Reporter's Diary

Press, 29 December 1980, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Christmas stocking A THIEF with' ah eye for a Christmas stocking, with a difference has been busy iri Bishopdale, it. seems. A Veitch Road resident, Mr Tom Jory, rang us yesterday to say that the thief had been disturbed trying to remove a macrame hanger from his porch on Christmas morning. Startled by Mr lory’s wife, the thief got away with the plant and pot, but left the distinctively coloured American hanger. He escaped in a white .Morris Minor, which had been seen cruising in the area earlier in the week. “He was probably casing, the area,” Mr Jory suggested. A thief with similar taste was active in the road early this year, removing macrame hangers from four houses, he said. Mr. Jory felt there were too many hangers being stolen to be decorating just the thief’s home. At $l5 each for some of the better models, perhaps there is a market for good second-hand models which have>"dropped” off their porch? ': Heartburn ■. ■

SOME tummies inevitably fail to keep pace with the Christmas spirit, but one "tummy” in Fitzgerald Avenue was an unexpected casualty of the festive season yesterday., The Wann - Tummy hamburger bar went tip in flames soon after 4 a.m., and the Fire Service spent about an hour dowsing the fire, using two <dire engines and the snorkel appliance While Christmas elsewhere' could ' moan about their 'heartburn and indigestiop jjthe- Warm Tummy suffered moderate damage in tKef fire.

Plane talk HIPPOCRATES, the ancient Greek physician remembered for, among other things, his oath of professional ethics, now has a link with Christchurch, according to “The Pulse,” the staff magazine of the North Canterbury Hospital Board. A Hippocratic plane tree, planted recently in the grounds of Christchurch Hospital, was grown from a seed taken from a tree on. the Aegean Island of Cos under which the doctor is reputed to have composed his oath about 2300 years ago. The seed was brought to New Zealand in 1978 by Dr Barrie Tait, a senior lecturer in medicine at' the ..Christchurch Clinical: School. It was grown and cared for by the ground staff at Sunnyside Hospital until the stage one building of Christchurch Hospital-, was completed Igst. winter. A plaque has been placed near the tree indicating its significance. (Trees appear to have some inspirational qualties: Sir Isaac Newton is reputed to have- discovered gravity while sitting.vnder an apple tree. He may.;:also have composed an oath at . the same time, but it has not been . recorded for posterity). : ■ ; ' •

Kids 9 stuff air New Zealand, which with Air Pacific is promoting a "Kid’s Fare" to Fiji, is not alone in trying to attract young passengers (accompanied by fullfare of course). British Caledonian Air-, ways .has, launched a programme which the airline says ist designed to improve the id-flight service for children. The programme' includes their < . n v -4» ‘ ■' -V

own special entertainment channel with ppp tunes, short stories, and features, and a children’s menu which boasts such appetising delicacies as fish fingers, chips, baked beans, and fruit jelly. “Captain McCal,” a cartoon lion, is helping the airline with promotion, and he features" in comics and games which are being distributed on all long-haul flights, such as the London to Hong Kong service. Australian (and New Zealand?) children could benefit from the service if British Caledonian is granted its recent application for rights ,to run a London to Australia service. • - / Omen?

VARIOUS people:, had something to say, favourable or otherwise, about the decision last week to build the second aluminium smelter at Aramoana, near Dunedin. The decision was not lost on the weather either, according to a Dunedin, resident, who noticed that - the prevailing wind last week was from - the north-east, carrying Jow cloud down Otago Harbour and over Dunedin city. Some resi-. dents are concerned that a.' similar wind could bring ; untreated pollutants down die harbour from the smelter, but the wind is noticeable for only one or two days at a stretch normally. It seemed strange, according to our informant, that this wind lasted for about five days around the time of the announcement. Ashes to ashes SIGN in a bedroom at a small hotel: “Please do not smoke in bed, or the next lot of ashes to fall on the floor may be yours.”