Reporter's Diary

Press, 23 September 1980, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Recognition THE LATE Denis Glover, New Zealand’s famous poet, sailor, and printer, has received considerable attention in the discerning obituary columns of “The Times” in London. Mr Glover, who was awarded the D.S.C. for his services with Royal Navy landing craft on D Day, wrote of his experiences in a book called “Hot Water Sailor, which he summed up as “frozen still in Murmansk and scared stiff in Normandy.” He liked good use of words and would have enjoyed the last paragraph about him in “The Times.” “Denis Glover will be remembered by many, not only in his own country as a poet and printer, but also as a selfappointed and very sane public jester, an old-world wit in the best sense, who championed unswervingly any cause, however unorthodox, that recommended itself to his reason and his warm human sympathies.” Unholy noise? ON SUNDAY morning, the peace of Sumner was disturbed briefly by the wail of the siren calling the lifeboat crew out on a rescue mission. Four people had been tipped into the water when their speedboat had capsized and

they were clinging to an oar near the Estuary bar. But the fact that life was at stake did not prevent one Sumner parishioner complaining to the worthy Sumner Lifeboat Institution. The sound of the siren, she said, had disturbed the church service she was attending. Grand business BEWARE! In the commercialised . footsteps of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day now treads the eager shopkeeper with Grandparents’ Day. So far, the idea has not gone far beyond its country of origin, the United States (where else?). But such sentimental moneyspinners seem to have a way of catching on elsewhere. The Americans take it quite seriously. They have even set up a National Council for Observance of Grandparents’ Day, with the specified, worthy aims of honouring ‘.‘the grandparents of America, making them feel wanted and special.” Then the crunch comes: “One way will be with gifts. Another will be through family gatherings and celebrations, occasion., that traditionally call for special foods and beverages. . .” Tasty remedy YESTERDAY’S item about

the unfortunate man who ate the cat’s leftover Felix, mistaking s it for pate, has reminded a reader about a similar incident many years ago. There was an elderly couple, he said, who called each other Ma and Pa. Pa was an enthusiastic member of the Masonic Lodge, and when he came home from his frequent meetings, he was in the habit of eating a late snack, prepared for him by Ma. That winter, his wife and daughter had been suffering from bad chilblains, and had heard that a good remedy was to rub the affected area with slices of onion. One night, they tried it. The next morning, Pa said: “That was a particularly tasty supper last night. Ma. It was most kind of you to leave out those nice slices of onion, to make a sandwich with.’’ Ma was aghast, and told him what she had been using the onions for. Pa suffered no ill effects, we are told, and lived to a ripe old age. Back to basics? READERS of the Sydney “Sunday Telegraph” were recently faced with a preview to one of the week’s forthcoming television films “As You Like It, which has caused raised eyebrows among the more conservative. The Sydney newspaper describes a common reaction to a Shakespearian play; “It’s

enough to scare the wits out of most people . , . all that flowery yapping and rushing about in tights. But remember, Bill was writing for the seventeenth century equivalent of a league grand-final crowd, hardly a high-brow group.” The writer of the preview then goes on to give a synopsis of the plot: “This one features the famous speech ‘All the World’s a stage,’ etc, and it certainly moves right along. A sort of super situation comedy set in a dank and gloomy forest, it includes glamorous sheilas dressed as blokes, evil dukes, hungry beasties, and lots of dirty trickplaying.” Rough justice? A BILLBOARD advertising the Citizens’ Association candidates for the Christchurch City Council - had been erected in front of the Avon Park Motor Lodge, in Park Terrace — presumably because a main shareholder in the Motor Lodge is one of the aforementioned candidates. A reader on her way into town yesterday morning was annoyed to see the sign there. It was an environmental blot, she felt. But on her way home, she felt happier. She noticed that the strong north-west wind had blown the sign down and smashed it.