Reporter’s diary

Press, 8 March 1982, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Redraughted

AN UNUSUALLY meticulous graffiti artist has been at work on one advertising billboard for beer on the corner of Moorhouse Avenue and Colombo Street. That’s the advertisement with two persons lounging round in. the latest tennis gear over the slogan “I’d love a beer.” The graffitist had carefully painted out part of one word and painstakingly stencilled different letters over the top. The changed slogan read: “I’d love a brain.” That is until yesterday morning — not long after the act was perpetrated and noticed — when the owners of the billboard quickly repainted the offending piece. The repaint job was so quick in fact that the diary was too late to get a picture of the new-look beer advertisement. Goldrush ONE OF Central Otago’s last gold rushes will take place on Sunday. The rush is part of the open day entertainments. for. the /Clyde dam. Volunteers have found a stretch of the Clutha River which ..had not been fully, exploited by, gold diggers.. They recovered several cubic metres of material which, in . theory, should be gold-bear-

ing. This has been taken to the dam' site and for a nominal fee visitors can have a gold pan, get some elementary instructions, and take part in the rush. In the past, the Clutha River and its tributaries have been among the top gold-bearing rivers in the world so there is every chance that someone could strike it rich. Rosy Lamb A PIQUANT new jelly, Rosy Lamb Bouquet, is being served , free with New Zealand lamb in Britain as part of a special promotion by the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board. The original concept, according to the latest British “News Review,” was to produce a spring sauce to complement lamb. But after considerable research a subtle blend of flavours — redcurrant, rosemary, lemon and mint — in an aromatic and appetising jelly passed culinary trials with flying' colours. The jelly can be used for a change from mint sauce, or to glaze the roast for the last 10 minutes of cooking. By the , beginning . of .February, 840,000 sachets, each containing .14 grams of Rosy Lamb Bouquet, had been;delivered by the creators, Hammonds Saiice Company/ of West

Yorkshire. The sachets are being distributed to 13,000 butchers throughout Britain to present to customers with cuts of lamb. Demand for the sachets from butchers has been very encouraging. Queen's English? ANYONE who thinks of Oid Blighty as the last bastion of all the good qualities of English stock should think again. London is now the world’s most cosmopolitan city. A report from the Inner London Education Authority says the corridors of inner London schools are echoing to an increased number of foreign tongues. Four years ago, the .LL.E.A. had 35,742 pupils speaking 128 different foreign languages. Now 44,925 or 14 per cent of them speak 131 languages other than English outside the classroom. The report shows that, in 1981, Bengali took over from Greek as the most commonly used tongue. The many other languages include several from Africa (Fante, Hausa and Shona for example) Arabic, Chinese — mostly children from Hong Kong — Icelandic, Punjabi, Spanish and Turkish. The I.L.E.A. runs several English classes as a second language programme to help these children.. - ;

A'pyxing we'll go IN THE category of highly intellectual items for avid Scrabble players we have a royal tale. The Queen has been pyxing. Indeed, to celebrate the 700th year of that activity, the Queen recently made her first visit to the trial of the pyx. The trial is of the coinage of the realm — the coins are apparently more sterling in constitution than the pound — and takes place before the Queen’s Remembrance at Goldsmiths’ Hall. A jury (nowdays rigged in advance with chosen representatives of the Royal Mint) is instructed to test that the coins are the correct weight. A verdict will be returned in May. The pyx, by the way, is the box in which the specimen coins are placed. The verb — to pyx — is recognised in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, and means to assay. Class dismissed. Give 'em an inch A YOUNG pupil was asked in a test to define "sentiment.” He thought hard and wrote: “Sentiments are used tq measure things now that we don’t use inches. I think it’s Called sentimental arithmetic.”