Reporter’s diary

Press, 27 April 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

“OF black eyes” EVERY MORNING for some months, residents of peaceful Hendon Street, St Albans, have been serenaded by a raucous but talented tame magpie. The bird warbles a few bars of the Robbie Bums ballad, “Cornin’ through the Rye,” loudly enough to be heard halfway along the street. The trouble is, that is all he (or she) knows. “You are left hanging, waiting for the next bit, but it never comes. He just starts over again,” said one householder. The singing, while repetitive, was not unpleasant, ne said. After all, not every street has its resident singing magpie. Sunset dip FIFTEEN brave souls celebrated the last sunset of the 1984 Antarctic summer in daring fashion at Scott Base on Easter Day, April 22. Having chainsawed a hole in the one metre-thick sea ice, the eight New Zealanders and seven Americans one by one shed

alls and boots, and plunged into the icy water. (The sea temperature was minus 3deg C, and the air temperatures a bracing minus 66deg.) Contact with the water produced some “explosive comments,” according to Mr Keith Clegg, information officer for the Antarctic Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Two of the participants in the ritual could not wart to put their clothing back on, instead sprinting naked for the warmth of the nearest building. “You could say that we still have ‘streakers’ in the Antarctic,” said Mr Clegg. Spooked THE DRINK-DRIVING “blitz,” with its accompanying blare of publicity, has had a particularly traumatic effect on an Ashburton man. He was driving home quite late one night during Easter when he came upon a Ministry of Transport checkpoint. He panicked, made a “U-turn,” and drove off in the oppo-

site direction, with a traffic officer in pursuit. He was caught in his driveway and issued with a speeding ticket. The odd thing is that the man does not even drink. A friend said that he had “just freaked out” when he saw the checkpoint, having heard so much about them. Steady chaps PUBLIC SERVANTS in the State Office Block, Sydney, had their tea break interrupted recently by an impromptu fire drill. It called for the workers to leave their desks and troop down the fire escape to a marshalling point. Most took their tea and biscuits with them. Tax queries THE INLAND Revenue Department in Christchurch is getting up to 3500 telephone calls a day from people seeking income tax information. The department’s district commissioner, Mr N. McPherson, said yesterday that fyecause of shifts to

allow the removal of asbestos from ceilings in the Government Life building, there would be some unavoidable telephone delays next Monday, April 30. “All that can be done will be, but we ask that people requiring information accept that the delays are unavoidable,” said Mr McPherson. Pointed question THE INLAND Revenue Department could have yet another problem on its hands. A reader, Mr John Welch, writes that while filling out his tax return the other evening, he noticed that receipts and tax certificates are now to be pinned separately — that is, two pins are now required, instead of one. Mr Welch continues: “As perhaps two million returns are submitted annually, this poses an interesting question. What can the Inland Revenue Department possibly do with four million pins?” —Peter Corner