Reporter’s diary

Press, 20 September 1985, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Tank and Ralph IT WAS a dry wedding. At least it was dry underfoot. Di and her husband, Ralph, an Alice Springs cameleer, had been married in Brunei, but they were confirming their vows in the dry channel of the Todd River in July. Ralph’s favourite camel is Tank, and it was decided that Tank should join the ceremony as “best man.” Nick Smail, who owns Tank and 29 other camels along with his wife in their Alice Springs business, Frontier Tours, grew up in Christchurch and struck out on his own in the tourism business after going to the outback to work for the only winery in the Northern Territory. One of their tours is called Take A Camel Out to Dinner. Guests ride down the Todd River to the winery. Another tour, Take A Camel Back in Time, also goes along the Todd and through the town, finishing at the original Alice Springs telegraph station, which has been restored. Guests are served billy tea and bush biscuits when they get there. Striking the fly BECAUSE an Australian grazier was willing to put up a lot of money, a new search for a vaccine against sheep blowfly strike will start. Scientists in Brisbane will be working on the vac-

cine. Sheep blowfly maggots infest the skin and fleece of sheep, causing pain and death. A retired grazier has offered to give researchers 5100,000 a year until the fly has been conquered. It may take from three to five years to show if a vaccine is feasible. Those fingers FISH fingers are 30 years old this month. Birds Eye began making them in Britain in the 19505, and in New Zealand about 10 years later. The British manufacturer is having a feast, during which the nibbles will be washed down with champagne. The fingers were introduced as a fast, non-smelly way to cook fish that would appeal to children as well as adults. Recently, some controversy has surrounded the fish finger in Britain. The Local Authority Co-ordinating Body on Trading Standards is concerned about the declining proportion of fish, and the rising quantitv of water and batter,

fingers there. When they were introduced, fish fingers contained about 90 per cent fish. Today, some brands contain only about 55 per cent fish, according to one source. The British Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has said that legislation will be introduced to define the fish finger. A spokesman said that the fish content in fingers varied from 90 per cent to 20 per cent now. The Birds Eye brand is no longer made in New Zealand, where the largest fish finger manufacturers now are Watties and Sealord. The captain

SINCE 1967 in Britain, Captain Birds Eye has been the symbol of fish fingers. He went over well with the public, and was always featured on his ship surrounded by hungry children craving a fish finger. He is still popular. A recent Gallup poll had him second only to Captain Cook among the country’s best-known cap-

tains. For reasons which have never been entirely clear, Captain Birds Eye was killed by the company in 1971. A notice in “The Times” of London said: “Birds Eye, Captain — After long exposure, life just slipped through his fingers. Celebrity and gourmet, mourned by Sea-Cook Jim and the Commodore, in recognition of his selfless devotion to the nutritional needs of the nation’s children.” But Captain Birds Eye proved to be in cold storage, not dead. He was brought back to life three years later this way in “The Times”: “Birds Eye, Captain — Now returned to the shores, a revitalised man. All faculties intact, wishes to deny premature reports of his demise previously recorded in these columns. Will shortly address the nation, reaffirming that his fingers are the ones.”

Katherine’s news IF YOU have been listening to news on Radio

3ZB this morning, you have heard the debut of New Zealand’s youngest news reader. Katherine Thurlow, aged 12, joined the regular newscaster, Bill Southgate, for a 90-minute session after winning an Industries Fair contest. Manoeuvres

SOME drivers will go to great lengths to avoid going round the Victoria Square block, larger now since Victoria Street was closed. Seen a few minutes before 6 p.m. on Wednesday was a Radio 3ZB car backing up from Kent House along Durham Street. The car was on the right-hand side of the street. When it approached the Kilmore Street intersection, it stopped and waited until the lanes were clear. Then it went forward down the street, but on a diagonal crossing. When that was completed, it reversed towards Kilmore Street again on the left-hand side of Durham Street. It had to brake and get out of the way when a car came round the new traffic signal island, but then it was off again in reverse, round into Kilmore Street. At that point, observers on a subur-ban-bound bus lost track of its backward journey. Presentation

A CHRISTCHURCH toddler who jealously guards his right to a prolonged bathtime was put off the other night. His mother decided that the boy’s bath water was too cool for a long splash, and she did not want to turn on the hot tap in case he got near it. She filled a container with warm water from the sink. As she tried to pour it into the tub, the boy backed suddenly into it. He roared with fright at the sudden change in water temperature and had to be taken out prematurely. Soon after, while running round in the front room, he took a book off the shelf and gave it to his mother. She was glad that all was forgiven. She wondered about the little boy’s temporary image of her, though, when she saw the title. It was “The Idiot,” by Dostoyevsky. -STAN DARLING