she told me and thought she was just doing a stupid mom joke like I was still 7 or something. When we got home though I saw for myself. They just didn't grow back. As a consequence I can no longer ever take him seriously."
Riding for Two
In 2005, Candace Dickinson was pulled over for driving in the carpool lane on Interstate 10 in Phoenix. When the police sergeant asked how many people were in the car, "she said two as she pointed to her obvious pregnancy."
Dickinson argued in court that since Arizona traffic laws don't define when personhood begins, she and her unborn child constituted a carpool. The judge however favoured a "common-sense" interpretation of the statutes in which a person occupies a "separate and distinct … space in a vehicle" and upheld Dickinson's fine. California courts have encountered the same argument — it appears on the frequently asked questions page of the California Highway Patrol. The answer: "California law requires that in order to utilise the high occupancy vehicle lane, there must be two separate individuals occupying seats in a vehicle. Until your 'passenger' is capable of riding in his or her own seat, you cannot count them."
Family words
1. "Older son, at age 3: naming the volcanoes in the centre of the North Island: Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Rollapooho. Younger son, at age 7: naming the leg bones: femur, tibia and fibula, and the arm bones: radius, ulna and hilarious."
2. "The daughter in a family we grew up alongside, called mayonnaise 'white gavy (gravy)…"
3. "My son called cicadas "zeep beep bubbas" so now that's what they're called in my family. I guess he named them as phonetically as he could."
4. "I have a son who didn't like bun peas (sultanas/raisins)."
5. "Hockeytockter = Helicopter…Bartu = BBQ…Macuter = Computer."