Reporter’s diary

Press, 12 October 1985, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

The longest way A CHRISTCHURCH man has found a mystifying old photographic glass plate among his father’s belongings. A photograph has been made from it which shows two boys standing on a narrow track, apparently bn a cliff face, called the Pilgrims’ Path. Other things are carved into the rock. One says: “The longest way round is often the shortest way home.” The other carving has two dates, one 1853 and the other probably in the early 1900 s, on two sides of a symbol. The only letters that can be read on the top are DKING. Letters that can be seen on the bottom are TAWRITO. The

boys are wearing clothes typical of the early 1900 s, and are carrying satchels that might be for lunches. The hills seem to be covered by dry scrub, and the rock is apparently soft enough for easy carving. The man says that other photographic plates showed scenes that did not remind him or friends of any place in New Zealand. The Canterbury Museum has not been able to help him. Can anyone suggest where the Pilgrims' Path was? Coast messengers BONNIE and Clyde had to stand outside, cooling their heels. Two West Coast men rode their horses up to the front door of Robert Jones House in Wellinton this week to make a delivery to the French Embassy inside, on the fourteenth floor. They had a special bag for the French, filled with horse manure, a plastic bomb, protest mail and a petition. They wanted to see the

Ambassador, but he was not there. They said they would settle for anyone who was French. No-one would see the two of them, and so-they left their material and left the building. They were dumping some waste on the French, they said, the way the French dumped waste in the Pacific. They also put an anti-nuclear sticker on the Embassy door before they moved on to Parliament to deliver messages of support for the Government’s anti-nuclear stand. The men had been on the road. with their peace crusade for three weeks. Conversions

OUR late-duty reporter was writing a report about the car theft week-end starting early — about midnight on Thursday — when two other reporters returned soon

after leaving the office. Their car had become the most recent victim. Later, the police told her about a man who had had his car stolen. He reported it to the police, and a sharp-eyed Christchurch man saw it outside his house. When the owner went to pick up the car, he had a cup of tea with the man who found it. He was inside the house for only 10 minutes. When he went outside to drive off, it had again been taken. The car was found again later. Toot toot

ACCORDING to our Insider at the Beehive, we could soon see a new line in bumper stickers. They will say: “Honk if you love A.N:z.U.S.” Apparently, they are the National Party's latest contribution to the defence and nuclear debate.

Pencil case IF Cecilia Smith, of parts unknown, is looking for her pencil case, we have it. The case has a broken zipper and is held together by a rubber band. It was found in Clyde Road, possibly after a bicycle mishap, near the

end of last term. The person who had it tried many local schools and the university trying to find a student named Cecilia Smith, but with no luck, and so the case was sent to this newspaper.

Bursting out LAST Saturday, a Sumner man was standing at the kitchen sink of his Diamond Harbour week-end house -which overlooks Purau Bay and has a commanding view from its clifftop of Purau Road. He was getting ready for dinner guests, peeling Eotatoes while listening to a orse race at Timaru. He saw two girls taking a shortcut from the road to Waipapa Avenue. They had to pass below the kitchen window. They took fright and ran up the hill when a bellow came forth from his house. The potato peeler had $5 each way on a noform horse which took the lead and won handsomely. “You beauty, dome on Duke,” he roared, peeler in one hand and potato in the other. The horse, Here Comes Duke, paid well. The man wants the girl? to know that he is a mild-mannered

Rotarian who makes a habit of peeling spuds while admiring the- view, but does not normally rant and rave at the same time.

Gathering dust IS IT the prelude to something weird and wonderful? Or, if the wrong film-maker gets hold of it, weird and horrible? With Christmas coming on, we can get set for the latest crop of movies about benevolent or voracious creatures that come from seemingly innocent seeds. Never discount the omens. That is what the patsies do in the movies, and they are inevitably the first ones to be fired off into the void or eaten by some gruesome glop. With that in mind, a recent complaint from a swimming J>ool owner in Port Hills Road makes you wonder. The owner has

complained about mysterious dust in the pool. The Heathcote County health inspector could not isolate a source of the problem, but the pool owner has been told to call the council at once if it should happen again.

—Stan Darling