Reporter’s diary

Press, 26 December 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Working through WHILE THOSE lucky enough to work “normal” hours were gearing up yesterday morning for the culmination of the festive season’s wining and dining, the country’s telephone toll operators were working their hardest of the year. Switchboards were besieged with calls for most of the morning as people telephoned Christmas wishes to friends and relatives throughout New Zealand and overseas. “It was a madhouse. There were a lot of places that we could not get through to at all,” said one operator. Shopping days THOSE with any money left may be interested to know that there are approxishopping days until next Christmas.

HelPs Angels, Ltd ONE OF Australia’s less conventional limited liability companies, Hell’s Angels, Ltd, faces a tax bill of $131,845 as a result of a Federal Judge’s decision. Mr Justice Northrop, sitting in Melbourne, refused an appeal against the Commissioner of Taxation’s assessment of tax for the three years to June 30, 1982, at $87,897, plus additional tax of $43,948. Hell’s Angels, Ltd, incorporated in 1979, asserted that it had derived no income during those years. Eating problems PUBLICITY last year about Christmas diners ibeing whisked off to hospital in

mid-course with turkey bones wedged in their gullets, and other eating-re-lated problems, may be having its effect. The St John Ambulance Service reported no such calls yesterday. The number , of collapses was slightly higher than usual, however. Spirited away WE MIGHT remind readers that it does not pay to hide one’s Christmas presents in blue plastic rubbish bags. A Christchurch granny telephoned a refuse transfer station last week in search of her rubbish bag full of Christmas goodies, which had accidentally been put out for the rubbish collection. Unfortunately, her presents were gone for good.

Tea at the Ritz THERE ARE few more elegant things to do in London than to take tea at The Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly. Only those who reserve a table will be admitted. The reason, it has been suggested, is to rid the hotel of “undesirable visitors” who might spoil the view of the glass-domed, marble-floored Palm Court. Tea at The Ritz is not cheap. In fact, at SNZ2I a head, it is about 25 times the price of a cup of coffee in an ordinary British cafe, but the cost has not deterred visitors, an increasing number of whom are said to be “incorrectly dressed.” For your money, you get a plate of finely cut sandwiches with fillings such as smoked Scottish salmon; scones with strawberry jam and clotted creant; and a plate of home-

made pastries. The tea, naturally, is Earl Grey, but those with less aristocratic palates may have different blends if they insist. From now on, perhaps those who take tea at The Ritz will be the sort of people who never drink anything but Earl Grey... Nasty taste THIS CHRISTMAS has not been a marvellously happy one for one Christchurch woman. She writes: “I would like to wish a merry Christmas to the person who stole my purse from the hospital where I work. I ask only that they do not spend it foolishly, since it took me two weeks of hard work to earn the money. Please put it to good use...”

—Peter Corber