RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30736, 28 April 1965, Page 30

RANDOM REMINDER

R.G.T. REGRETS

This may not be Wellington, but the autumnal winds are keen here these days, swirling the leaves all over, nullifying the meagre warmth of the sun and paying no respect at all to human dignity in the matter of skirts and hats. We are in the habit of averting our eyes from the embarrassing sight of a woman, her arms occupied with retaining her hat, seven parcels, a handbag and two children, attempting with vain squirming and wriggling to make her skirt behave as Newton decreed it should. But skirts defy gravity in a Christchurch nor-easter, nor-wester or southerly; and it is an interesting exercise to observe in these circumstances what a woman values most—her hat, her parcels, her children or her modesty. And

we must report regretfully that not all Christchurch businessmen avert their eyes from this struggle, especially if the victim be young. Indeed, we are nearly ready to propound a new law dealing with the subject It will say that interest in the spectacle varies inversely as between the age of the observer and the victim.

Was this, we wonder, the reason why a Hereford street man paused the other day at the corner of Manchester street instead of hurrying along, head down, hand clasped to hat brim, face contorted against the wind. Whatever it was, he regretted that pause and that moment or inattention. In a trice the wind had whisked his hat off. It would not have mattered much if (a) he had not

been so sensitive about a bald spot spreading with alarming rapidity over his head, (b) it had not been a new hat, and (c) if the hat had not blown on to the back of a truck bowling rapidly south along Manchester street Before he could get out his glasses (he is a little sensitive about wearing them in public) the truck was past. The number plate was, of course covered in mud and there were no other markings on the rear end. He began to run, but of course the truck had a clear run across Cashel street and a green light at High street The initials “R.G.T.” are stamped inside the hat. If any truck driver has noticed this addition to his load, we are ready to act as an Intermediary in its return.