RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29930, 18 September 1962, Page 19

RANDOM REMINDER

POST SCRIPT

They are still talking in Rangiora about the mouse and the elephant and similar strange stories, all because of a very small and very inoffensive dog. Anyone who owns such a dog and takes it out for a walk while shopping might reasonably expect to leave the animal tethered to a verandah post without causing chaos, widespread damage and considerable embarrassment. But the Rangiora dog did all those things. There it was, tied by its leash to a massive post, while its owner

went off to the shop. After a few minutes, the dog noticed a friend trotting up the street. What more natural than that the tethered friend should make an absentminded attempt to race off and greet his old pal? That did it. The leash pulled at the post, which was supporting a corner of the verandah of one of the very oldest shops in Rangiora. The post collapsed, and in falling, went through the window of the shop causing much confusion to those within and reducing the windw display to a sort of nightmare omelette. The owner of the shop was naturally

startled and a little upset, particularly as he had just completed negotiations for the sale of the shop to the owner of anoher business next door. Not unnaturally, he was somewhat embarrassed at having such a wreck to hand over in a day or two, and he approached the purchaser with apologies and an offer to pay for the damage. If he was relieved at the new owner's reaction, he might have been a little hurt at his plana. “She’s right,” the man said. “We’re putting a bulldozer through that lot on Monday.”