RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32235, 2 March 1970, Page 16

RANDOM REMINDER

QUICK CHANGE

About a fortnight ago we hhd in this column an account of a young lady cn holiday with her husband, who preferred taking off her smart new slacks to ruining them in river water when she had to get out and help push the family car. From a professional man in Nelson comes a story which makes the first one seem of very little consequence indeed. He was on holiday this year at Pakawau, just north of Collingwood. From the holiday house he owns the're, he and his wife often visit some beautiful West Coast beaches just north of Westhaven. There are fine sweeps of sand, rocky cliffs and caves, and the surf of the Tasman thundering on to the beach. To get to these highly desirable places, they have to have the permission of local

farmers before negotiating about half a mile of farmland which separates the access road from the beach. It was while traversing one of these strips of farmland that his party became aware that the nature of the terrain was going to force them to pass very close to a herd of Hereford steers, with which were two bulls of extremely aggressive demeanour. Swiftly, the parly bunched. One moment, it was a. strung-out group of picnickers. The next a close-knit band making a few tight-lipped attempts at light-hearted comments. Everyone seemed intent on staying in the middle of the group ... When the intrepid trampers reached the nearest point to the bulls, cur correspondent’s wife dropped her picnic basket and shorts in one incredibly swift action. When someone made bold

to inquire why this strange course of action was required, she answered that her shorts were red, it was red which angered bulls, and she did not care one bit for the way the nearest belligerent bull was eyeing her. The garment under the shorts, however, was a bright pink; and someone remarked that it was bright pink which incensed bulls most, even more than red did. It was then the man discovered the full extent of his wife's fear of bulls. She rummaged frantically in her basket, out came a black bikini (lower half); off came the pink briefs. On went the black ones. All was well. The bulls seemed to think that justice had been done The group passed by safely, and had a splendid day at the beach. They were, as our correspondent hardly needed to point out, all good friends