Reporter’s diary

Press, 26 December 1985, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Still going PEOPLE often ask if Neil and Edna Merry’s cat is still going, and are astonished when they say she is. Fluffy will be 24 years old in April. The Merrys, who live on St Andrews Hill, read recently about a 25-year-old cat in Dunedin. They thought it was appropriate that Fluffy’s longevity should also be mentioned. When their last cat died 24 years ago, they chose Fluffy from a litter of 12. She is deaf now, and getting stiff in the back legs, but she is definitely still going. When the Merrys go away on holiday, she is likely to wander over to a neighbour’s house, evict the resident cat and take over. When Mr Merry was building the house on the hill, she used to come with him and watch the work. Sometimes it is hard to remember just how long she has been around, but the Merrys’ eldest child is 33 now. He was eight when they brought the cat home from Opawa. Wine and arts THE THEME of this year’s Motueka Wine and Arts Festival is colour. There will be leis, balloons, and bunting underneath the native trees in Marchwood Park on Saturday, which is earlier than the festival is usually held. Wine and arts have been combined for three previous festivals organised by the Motueka Altrusa Club to present a showcase for the growing number of small winemakers, fruitjuice makers, and crafts people in the district. Money raised is used for community activities. Tradition

A LITTLE-KNOWN Christchurch tradition that flight be, 190 years old took jwce

at Christchurch Cathedral on Christmas Day. The Cathedral Bellringers’ treasurer gave $5O to the bellringers, to be 'distributed among them in proportion to the number of times they had attended ringing sessions. The money is received each year from the Cathedral chapter. Over the years, the amount has not changed. Originally, the money was intended to ensure that people who came to bell-ringing sessions would not be out of pocket because of their attendance. It would cover tram fares or wear and tear to bicycle tyres. These days, a fair

amount of the money finds its way into Cathedral collection plates. Choir boy A MAN whose son is in the Cathedral choir has been keeping track of the time spent with the choir since December 3. The boy has been to 23 practices, six recitals and, by Christmas Eve, had sung at nine services. Sorting depot A MAN telephoned on Christmas Eve to say that if there was a Christmas illwill section in the news-paper,-he had a candidate tor it.rfle had it on good

authority that first-class mail a week old was sitting at the main sorting depot in the Christchurch Post Office. There was also an overflow of mail from Auckland that had to be sorted here. Mr Syd Bradley, the Chief Postmaster in Christchurch, said that mail could be as long as five days in the system at this time of year, but he would be disappointed if items older than that could be found. “It’s chaos down there, of course,” he said. “It is a logistical miracle to even get rid of it all.” It is normal procedure for big postal centres to help to sort mail when there is a crush. Down here

A CHRISTCHURCH man who uses a box at the Barrington Post Office received an air mail letter from Kamo, a Whangarei suburb, recently. It was addressed to Barrington. As is the practice of many people mailing internal letters, the envelope did not mention New Zealand. Whoever decides these things decided that it must be going to Barrington, New South Wales, and sent it there. When the letter finally reached New Zealand about a month after it was mailed, someone across the Tasman had written “Try N.Z.” on it. The wherewithal CHILDREN are becoming so worldly wise these days it is hard to catch up with them. Overheard at the Savoy Centre, where “Santa Claus — The Movie” is on the screen, a conversation between two small boys: “You know how Santa can give every kid in the world presents, don’t you? It’s because he’s in the movies and can afford it.” —Stan Daring