Reporter’s diary

Press, 1 November 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Simple solution FOR SOME unfortunate householders, the problem of dogs savaging rubbish bags assumes major proportions: they live in dread of looking out the window to see a disembowelled blue rubbish bag and their week’s refuse, not all of it savoury, scattered to the four winds. According to a reader,. Mr John Leslie, there is a simple and effec-

tive solution: “A light whiff of fly spray on the outside of the blue bag, and one can forget about it, even overnight at the kerbside,” writes Mr Leslie. “Our cat ignores it; neighbouring cats and dogs, even stray dogs, disdain it. The cure is quite .harmless, except to flies. It is hardly earth-shaking, but very effective. There need be no problem any more in Christchurch with torn rubbish bags.” Mr Leslie may ■ have achieved a major breakthrough in the antilitter war. The least that tormented householders pan do is try it.

On the breadline A CHECK-OUT operator at a supermarket' in Bishopdale . was touched when an elderly man walked into the store the other day with an unopened . roll of "toilet paper, and asked if he might have his money, back because his expected visitors had not turned up. His request was granted. Garden tours GARDEN LOVERS will soon have the opportunity to see some of North Canterbury’s beautiful rural gardens. Two tours organised by the Amuri Ski Club will feature a great. variety of homestead gardens, not only the traditional kind, but also unusual gardens, including one that has formed its own micro-climate round many rare and endangered native species. The biggest garden covers about three acres. The first tour, on Sunday, November 18, will be in the Amuri district east of Culverden. The second, on Sunday, December 9, will visit gardens in the Hawarden district. Buses will leave the Northlands shopping centre at 9.15 a.m. for each tour. Those who wish to join either tour should telephone 519-269 or 582-514. .

Mixing it

MARGARET SHIELDS, the new Minister of Customs, does not believe in sitting in an ivory tower. She recently joined a Customs “rummage squad” in searching a Greek ship at Auckland’s Jellicoe Wharf. Decked out in overalls and boots, Mrs Shields went through the engine room and the bowels of the ship while Customs officers explained the intricacies of a “rummage." The Minister obviously believes in getting to the bottom of things. ’ Panacea?

“IF I HAD my way, I would certainly introduce cricket into China and the Soviet Union. I think that if we could make them play cricket we would have a much more likely chance of a peaceful world.” — the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Bob Hawke. Men's lib

SIDNEY SILLER, a New York lawyer, founded the National Organisation for Men in 1983 to strike a blow for men’s. liberation. He says that membership has now topped 2800, and there is pressure from men in eight more States to open branches. N.O.M.’s aims include lobbying for health programmes to enable men to live as long as women, and for the redistribution of wealth,' which, Siller believes, is weighted in women’s favour. What yacht? OWNING a yacht is not the status symbol that it used to be, ■: overseas anyway. To “mislay” one’s yacht savours of real style, yet the lucky rich enjoying the tax haven of the Isle of Man are doing it all the time. Wing

Commander Roy MacDonald, chairman of the Isle of Man Harbour Board, describes the yacht owners there as “absent-minded.” His staff has been collecting yachts and other small craft abandoned round the island and trying to get in touch with the owners, often without success. A few owners, when traced, admitted that they had simply forgotten that they owned a yacht. Others said airily that they had given up yachting, and were prepared to let their boats rot on their moorings. The harbour board is at present arranging a sale of the unwanted boats in its collection.

— Peter Comer