Reporter’s diary

Press, 20 April 1982, Page 3

Reporter’s diary

Curb-side check-in CHRISTCHURCH Airport, which has the distinction of having been the first cityowned airport in the Southern Hemisphere, New Zealand’s first joint-venture (local authority-government) airport, and the first airport in the country to have an international jet service (in 1965), has just added another first to its list. It is the first airport to have curb-side baggage check-in for passengers departing on international flights. However, the dubious honour is only temporary. Passengers are being relieved of their baggage at the curb-side (where it is put straight into baggage containers) while the airport’s international departure conveyor system is being remodelled. Airport authorities expect the remodelling to be completed today, and the curb-side baggage check-in to be phased out this evening. Ambitious trip NEW ZEALAND will in 1984 be a refuelling point for an ambitious round-the-world trip planned by a team of young French sailors, mountaineers, divers and skiers. The three-year trip will include a dash to the South Pole in dog-drawn sledges, identical ? to those used by Amundsen in 1911. Beginning

at Saint Malo in France in December 1983, the team will have stop-overs at Rio de Janeiro in February 1984, Cape Town in May 1984, and New Zealand in August 1984. The following summer they will cover the 1500-kilometre dash across the ice to the South Pole. After 14 months on the frozen continent, they will begin the return journey to France. Cultural book THE contributions people from different cultures make to life in New Zealand are highlighted in a book, “People Like Us," to be launched in Wellington on Thursday. Asia Pacific Books and the Government Printer are co-publishers of the book of interviews, essays and photographs, which will be followed up by a four-part series of television films on the people in the book. Included in the book are chapters on food and eating styles, school cultural. art programmes, and “the ulitmate personal commitment and cause for celebrating cultural diversity—mixed marriages.” Campbell reunion CLAN Campbell organisations in America, Australia, New Zealand, and Scotland are planning a massive gettogether at Inveraray Castle

in Scotland, in July, 1983. Inveraray is the ancestral home of the clan and the seat of the current Campbell chieftain, the Duke of Argyll, MacCailein Mor. More than 1000 clan members are expected to attend the reunion. Although there is no official clan in New Zealand, an Auckland man, Gordon McKenzie Campbell, is trying to start one. His first priority is to co-ordinate the trip to the reunion from New Zealand. Any New Zealand Clan Campbell kinsfolk or others seeking more details can write to Mr Campbell at P.O. Box 8760, Auckland. Idea backfires

A GROUP of Chinese soldiers on the remote Xisha Islands tried to introduce eggs to their diet and ended up with a crazy menagerie, the “China Daily” has reported. The troops on the South China sea archipelago, also claimed by Vietnam, ferried over a batch of chickens from the mainland. But instead of placidly' sitting in their coops and laying eggs, the fowl ran wild—and were being picked off one by one by huge rats. At their wits’ end, the soldiers imported cats to control the rats. Soon, though, the cats went native too, ignoring their allotted role and savaging the rare, protected seabirds which live on the

islands. So the beleaguered garrison played its last card and brought in dogs to control the cats in the war on the rats which were eating their chickens that laid then eggs, said the English-lan-guage daily. Fooled again . . The cats scurried up the nearest tree and the dogs spent most of their time barking and fighting amongst themselves. Now, frantic soldiers are looking for someone who can find a solution to the ecological imbalance of the Xisha islands. ‘Slippery’ business OLD people are being encouraged by health services in New Zealand to wear shoes indoors rather than slippers. Slippers, especially downtrodden ones, can cause falls because they induce a slowed-down “granny” way of moving. They discourage ankle movement, thus impeding good circulation. They minimise movement of the foot, which in many older people may already be poor. By letting the toes slip forward inside they increase the pressure on the soles of the feet and the tips of the toes, and can cause a great deal of pain. Toes should have room to straighten out and grip the floor while walking, so the elderly are being urged to improve their quality of life by wearing shoes instead of slippers.