Reporter’s diary

Press, 7 October 1985, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Pop-up art

SWEDES are no more gullible than anyone else, but they are just as liable to do double-takes as we are. In Stockholm, a sculptor has temporarily taken over a manhole and cover next to a park. He has placed the figure of a man down the hole. The man seems to pop out of the hole, propping up the manhole cover with his arms. To keep passers-by from giving the static workman a tune-up for staying in one position too long, the artist has erected a construction barrier. Sitting again

PROTESTERS who helped the cause when closing of a ward at the Westland Hospital in Hokitika was threatened will be having another sit-in soon. The organisers Of the original sit-in are having a pot luck dinner to thank everyone involved. They will gather at the St Mary’s Hall in Sewell Street, Hokitika, about 5.30 p.m. and eat about 6 p.m. The meal will be early because so many senior citizens were in the protest. Winner, loser

AN OSLO publisher has announced the winner in its documentary book competition, but the author will not be able to attend the prizegiving ceremony for the book which will be published later this year. He is in prison. Arne Trehold had worked as a Norwegian Foreign office official and was arrested on espionage charges. He has contended that his meetings with K.G.B. agents and Iraqi intelligence service agents were of a diplomatic nature. His book deals with the time from his arrest to his trial earlier this year. Although the book has not been shown to prosecuting authorities or the police, i

they are in a position to stop its release if they think its contents will be a breach of professional secrecy.

Slow pedal

CRAIG ADAIR, a champion New Zealand cyclist, will be a star performer at the Middleton Grange School’s annual fiesta this year. He will be riding as slowly as possible in a slow bicycle race on Saturday. The school in Riccarton is trying to raise money for a new $1 million gymnasium and sports facilities. Home fumes

A NEW Environmental Protection Agency report in the United States might have us regarding even our showers with suspicion. The study says that toxic chemicals found in every home — from paint to common cleaning solvents — are three times more likely to cause cancer than airborne pollutants outdoors, even in neighbourhoods near chemical plants. A scientist told the American Chemical Society that a number of similar studies concluded

the same thing. Scientists could not say for sure that toxic chemicals in the home directly caused a single death, but the level of toxic chemicals ingested indoors, made the home more of a toxic waste dump than any chemical plants in the area. Ingestion could come through breathing, eating, drinking water, or, skin absorption. The report cited paints, cleansers, plastics, cosmetics, and building materials as probable sources of toxic matter in the home. And that refreshing shower? Showering is suspected as the primary cause of high levels of chloroform in nearly every home because of chlorine in water. The truth

HE CAN take the banter about being stuck on his Viking chin, said the man who had his Rover extricated from Birdlings Flat recently, but the story that got round was inaccurate. It was not a farmer who pulled him out, but the gracious, help, of a local Maori and his young relativees. The job was done in

less than two hours. Like Rolls Royces, Rovers never break down or get stuck, he said. They simply temporarily fail to proceed. Surcharge A CHRISTCHURCH business that puts up with Post Office mail surcharges albng with everyone else was bemused the other day when it received a letter with 25c deficient postage and the 25c surcharge, all of which it paid to take receipt of the item. The letter was sent by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. From the ceiling IT WAS Christmas in a place that was right side up, but a man who was normally upside down was going to be there. The New York artist was host to a Christchurch artist, and the American was one of those

types who are sometimes described as zany, sometimes a laugh riot. Anyway, the New York artist thought the Christmas tree should be hung upside down and decorated that way to make the New Zealander feel at home. It worked out fine, and may become a trend.

Coming attraction TREVOR KING, manager of the Avon Theatre, returned home from a world trip recently. While in Europe, he heard an announcement about a film in Paris coming over a shopping mall loudspeaker. It was good, old-fashioned ballyhoo for a movie, so he took notes. “See the greatest re-issue comedy ever screened, ‘lrma la Douce’,” it said. “Passion, bloodshed, desire, and death. Everything that makes life worth living.”

—Stan Darling.