Reporter’s diary

Press, 28 February 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Box going begging RON DUCKWORTH has a coffin for sale. To prove that he is not superstitious, he tried it for size on the footpath outside his shop in Cashel Street yesterday. Ron bought the coffin at a garage sale with the idea that it would make a fine cocktail cabinet, but still it leans against the shop wall along with a stag’s head and other curios. As coffins go, it is a handsome one, sturdy, though of uncertain age, with omate metalwork. At some stage in its career the coffin was used as a telephone booth, as shown by the holes in its botto& for ’phone fittings, and the~ telephone numbers of “Lynne,”

“Barbara,” and various others scrawled in its interior. Ron Duckworth has no idea why the coffin was not put to its intended use, but he hopes it will find a good home somewhere. “A lady was interested in it, but she had her mother outside in the car and decided that the mother might think it was for her,” he said. The shop, “strictly a part-time hobby,” is open on Thursday evenings and Saturdays only. Measuring up? WE WONDER what dark purposes may lie behind some of the questions in a questionnaire, sent to sports writers throughout the

world, on the future of the Olympic Games. Among other things, the organisers want to know the recipient journalist’s height and shoe size. Tough stuff A VISIT to Christchurch, New Zealand, by a party from a sister city, Christchurch, Dorset, has included a tour of the Provincial Government Buildings. Mention of an improved transparent plastic to protect the building’s invaluable stained glass windows prompted one of the visitors to remark that a similar product had been used in his home town of Christchurch, England, with interesting results. Apparently the plastic was being used to replace windows in the twelfth century “old mill.” It was not long before a boy accepted the challenge of the new windows. He threw a big stone which not only failed to break the window, but also rebounded and struck the thrower. His mother took the matter to court, quite rightly without success. Local vandals take note ... Talking desks A PUBLICITY release headed, “From the desk of Lea Chapman,” invites the response once made by James Thurber after he had received a similar correspondence. His reply started: “Dear desk ...” Robot cover FROM SWEDEN comes news of a “personal liability” 'insurance policy for industrial robots. The scheme has been introduced by a Swedish insurance company to cover damage by f ‘rogue” robots on the country’s automated production lines. Life insurance for robots was also considered, but was ruled out on the ground of planned obsolescence. Playing safe THE PRESENT kerfuffle about people leaving trade unions has some parallels, in a reader’s view, with a drawing she saw many years ago depicting a prisoner of war with an armed German guard. The prisoner was writing home: “Dear mum, this place is a homeA«ay from home. Bill, who tlMight differently, was shot yesterday.”