Reporter’s diary

Press, 12 November 1985, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Last flowers CYRIL Irving’s. neighbours in Linwood are admiring his strange tree this year as it flowers for the first time. A member of the yucca family, the tree is a century plant. Mr Irving admired a specimen of lhe tree in the Botanic Gardens, and he got a bulb off the parent tree 16 or 17 years ago. He planted it and away it went, until about 12 metres high. Now that it has flowered for the first and only time, the tree will die. The tree usually has young shoots coming from its base. Mr Irving is philosophical about the tree’s demise, now that it has flowered magnificently. “They’ve gotta go,” he says. The blossoms are very pale green, with a yellow stripe. The tree in the background is the same age, but it has not flowered. yet. It was grown in a pot for a long time, and planted out later. Bike jackets

TESTS on a new leather jacket to be worn by motorcycle traffic officers are going well. Some of the tests were done in Christchurch, and minor modifications are being completed by the manufacturer who made the prototype jackets. There have been stories that each jacket will cost $BOO. That was probably true for the first black jacket, which was developed to satisfy the safety requirements of officers and still look dressy, but there is no telling what an order of about 400 jackets will cost when the job goes out to tender soon. After the prototype, six more jackets were produced for tests. What they like AS THEY prepared a new cookery book, members of Balclutha’s St Marks Anglican parish wrote to New Zealand notables, asking for favourite recipes. David Lange responded with a recipe for honey chicken. The Governor-General designate, Sir Paul Reeves, said that his favourite dessert was Bradbury cake. Oily Ohlson, the Christchurch presenter of television's “After School,” sent a recipe for a peanut bar. Lapping Sumner DRESS UP and. slap that pavement. Trying--to., inject a little more fun into fiifi running, the Sumner community is again asking participants in its run tonight to come along in fgocy

dress. Some of the runners might think that clothes will cut their speed, but no world record times are being recorded, anyway. Others might think their fancy jogging togs are fancy enough. The seaside community is trying tojgenerate interest in its shopping district, which is steadily being transformed. The run’s course is two laps of Sumner — one lap (skm) for children and two laps for adults. The run, postponed last Tuesday because of rain, starts at 6.30 p.m. in the main street shopping "district Do-you' havet ■'> A FORMER' Christchurch

woman who is now marketing manager of a public relations firm in San Diego has arrived in New Zealand with an unusual shopping list. She is shopping for stage props. San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre will produce a New Zealand comedy from the end of this month, and the theatre company needs some authentic props, especially as the theatre, is partly in the round, and the audience will be close. The play is “Bert and Maisy," by Robert Lord. It had its premiere in Christchurch two years ago, and the San Diego production will be its American premiere. Mr Lord, who, now lives in New York City, is in'California while f?he play

hearsal. The Old Globe Theatre is part of a threetheatre performing arts centre originally built as an entertainment attraction of the 1935 California-Pacific International Exposition. Fair-goers were able to see 50-minute versions of Shakespearean plays. Patricia Thornton, who is looking for the props, wants the following: a kiwi bird lawn ornament, three yarn shoppingbags, ladies’ magazines from the early 19705, three bottles of New Zealand white sparkling wine popular during those years, and two half-gallon glass beer flaggons. If you can help send Ms Thornton back to California with a box of authentic props, she can be reached through us. Knob

NOW where the heck is that hole? During renovation of a city office building, a painter asked the builder if he could get rid of a little brass knob protruding from a. corridor wall. It would make things a lot tidier. The hole left behind could be filled and the space painted over. Obligingly, the builder whacked off the knob. Later, the people who maintain the lift came along and asked about the little knob. It had been in a small hole that was needed so they could stick a cable through to open the lift doors when the lift was not in place. —Stan Darling