Reporter’s diary

Press, 30 October 1981, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Santa's address

IF YOUR child wants to write to Santa this Christmas, which is never-enough shopping days away, the address to write to is C/Rovaniemi, Finland. That address comes from the Finnish Tourist Board which has recognised the big international following of the portly gentleman. Rovaniemi is the capital of Lapland, near the Arctic Circle: Each letter sent is acknowledged (in any one of 10 languages) by a puzzle giving information on Finland, and a special Santa stamp. Parents be warned — the word from Finland is that expensive gifts are in demand (or is that old news?), and boys aged seven to 12 have requested computers and electric typewriters. Nurse aid

A RAFFLE for a Karitane nurse will be held in Ellesmere next year. The local branch of the Plunket Society is not offering the nurse as a prize, rather it is a fund-raising idea to pay her. The nurse, Mrs Margaret Opie, has just been employed by the branch, which has guaranteed her two full days works in the district per week. The

branch president, Mrs Janet Scott, said that.it was unusual in that the branch was “going it alone with the service, and had received no assistance from the Health Department. The branch had 51000 saved, mostly from bank grants, to pay the nurse for the six months trial, but after that, a big raffle was envisaged to raise the wages if the service continued. Store point CR HELEN Garrett, of Christchurch City Council, recently met a relative of the late Robert McDougall, the donor of the Botanic Gardens art gallery which bears his name. "I see the old gentleman is in the basement again,” said the relative, referring to the painting of McDougall that usually hangs in the gallery. Sometimes it is stored to give space to exhibits. The relative said that Mr McDougall should not be blamed for the gallery being where it is — a controversial spot as it is away from the public eye — because he did not want it there. (Sir Terence McCombs, another councillor, says that through his parents, he knows - differently.)’ “Perhaps we shouldn’t blame him for it being where it is,” said Cr

Garrett, "but it is possible we should be blamed for placing him (his portrait) where he is.”

Brush-off “TYPICAL!” is the response of a reader to the story in Wednesday’s diary that Wilkinson Sword will give shavers to the male, and paper swords (letter-openers) to the female candidates who are successful in the General Election on November 28. “Men get the expensive stuff, and we get brushed off with a bunch of flowers or something,” she said. What would the ladies like? “A shaver. Women use . them, too, you know,” she replied. However, a quick survey around the office indicates that many women would be less than enthralled at being given a shaver as a -gift, especially from a loved one. It’s similar to the stories about rugby players wearing panty hose to avoid the cold — everyone knows that it happens, but one doesn’t normally talk about it. • Inched out

“METRICS are un-Ameri-can,” declares a footnote to a pamphlet produced by a furniture maker in the

United States, and that about sums up the feeling. President Reagan, who probably consumes jellybeans by the ton, seems to agree. The White House has asked Congress to abolish the Metric Board, which was set up in 1975 with the target of converting the nation. It seems to have failed. A Department of Transportation plan to convert speed limits to km/ hr was dropped after an .outcry from Congress; the same thing happened to the National Weather Service’s proposal to record temperatures in Celsius; and petrol is still being sold by the gallon (some pumps, however, have changed to litres because once petrol passed 99c a gallon, the pump numbering could not go any higher for further price increases). The Imperial foot, it seems, is firmly in the United States door. Traffic blitzed? A BREWERY’S product is emblazoned all over one white Christchurch Transport Board bus.. An alert not-quite-four-year-old spotted it weaving through the city, from the safety seat in the family car, the other day. “Look,” he yelled, “an alcoholic bus!”