RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32486, 22 December 1970, Page 22

RANDOM REMINDER

NESTERS

Now and then, correspondents bring us the sort of heart - wanning little stories which make life a little more worth living. At this time of the year, with the spirit of Christmas abroad, they should perhaps be commonplace. But they are none the less welcome for that. And there was particular pleasure in hearing the taie about the painters who are working at present on a hotel near Christchurch. It is a two-

storey building, and it has been rough-cast The painters had an extension ladder from which they worked industriously from Monday to Friday. And on the Friday afternoon, in the New Zealand way, they withdrew from their labours and sought solace at home and abroad. And they left the ladder where it was. During the week-end, and in sharp conflict with accepted New Zealand practice, there was a great deal of activity there. From a sparrow, which built a nest between

the eaves and the top of the ladder. Its do-it-your-self effort had been completed by the Sunday evening, so that when the painters came to work on Monday, they discovered this fait accompli. They have finished working there, and they would like to shift the ladder. But they are not going to do that, even if the hire of it is costing them a dollar a day. But they would like to know, from some bird-loving readers, how long it is before the eggs are going to hatch.