Reporter’s diary

Press, 10 December 1982, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Something 01d... THE SOMETHING blue when a Rangiora High School teacher, Julia Coker, marries David McMillan tomorrow will be the sea beneath the steam tug Lyttelon on which the ceremony will be held. The couple, both from Rangiora, plan to get married on the tug at Port Levy at noon. The wedding breakfast for about 60 guests will also be on board at Port' Levy before everyone returns to the jetty at Lyttelton and on to Miss Coker’s parents’ farm at Ohoka, near Rangiora. A band will provide some “Roll out the Barrel"-type tunes for the return voyage and the couple hope for calm seas and no wind. They decided to get married on the high seas because both like the sea and boats. Relatives are coming from Australia for the ceremony. It is only the second wedding on the old tug which recently celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary. Long distance ELLIOT and E.T. (that cute little extra-terrestrial creature with the big eyes) may be the best of friends in the film “E.T.,” but it would be a very different story in reality. The United States space agency, N.A.S.A., has very stringent rules for dealing

with any aliens from distant galaxies who drop into Earth for a visit, reports the “Australian” newspaper. Rule 1 is don’t touch, and hiding an E.T. in the wardrobe, as young Elliot does in the film, is definitely out. Anyone doing so would find themselves in quarantine, facing a year in jail and a $5OOO fine. The E.T. situation is no joke, warn N.A.S.A. physicists. A virus carried by one of the loveable little monsters could wipe out half the human race. In fact, the agency is taking the situation so seriously it has launched a campaign to discourage people befriending aliens. The strict laws originally applied to rockets, spaceships and satellites returning to Earth but N.A.S.A. lawyers decided, in the wake of the popularity of the film, that the rule also covered extra-terrestrial visitors. N.A.S.A. will insist that any E.T. is immediately put into quarantihe. But it could be worse. Under the N.A.S.A. regulations anyone quarantined after extra-terrestrial contact is entitled to a telephone- call to family or a lawyer. So presumably E.T. could phone home, although his call might test the resources of the Post Office operator. What is the ISD dialling code for... where was that again?

Lesson learned WALK EVERYWHERE and pay cash was the lesson learned by a Christchurch woman yesterday. She pulled into a city garage to fill up the family van with petrol. Without noticing the sign which said “No cheques” on top of the petrol pump, she offered to pay for the $l5 worth of fuel by cheque. When the sign was pointed out to her she accepted that she had made a mistake, explained that she did not have enough cash to pay and produced a driver’s licence and bank account number by way of identification. The garage owner insisted that she ring her husband at work and demanded that he come to the garage and pay. Her husband was unable to leave work until 5 p.m. but promised to go to the garage then. The garage owner asked that something be left at the garage as security. The woman offered to leave the van’s almost new spare tyre but was told she would have to leave the van. She agreed to do so but pointed out she would have to leave the family’s two dogs in the back as she did not have their leashes with her. The garage .ownei refused to keep the van with the dogs aboard. Finally fed up after 45 minutes the woman left.

taking care to leave her cheque complete with details ,on the back. “I-should have seen the sign,” she said, “but I have learned my lesson. From now on I shall walk everywhere and pay cash." River prints READERS of "The Press" will recognise several drawings on display at the C.S.A. Gallery from Monday. They are the work of a Christchurch artist. Owen R. Lee. and are the originals of the pencil drawings series “From the river winding clearly" which has appeared on “The Press” feature pages. The drawings feature scenes along the river Avon. Prints of the pencil drawings are available from “The Press” at $4 each or $4B for a set of 12. A bargain? SAVE $837 on Nieer pianos, said the Christmas gift idea circular delivered to homes by a Christchurch department store last week. “Elsewhere up to $1225, this world famous brand piano at an incredible discount price of $1388.” A little mental arithmetic and customers should be able to work out the correct price.