Reporter’s diary

Press, 24 July 1986, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Challenge coup

WE ARE SURE that the menu for “THE” wedding breakfast bore no resemblance tb the one created yesterday in Christchurch as part of the ZM-FM 60minute challenge. The man who met the challenge, Mr Steven van der Voort, had to pretend that he was Prince Edward, charged with the responsibility of finding people to play the parts of Andy and Fergie; to make the speeches; and invent a menu for the after-match function (so to speak). Ten wedding guests joined the “bride and groom” at 6 Chairs Missing in Manchester Street for breakfast, which offered a few dishes in many different guise, such as: The menu

Entrees: Alphabet soup (Ps and Qs only), with Buckingham bread and flakey uppercrust; lan Botham Hash Browns; Koo Cumber sandwiches served with sour grapes. Beef a la Fergie (with carrot topping); Thatcher

Turkey (stuffed white meat and right wings); Charles Salad. Desserts: Commonwealth split (no chocolate sauce); toffee prunes; French toast with lots of butter; Andrews liver salts and corgi bags available on request. R.S.V.P.

WITHIN A COUPLE of days we have heard tales of open invitations to criminals. The first was from a colleague who returned from a week-end away to discover her flat in St Albans had been burgled. We oozed sympathy, but she confessed that her flatmate had left the key in the front door. Open invitation number one, accepted. Number two took place in the carpark at Noah’s Hotel on Tuesday evening. Two film-goers returned to their car to find a note inside which read: “Thank goodness we are honest people. Your driver’s window was down and we did it up, remember next time. Signed: an honest person. Next time you may not be so lucky."

Open invitation number two, rejected.

Horse trade

POLO PONIES have joined the list of New Zealand exports to Britain. When 18 ponies boarded the Resolution Bay at Auckland recently, they brought the number of horses regularly shipped by Overseas Containers, Ltd, to about 120 since the “export” began in 1983. For six horses, two open-sided containers: and one flat rack are used. Two grooms accompany the horses on the voyage, which is usually direct to Tilbury, England, via Cape Hom. Hardy types EXPORTING ponies to Britain may sound like sending coals to Newcastle, but there are good reasons why New Zealand ponies are valued there. The average , life-span of British polo ponies is about 10 years; New Zealand ponies, with inherent hardiness, are expected to

continue playing polo until at least 13 years of age. Rabbit's return

THE POLICE have returned a stuffed rabbit to the Springston Hotel after holding it in custody. Robbie the Rabbit, the hotel’s mascot, was stolen last November. About $3OOO worth of liquor, money and other items also disappeared, but it was the loss of Robbie which really riled. He was eventually found by the police during a search of a house; a man later pleaded guilty to the burglary of the Springston Hotel and two others. Robbie was kept by the police because he may have been needed in the trial of a second man implicated in the same burglaries. On Tuesday, Robbie was released to his grateful owner and the hotel’s licensee, Mr Alan Ford. Patrons welcomed the bunny’s return to the public bar, alongside his rabbit replacement, called Robbie’s Brother.

—Jenny Clark