Reporter’s diary

Press, 19 June 1986, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Tribute HANDING A BOUQUET to medical services in Christchurch, a reader says that she could not have had better care after she was involved in a car accident, and taken by ambulance to The Princess Margaret Hospital. Donna McFadden says her excellent care came from “some of the most beautiful people one could wish to meet in any walk of life.” Take a bow, everyone.

Weak need SMOKERS PLEAD all sorts of excuses why they smoke; and pot smokers lead the field for the wildest and weakest reasons, especially when they have been caught with the unlawful leaf. A new one was heard in the District Court at Nelson this week, when a burger cook told Judge Seeman that the kids kicked up such a row at the burger bar that he had to have a “joint” to keep sane. The judge told him this was unlawful, and that he should seek some other palliative. He was fined $lOO. Wisden wisdom THE FIRST TWO editions of Wisden, the cricketers’ almanac, were sold at the beginning of this month for a total of £6132.50 — a far cry from the shilling

they each cost when published in 1864 and 1865. “The Times” noticed that the tiny first edition, with a mere 112 pages, has cricket information only up to page 97. After that, John Wisden filled up the space with a list of Derby, Oaks, and St Leger winners; the rules of bowls and quoiting; dates in Chinese history; dates of the founding of various British societies; details of the length of British and Irish canals and remarkable events in British history. Knur and spell SOME OF THE unusual entries in the first Wisden Almanac of 1864 are the rules for Knur and Spell, a game which sounds fascinating, to say the least. A fossick in our trusty

Concise Oxford reveals only that knur is a hard ball used in the game of knur and spell; and spell is a trap used in the game... spell in that sense meaning splinter of wood. It does mention that it is a New England game like trap-ball. Perhaps someone among our readers has played it, and could enlighten us. Hidden talents? COULD IT BE? The Institute of Nuclear Sciences in Lower Hutt has just received the March Issue of “Radiation Research,” a scientific journal devoted to abstruse aspects of physics — and long words. In it is an article entitled: “Microwave Facilitation of Methylatropine Antagonism of Central Cholinomimetic Drug Effects.” Its author is David G. Lange. Sonic repellent? SOUND WAVES may be used by the new Port Hills meter reader, Murray Chalmers, to repel a hairy problem — dogs. Sonic repellent may be issued to Mr Chalmers to deter dogs. Two dogs have already sampled his right leg in the first two months on the job; his predecessor was apparently less attractive, receiving only two attacks in six years. Mr Chalmers says that about 20 fearsome dogs on his round want to make a meal of him, and he would feel much happier if new technology in the form of a hand-held sonic repellent could be used to save him from an old problem. Broadcast fan TELEVISION coverage of Parliament has already got one avid viewer. A Christchurch woman telephoned us when it finished on Tuesday to say that “the little boys playing house” were better than her soapies any day. She hoped the sessions would be broadcast through the winter to provide cheering comedy material, although she realised, for the first time, that her children used to have squabbles over more important things than were discussed on Tuesday. —Jenny