Reporter’s diary

Press, 8 March 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Lonely wait

A FAITHFUL young dog of indeterminate breed sat beside a bicycle in the New Brighton Mall from Saturday until Tuesday this week, presumably waiting for a master who never came back. He was picked up by a Christchurch City Council dog-catcher on Tuesday, ending his three-day vigil, but fretted so much in the council pound that he was sent to the S.P.C.A.’s animal home in Wilmers Road, Hornby. Mrs Colleen Bates thinks that “Max,” as he has been named, is about two years old, and is possibly a Labrador-Alsatian cross with something else thrown in. He is friendly and in good physical condition. He is not wearing a collar. “There was a parcel of meat in a basket on the front of the bicycle, but even though he must have been very hungry he did not try to eat it,” said Mrs Bates. Tit for tat

A DOG may be a man’s best friend, as the above item shows, but there are limits, as a Belfast man found last week-end. During a morning in the vegetable garden he. unearthed some carefully buried bones, causing the family’s Labrador great consternation. The man duly went inside for lunch and came out again to find half of his leek plants dug up, and the tops bitten off most of the rest. Since Labradors are not noted for their liking of raw vegetables, he can only presume it was a calculated act of revenge. Stopped dead SOMETIMES there do not seem to be enough words in the English language to describe great sporting efforts. One reporter referred on radio yesterday morning to an athlete’s “paralysing sprint” Enjoying life ELDERLY people living in the Linwood-Woolston area have their priorities well sorted ouL The Canterbury Aged People’s Welfare Council was pleasantly surprised to find during- a recent survey that all of the 169 people surveyed receive a service of some kind. Fifty-three have gardeners and only two have help in the house. Almost half of those surveyed book regularly for;’ excursions in the council’s, mini-buses. As Longfellow said (according

to the Aged People’s Welfare Council) “Age is opportunity no less than youth itself.” Baldness licked

AN ENGLISH fanner, John Cooinbs, reckons that all the bald need to regain a fine head of hair is the rough edge of a cow’s tongue. Mr Coombs, aged 56, had a shiny pate for more than 20 years, but after one of his cows gave his head a good pasting with her tongue he found that hairs began to grow. He discovered the “cure” after carrying feed sacks on his back. Some of the dust settled on his head, encouraging a cow to give it

a good licking when he bent down. Mr Coombs believes that the secret is the acid The unstable lads THERE IS a dope problem at the Tobago racecourse, but not with horses. It affects the jockeys, who have been known to turn up on race day “stoned” out of their minds, and have been ordered by the stipendiary stewards to step down from their mounts. Another problem peculiar to the Trinidadian jockeys, many of whom are Rastafarians, is that they have trouble finding a crash helmet big enough to accommodate their masses of hair. ;

content in the cow’s stomach, possibly lactic acid. He has offered other bald-heads to try the “cure” on his farm near Salisbury, Wiltshire, but warns: “A cow’s tongue can be a bit rough on the head.” Touchy A RUSSIAN, V. Abramov, of Topolsk Dinamo, has become the ultimate soccer hooligan. After a recent match he was accosted in the town’s best restaurant by a supporter of his own team who mildly criticised his performance. Abramov took the man outside and stabbej-him. He is now serving 10 years in jail.