Reporter’s diary

Press, 8 May 1985, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Washed up

AN EXCEPTIONALLY high tide in the Ham area on Monday night caught one fisherman unawares. When Tuesday dawned his dinghy was found suspended about 10 floors up the James Hight Library at the university, hanging from ropes attached to girders linking the building's lift shafts. The dinghy was accompanied by a sign which read “Noah was here” and what looked like the head of a fisherman was hanging over the side of the craft. Lower on a balcony overlooking a fountain pond tinder the library, was an apparition of the headless remains of the fisherman and his fishing rod. No money

A MEMBER of the Rotary Club of Christchurch lamented at a luncheon meeting yesterday that this city was not to see the impressionist exhibition now on show in Auckland. He wanted to know why. Mr John Coley, director of the McDougall Art Gallery, had the answer in a flash. “Quite simply we have not got the Monet,’’ he quipped. False signature COLLECTORS of presidential memorabilia beware. A London newspaper has reported the discovery that President Reagan paid his mother $75 a week during his vears as a film star to copy his signature on letters to members of his fan club. Inquiries made by the American Autograph Collectors’ Club indicate that membership cards of the Ronald Reagan Fan Club eagerly sought by presidential memorabilia collectors could be worth far less than expected. Family contacts A SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

man is trying to get in touch with descendants of his great-grandfather. Ernest Peddey is trying to trace descendants of Joseph Peddey and his wife Ellen (nee Coomes). They lived mainly in the Norwood, South Australia, area from the early 1860 s to about 1914. Joseph was a coachbuilder and blacksmith. The couple had eight children, two of whom died at an early age, leaving two sons and' four daughters. Eliza Peddey married a Bennett, Emily married a Coombes, Clara' married a Bowes, and Jessie married a Garrett or Garrard. The two sons were called George and Ernest. Anyone who knows anything about the family is asked to

write to Mr Ernest Peddey at 12 McLauchlan Road, Windsor Gardens, South Australia, 5087. T-shirt fashion MR LANGE had his nuke busters T-shirt in Africa. A Young National delegate at the Canterbury-Westland divisional National Party conference in Ashburton at the week-end decided that Mr McLay, the Leader of the Opposition, should have something of a contrast. Mr McLay had just completed an hour-long rousing speech to delegates when the Young Nat presented him with a “Lange-buster” Tshirt.

Last chance HOKEY-POKEY can become a favourite flavour fairly quickly, as some American visitors found recently. They were travelling by bus and during their tour a few of them got hooked on hokey-pokey ice-cream, which is not available in the United States. They urged fellow passengers to try the sweet. On the last day of the tour the bus stopped outside a takeaway bar and one passenger was urged to rush in and get her last 40c tub of hokey-pokey ice-cream She rushed off the bus and up to the counter, saying “Can I have 40c worth of hanky-panky in a hurry, please.” She was sold the ice-cream instead. ' .