Reporter's Diary

Press, 22 September 1980, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Tasty morsel A CHRISTCHURCH housewife returned home one afternoon recently to find her husband purring with delight. “What was that pate in the ’ fridge, dear?” he asked. “It wasn’t half bad.” The wife looked in the refrigerator and realised to her horror that her husband had eaten the cat’s left-over Felix, which had been sitting on a saucer in the refrigerator. She kept a close watch on him for the rest of ■ the afternoon in case he showed any disturbing feline traits but all was well. “Actually,” he said later in the evening, “it really wasn’t too bad. But next time, I. think I’ll put a little more salt on it.”

Prophecy unfulfilled HAD Peter Sellers lived he would surely have counted the celebration of his comic genius by a distinguished company at St Martin. - in - the - Fields recently as . ‘ an overwhelmingly moving fiftyfifth birthday. present, reports the London “Daily Telegraph.” Lord Snowdon and his wife joined Michael Bentine and the other Goons. Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan, in a congregation so studded with familiar faces that when Lord Olivier arrived he asked if there was still “room for a small one.” In his address, David Niven re-

called how Sellers had attended the thanksgiving to Sir Noel Coward in the same church. As he had emerged, Sellers had said, “I do hope nobody ever arranges anything like that for me.” Asked why, he had replied, “No-one would show up.”

A bit of a blue AFTER buying a shop in the eastern' suburbs the new owner decided to give it a thorough spring clean. Being a “tidy kiwi” she also thought it would be nice to clean up the area surrounding the premises which was covered in litter, most of it having spilled out of an . official rubbish tin which was no longer attached to its post. After a week-end of hard work the footpath in front of the shop was neatly lined with bags of rubbish and stacks of newspapers tied in bundles ready for the refuse collectors. But the bags are still there. . Quite innocently, the poor woman had committed the seemingly unpardonable offence of putting out brown paper rubbish bags instead of the official blue ones. To make matters worse, bundles of newspapers are supposed to be put inside the official blue bags, too. She has since learned that if she wants the blue bags she will have to pay for them. Free delivery of the bags, she was told, is for

ratepayers only and the shop does not qualify.

Fought and won

A MOST petite woman, who was in the above-< mentioned shop at the time the owner was complaining about the City Council’s attitude to its blue bags, was able to add her tale about bureaucratic mentality. But she had fought the blue-bag bureaucrats and won. She had played the game and put her rubbish and her papers out in blue bags. When the refuse collectors came along, she happened to be standing outside and was surprised to see one of th; collectors grab a bag and then drop it like a ton of hot bricks, as the saying goes. “What’s wrong?” she inquired of the collector. “Too heavy," replied the big strapping man. “Can’t put that on the truck.” “I’ll do it then,” said the diminutive but determined woman — and she swung the bag up on to the truck, leaving the collector looking suitably ashamed.

Plunket awareness MEDICAL checks for children up to five years of age and advice-on all aspects of child health will be offered free to Christchurch parents during a special “open house week” at the central Plunket rooms from October 6 to 10. Six Plunket nurses, a dental nurse, and a doctor will be on duty each day between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the rooms, at 211 Oxford Terrace. A psy-

chologist will also be available to discuss behavioural problems. As well as the professional service, there will be educational films, a toy display, home-safety and road-safe-ty displays, storystime sessions, and leaflets outlining the work of the Plunket Society. “Some parents tend ; to stop seeing the Plunket nurse once the baby is a few months old and apparently keeping well,” said Mrs Shona Taylor, a Plunket nurse. “But Plunket today can advise parents on total preventive health care of children up to five years. By having the ‘open house week,’ we hope to remind parents of the total scope of our activities.”

Growing pains FROM small beginnings . . . the Piko Co-operative, which started as healthfood shop in Kilmore Street, in the Avon Loop, has expanded into the dairy next door. Piko people are now running the dairy and the health food shop on a co-operative basis and plan to begin an extensive renovation programme soon. When it is finished, the health-food shop will, be where the dairy is and the dairy where the health-food shop is. No doubt there is method in such apparent madness. All will be revealed when the work is done.

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