Reporter's Diary

Press, 31 March 1977, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Hunger stops

COMFORT stops for transport drivers are fair enough, but hunger stops? The other day a bus-driver took the fares from boarding passengers, then suddenly jumped out and sauntered across to the cake shop across the road, leaving the bus and passengers idling. After buying his cakes, he strolled back and drove on. It isn’t only bus-drivers, either. Several months ago, a colleague ordered a taxi to drive her home from work at 1.30 a.m. Half-way home, the car suddenly pulled up beside the pie cart and the driver vanished for 10 minutes. He brought his package of chips back to the cab and then munched them beside her all the way to her house. But she says neither of them can compete with a bus-driver encountered in Sydney last year. “We were on our way back to Kings Cross,” she said, “when the driver pulled up, unseated himself, and then sat in the sun sorting out the best bets. We discovered it was 4.30 p.m. and it was time for him to finish work. After waiting 10 minutes for another driver, we gave up and walked back to our hotel.” No influence BEING postmaster at Scott Base doesn’t seem to give lan Johnstone any advantages when it comes to communications. He had to wait until midJanuary for one of his Christmas cards to arrive in Antarctica, although it had been posted in plenty of time. When the base had a telephone schedule to Wellington the other day for the Scott Base people to talk to their relatives in New Zealand, Mr Johnstone was not only at the end of the queue but was the only one to have his call ruined by atmospheric disturbance. George Money of Christchurch, the base radio technician, got on the ham radio and managed to reach another ham in Feilding, who telephoned Mr Johnstone’s wife in Taihape to tell her that the call to her husband was not going to work. He arranged for the Feilding ham. to call back to Scott Base that night with her reply, but when he called, Scott Base could not hear him. Fortunately, the vast world-wide network of ham radio operators swung into action, and a ham in Japan who could hear both ends of the conversation relayed the messages.

Clean linen

THE Govett-Brewster Art Gallery’s “smalls” have posed a big problem for some New Plymouth City councillors. They spent some time at their meeting last week arguing about whether the gallery should have spent $270 on a sculpture by Christine Hellyer, entitled “Country Clothesline.” The work is made of hillbilly garments dipped in coloured latex and hung on a line with red clothespegs. Councillor W. I. Elliott said she was horrified that it had been bought; Councillor A. C. Squire said its purchase was an appalling misappropriation of public money, and moved that the council’s cultural committee reconsider the purchase. But his motion failed after the Mayor (Mr D. V. Sutherland) pointed out that the money had not come from public funds, but from funds invested for purchases. The gallery’s director, Mr R. N. O’Reilly — a former librarian of the Canterbury Public Library — had the last word. He said the piece was intended to be witty, and it. was witty. Apparently some of the councillors got the joke. Puzzled. A FUNNY thing happened down at the Clarendon Hotel corner yesterday afternoon. A local businessman watched a man walk up to the two newspaper boxes at the corner, put his 10c coin in the one marked “The Press,” then take a newspaper from the one marked “Star.” We have sent 10c to the “Christchurch Star.” Come and get it STUART Bryant is still waiting for the police to come to collect the runaway canoe he found at Christmas. The police, presumably, are still waiting for him to bring it. to them. He lives in Opawa, and found the canoe floating down the Heathcote in the manner of the Marie Celeste. All was normal aboard, except that the crew had vanished. He naturally telephoned the police. They took the details, and asked if he would bring it in to the big building in Hereford Street. “It’s 10 feet long,” said Mr Bryant, “and I’m not bringing it in there, and up two flights of stairs. If you want it, you can come and get it.” It has been stalemate since. —Gary Arthur