Reporter’s diary

Press, 25 February 1986, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Tasty perk

OYSTER OPENERS look forward to the start of each new season as much as oyster consumers — and not only for the money they earn. We have it on good authority that many take with them on the first day a little pile of bread and butter, and small containers of the essential vinegar and pepper. These things are not always eaten with fresh Foveaux Strait oysters, but we suspect that in this case they certainly sire. One opener says that in most sacks of 60 to 80 dozen there are perhaps seven or eight absolutely prime oysters. It is these that make the monotonous job much more bearable, and they rarely get past the opener’s bench. Our informant also says that they taste better than your average oyster for public consumption. Old bottlers

AN ITEM in a recent edition of “The Press” about the dangers of eating old bottled preserves, and, for that matter, any preserves unless one knows that they are “safe,” did not wash with a Christchurch woman. Her mother was an ardent bottler, wont to preserve just about anything she could get her hands on, and she was very good at it When her mother fell ill, our reader inherited a huge quantity of preserves. That was in 1965. She gave all the bottled tomatoes to her brother, who was not a great tomato eater but started manfully to wade through them. He finished the last jar of tomatoes the other day — 26 years after they had been bottled. The

woman swears that every one of them was as good as the day they were preserved.

Open letter

WE WERE surprised to learn that an open letter to members of Parliament, written in book form by a retired Christchurch magistrate, Mr Harold Evans, was on sale at the Government Bookshop. Surety Government bookshops sold only official material from the Government Printer, we thought, but no. The director of Government Bookshops, Mr Barry Freebaim, said yesterday that for some time now. it had been the policy of Government Bookshops to sell books that were seen as complementary to the books in stock from the Government Printer. “This means we don’t sell things like ‘Playboy,’ but would sell general material on water safety,” said Mr Freebairn. “Now that the policy has been well established, authority has been delegated to in-’ dividual Government Bookshops to decide which extra books they stock. Mr Evans’s 110page open letter, which is obviously seen as complementary to material from the Government Printer, costs $8 a copy. New honour “DOG,” the scrawny heading dog of “Footrot Flats” cartoon fame, continues to be a pioneer for his species. He has been made an honorary member of the Canterbury branch of the Antarctic Society. This is not Dog’s first association with the frozen wastes. Last year his likeness was painted on the door of the Royal New Zealand Air Force helicopter at McMurdo Station. It is said that Dog also met the huskies there and was not at all impressed.

Comet reminder

SCHOOL parties are welcome at the “Omarama watch site” to view Halley’s Comet during March. Some have already booked for the once-in-76 years opportunity, but the organisers feel that other schools that may be interested do not know about it. The watch site on Ribbonwood Station, near Omarama, was chosen for its high percentage of clear night skies, isolation from sources of “light pollution,” dark mountain backdrop, and outlook to the east where the comet will rise. The site is staffed by astronomers and equipped with a range of telescopes, binoculars, and photographic facilities. Interested schools should telephone Ms Barbara Taylor, Christchurch 796-895. Keen A CHRISTCHURCH firm has sold two telescopes for comet viewing at $4250 apiece, not the sort of outlay that you would expect from your average comet-watcher. A spokesman for the company confirmed that both had been bought by members of astronomical societies who wanted to “upgrade their telescopes,” just as one would a a car. Pronunciation FOR SOME REASON, extraordinary numbers of otherwise intelligent people insist on pronouncing Halley’s (Comet) as “Halley’s” (Comet). Not all of them are old enought to remember the late Bill Haley and the Comets, so his name, (pronounced “Hailey” because it has only one “L,” can not be held responsible. Halley’s Comet is no more “Hailey’s” Comet than a valley is a “vailey.”

Linwood effort

THIS FRIDAY the senior students of Linwood High School will tackle the task of selling $35,000 worth of raffle tickets for the Murray Halberg Trust for Crippled Children. Thirtythree other schools throughout New Zealand will do the same, but Linwood is the only Christchurch school selected to be involved in the raffle. The last one, run in 1984, benefited the trust by more than $140,000. More than $50,000 has gone towards making holiday recreation facilities available to the physically handicapped. In the past many crippled .children could not enjoy camps and other outdoor pursuits because of barriers to their access. A further $lO,OOO has gone 1 to sponsorship of young disabled people to attend Outward Bound courses specialty for them. Silent revolution? ONE OF the better headlines appears in a Unicef newsletter on a public vaccination programme in Africa: “Silent shots' in the streets of Chad.” Just a drop ... MIKHAIL GORBACHEV’S anti-liquor campaign obviously has a lot of gorund to make up among the thirsty sailors of Russia’s Pacific fishing fleet, vessels of which are frequent visitors to New Zealand ports. The antialcohol rules state that all fishing vessels should be “dry” on the inside, but Vladivostok . Radio reported that inspectors who boarded a trawler on the eve of its departure for the Pacific found 576 bottles of vodka hidden in a cabin. The “dangerous cargo” was apparently intended for the second na-vigator’s-wedding. —Keter Comer