Reporter's Diary

Press, 4 January 1980, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Front-riiiiner IT WON'T stop the Mos-, cow Olympics. but this legend, privately ■ printed on a limited edition of 100. T-shirts," will , no' -doubt strike a responsive chord among many Europeans. Lawrence Duttson, of-Eng-land, wanted to broadcast his disapproval of' the 1980 Olympics, and so he had the legend printed on. the T-shirts and has sent some of them to a number of ■ prominent people. One , of the recipients, Vladimir Bukovsky, will probablywear his. He recently said of the 1936 Olympics: “No sooner had the Games, ended than the Olympic

village was turned into military barracks and World War II was upon,, us.” w Fantastic display WHILE driving, between Prebbleton and Templeton at the height of the thunderstorm yesterday afternoon. -Mr J. Campbell of Prebbleton, witnessed a frightening, fantastic display. His strange experience began with a funny smell of burning coming from his car. engine. Then he says, his alternator seized, his fan belt .slipped, and just as he was wondering what was ' wrong with his car, a bolt of lightning flashed from a nearby power pylon and ’ travelled up into the sky. A few seconds later,, his engine did the same thing and another flash of lightning discharged from the pylon leaping.the road and striking a nearby transformer, completely blowing it out.’‘ “I’ve-. ; .never seen anything like it.” Mr Campbell, said yesterday, “It was a fantastic dis-

play.” He had his car checked by -a mechanic afterwards, but surprisingly, the lightning had not affected it at all. “Apparently, I must have been in the middle of an ' electrical field,” Mr Campbell said. Blown away IT’S A STRONG wind that blows little dogs no good — and it’s also a warning to lovers of miniature breeds to keep a tight rein on their loved ones when it is windy. A woman walking her Pekinese dog in Hagley Park yesterday Was seen dashing after it when it was caught in a sudden gust of wind and nearly blown into Victoria Lake.High hopes WEDNESDAY night’s storm unfortunately meant that numerous subscribers to “The Press” were greeted with soggy newspapers at their gates the next morning. Where flooding had been bad and the delivery men had been unable to g6t through, there were no papers, at But soma people seem-

ed Oblivious to the effects of. the storm and the problems it might have caused. Some even expected the impossible. For two hours from 8.30 a.m. yesterday “The Press” telephone switchboard was flooded with calls from subscribers wanting to know why the morning paper was wet. One person told the telephonist that she was most annoyed. Her paper had not been delivered, she complained, and. she wanted one sent out right away — even though the house was isolated by floodwater. Taking time out MOST people would like to take time away from the daily grind, even if only for a little while. Ralph and Jill von Kohorn realised their dream of adventure by sailing round the North and South Islands in their small boat Columbia, calling at all the little harbours as well as the big ports, poking about the interesting bays and islands, even venturing up creeks and rivers ;in Columbia’s dinghy, and. sometimes living off the

many delicious fish and seafoods round the coast. The von Kohorns circumnavigated the South Island first, following the route of Captain Cook, their voyage subsequently being detailed in Mr. von Ko--horn’s book, “Columbia ■ Cruises South.” Now, after sailing around the North Island, he has written a sequel, “Columbia Cruises North,” which has recently been published by CapeCatley. Drippy holiday IF you think Christchurch has been rather damp in the last few days and-are considering moving north to a warmer clime, take heart. It has been even damper in Auckland. There, people have suffered, the wettest ChristmasNew Year holiday period in 14 years. On the five days between December 25 and 27, and January 1 and 2, Auckland . was deluged -with 46.6 mm of rain: over the same period in Christchurch, only Hmm of rain fell. .•