Reporter’s diary

Press, 4 May 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Model trains THE CHRISTCHURCH Transport Board has embarked on a novel venture during the school holidays. It is selling cardboard models of the Boon trams that ran on Christchurch streets for almost 50 years. For $1.95, anyone can have a model of Boon tram No. 152, that entered service in 1910 and was retired in 1952. It has been restored by the Tramway Historical Society, and is now running at Ferrymead. The models

are available from the board’s information kiosk in Cathedral Square, C.T.B. ticket agents, and Ferrymead. If the venture proves successful, the board may consider producing a series of models. Varied interests SOME curious combinations are listed among the special interests of a group of 35 Americans at present visiting Christchurch from our sister city of Seattle, Washington. Ms Ann Reid’s travel

agent lists her interests as “in her 305,” while Mr and Mrs Jack Pitcher are keen on “tennis, mixed doubles, carpet business and Rotary.” Mr and Mrs Lyle Garnet’s main interest is listed as “physical plant.” New telescope BY LATE 1985 the University of Canterbury’s new reflecting telescope will be observing Halley’s Comet. The telescope’s one-metre-diameter mirror will make it the biggest in New Zean

land. Next Wednesday, May 9, anyone interested will have the chance to see it under construction at the department of physics at Ilam. The telescope’s dome, being built in a hangar at Wigram will also be visited. Those who wish to join the tour should meet outside the physics department at 4 p.m. There should be plenty of interest. The annual conference of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand is being held at the university next week. Bad timing A RANGIORA couple whose freezer stopped on Wednesday, ruining its contents, found out just after the appliance bad been taken away for repairs — and with no prospect of its being returned before the middle of next week — that the husband had won first prize in a rugby club raffle. The prize? A side of beef and a wether. Upping the image THE CANTERBURY branch of the Motor Trade Association has taken issue with the use of the term, “car wreckers,” in a newspaper headline recently. Those who earn their living from sick, dying, or dead vehicles should henceforth be called “automotive dismantlers,” says the association. Its secretary, Mr A. J. Sheard, writes: “Members of our association are known as automotive dismantles because their primary function is the recycling of second-hand parts when cars are dismantled. This has resulted in savings in overseas funds for importation of new parts and accessories to repair vehicles.” Sweet and sour NEW ZEALAND tourists recently in a New York restaurant heard an English diner protest to the waiter that his white wine was a little too sweet. The waiter, a burly man, made it plain by the look on his face that he had had about enough of that sort of British fastidiousness. “Whaddya want?” he eventually asked through clenched teeth. “Sour wine?” — Peter Comer