Reporter’s diary

Press, 16 January 1986, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Supporters LEGS UP and heads down, ladies and gentlemen. The time has come to show the world again. The Antarctic’s Top Of Earth Society (T.0.E.5.) has done its part to promote the southern continent as the top of the world for a second time this year. On New Year’s Day, the New Zealand group gathered with 27 new initiates in front of McMurdo Station’s Observation Hill to listen to some less-than-formal speeches and a letter of acceptance from the Wizard of Christchurch, who was nominated as patron last year because of his unflagging efforts to get people to recognise which Site of the earth is really on p of things. T.O.E.S. members, old and new, waggled their toes in the air, as they did their part to push down the globe from what they say should be the top. If this really were the bottom of thing's, people would all be walking around upside down, say T.O.E.S. supporters. Their ceremony showed how hard that would be to do for very long. No North Americans participated In the ceremony. New Zealanders suspect that they stayed away because

they could not be persuaded to aid an effort which they saw as a betrayal of a basic Northern Hemisphere right — the right to be on top. Looking up A CHRISTCHURCH shop that is believed to be New Zealand’s only telescope specialist has been advising many potential customers who want to let the stars and Halley’s Comet get in their eyes this year. Many have the common misconception that the higher the magnification of a telescope or binocular, the better they will be able to see. Skylab, which is associated with an importing business that has been wholesaling telescopes for 30 years, often per-suades-comet-gazers looking for a telescope to set their sights on a binocular instead.

If people are interested in only looking for Halley’s Comet, a binocular is suggested. It has a wide field, and lets in much light. Those who want to carry on scanning the heavens might be steered toward a telescope. Many customers have been interested in astronopy all their lives, but have ntever taken the plunge. The ffibp’s range of instruments

goes up to a Celestron Super 8 telescope, which collects 791 times more light than the eye can see and costs about $5OOO. There has never been a duty on purely astronomical telescopes sold in this country. The shop’s manager, Michael Blaxall, recently returned from the United States, where he saw a computer attachment for the Celestron Super 8 which has a keyboard and can be programmed to find a galaxy every five seconds. It can be programmed to pick out 6000 separate objects, such as galaxies, star clusters and nebulae. For the serious amateur astronomer, that attachment will be available in New Zealand later this year. The shop, which offers free lectures by Canterbury Astronomical Society members as part of its service to telescope buyers, also supplies parts for people who want to build their own instruments. Passenger A LOBURN man drove to Waikuku Beach on a hot day after Christmas to do a small job for a friend. He parked his covered utility truck in the drive while he finished the job, then flung his tools in the back and drove home. He usually puts the truck in the garage overnight and locks it up. That night, he parked the truck outside and walked round to get something out of the back. He found more than he had left there. Inside was a woeful looking bull terrier which must have settled in for a nap in the sun while the truck was at Waikuku. He found that a neighbour of his friend had been searching frantically for his dog. The man arrived 15 minutes later to pick up a happily-wagging pet that seemed unperturbed about his long-dis-tance nap. Long drop A LONDON contract cleaning firm that has some highrise apartment buildings among its clients found a way around the problem of tree droppiiigs this year.formally, tenants dragging Their trees outside

would leave the usual trail of needles. The firm asked customers in a building to drop the trees from the windows of t their flats into the garden below. Errand

A WOMAN in Rangiora who is nearing 70 thinks it is about time to pay tribute to butchers and their attendants. They have never let her down in the “service with a smile” department. When she was younger, she used to call at the butcher shop for her mother’s meat orders. One day, she entered the shop and said: “Can I please have Mum’s leg?” To which the butcher replied: “How is she managing without it?” — Stan Darling