Reporter's Diary

Press, 24 October 1978, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Sweet tweet AN EXCITED reader reports the return of a call from a species that, he says, he has not heard for 15 years and had thought to be extinct. Her whistle was heard in Strowan Road one recent Saturday and again the following Monday, much to the astonishment of children and the delight of nostalgic adults. The species? The whistling postwoman. AW so sweet EARLIER this month, when the Intellectually Handicapped Society’s training centre in Harakeke Street was burgled, a lot of children’s sweets were stolen. The sweets had been collected over a long period to be handed out when the occasion permitted as a pleasant surprise or treat. But now this treat has been taken away. One anonymous donor sent a quantity of sweets to the training centre soon after the burglary, which will go a long way towards making up for the loss. Double benefit MEMBERS of a Christchurch Teachers’ College continuing education course discovered recently that a diploma assignment need not be merely an academic exercise. Their assignment resulted in a day’s outing to Kaituna Domain for about 100 Christchurch senior citizens and solo parents. Eight persons are taking the course, under the direction of Miss Pamela Keen, and as part of the course, they conducted a survey in the Waimairi area of residents’ recreation interests. During the survey, they found a lot of elderly people ar,l soloparent families who had little or no opportunity to enjoy a day in the country, and so they decided to give them one. The course members raised cash and gifts of food to the value of $5OO and Redw’ood Coaches gave them free use of three buses for the day. At Kaituna, the guests were given a barbecue lunch, followed by a guided tour of the scenic reserve at Kaituna, led by Mr B. A. Calder, of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society.

Knocking Punch AFTER 250 years, Punch, of “Punch and Judy” fame, has been accused of baby-bashing and murder. His devilish antics to stop Judy’s baby from crying — hitting its head against a wall, then throwing it down a drain — have not amused a Perth city councillor, Mrs Jean Goadby. Nor is she amused by the way Punch “gets rid of” his wife and the law by killing both Judy and a policeman. Mrs Goadby wants the puppet show banned from Perth’s, Royal Show. Some children had cried at the violence and others were taken away by their parents before the show finished, she said, after watching the puppets perform. “Punch and Judy is harmful,” she said. “1 saw it as a child and loathed it. I was horrorstricken to find it was still with us.” Truth in jest AN ELDERLY Australian, it was reported in London’s “Daily Telegraph,” had been overheard on a British train saying: “On Tuesday I went all round Highgate Cemetery but 1 couldn’t find the tomb of Marks and Spencer.” However, the next day, when the laughter had died down among the readers of the newspaper, a further report admitted that, the Australian did not know just how right he was. A former manager of the cemetery had told the “Daily Telegraph” that a grave almost opposite that of Karl Marx bore a headstone inscribed with the name of Spencer. “It’s the only cemetery in the world with a Marx and Spencer,” the report said. “Strine” starters STRANGLED Australian lingo, commonly known as “Strine,” did not start with Monica Dickens, as mentioned in the “Diary” several weeks ago, one reader tells us. Strine, he says, belongs to Australia’s Gloria Sarah Titch, not Monica Dickens. “Afferbeck Lauder, compiler of ‘Let Stalk Strine,’ a lexicon of modern Strine usage, lists the pioneers of Strine as C. J. Dennis, author of ‘The Sentimental Bloke,’ and Colin Wills,” he writes.. “When Monica

Dickens wrote ‘To Emma Chisit’ on the flyleaf of her latest book in 1964, mistaking the price inquiry for the woman’s name, she did, however, help the cause of Strine.” Afferbeck Lauder, he says, was inspired to produce his dictionary of Strine tor the use of visitors, students, ‘‘New Strines,” and people who speak only English. It's a try A DEBATE has been going in the pages of “The Times,” London, about the record number of tries scored in an international rugby match. Now that the dust has settled, “The Times,” reports that there wouiu appear to be two record-holders — an Australian, G. Cornelsen, who scored four tries in one international match against New Zealand played at Auckland, and an Englishman, G. W. Burton, who also scored four tries in a match against Wales in 1881. Another England forward, H. Vassall, scored three tries in the same match, reports “The Times.” Other forwards to have scored three tries in the one match, it says, are lan Kirkpatrick (New Zealand v. Australia in 1968), M. Crauste (France v. England in 1962), and J. J. Hodges (Wales v. England in 1903). “The Times” notes that Kirkpatrick’s achievement is the most remarkable because he came on as a replacement for his captain, Brian Lochore, in the twentyfifth minute of the match. But with helpfrom our sports department, “The Press” is able to confound even “The Times.” In 1907, Dan Lambert, playing for England, scored five tries in a match against France. According to one of our sports writers, Lambert’s score was all the more surprising because he. like Kirkpatrick, came on as a lastminute replacement near the end of the match. Even more surprising, however, was the fact that Lambert was dropped from selection for England’s next international. Spectator sport? AN ALERT reader who visited the Queen Elizabeth II Park sports stadium recently has written to tell us about the sign outside one of the public conveniences there. It says: “Ladies (spectators only).” —Felicity Price