Reporter’s diary

Press, 27 August 1986, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Itchless woollies WOOLLEN underwear can have one drawback — it can cause itchiness for people with sensitive skins. To counter this, Weft Industries, of Christchurch, has developed a pure-wool and cotton, twolayer material. “Dualfold” has the two fibres knitted together with the cotton directed to the inside, keeping the scratchy bits of wool to the outer layer. The material was developed, says the Ministry of Agriculture, with “New Zealand Wool Board backing.” Which makes it all sound a little like the famed poem about an Eskimo wearing his furside skinside, and skin side outside. Poetic or not, a trial line of 1400 garments released in Julyhas had a good response. Anyone seen Gloria? DURING THE 1940 s a young, wheelchair-bound woman named Gloria -Lyons corresponded with a young man named Maurice Moody, an armourer in No. 16 Fighter Squadron of the R.N.Z.A.F. on Ondonga, a remote territory m the Pacific. Her

letters, like any sent to troops overseas, meant a great deal to someone stationed in a lonely island outpost. Several

□ecu aircraft, two of which were shot down, were named after Gloria. To- , wards the end of the war contact with her was lost. Because she lived in

■ Christchurch, we think there must be someone M who remembers her and H who could tell us someH thing of her life since the B war. Gloria may still be H around, and if so Mr ■ Moody is curious to meet H the person who made life ■ bearable 43 years ago. ■ Aural pollution H INVENT a new noise ■ machine, and someone ■ will have to find a way of ■ shutting it up. That seems ■ to be the progression ■ these days, and the ■ arrival of “ghettoM blasters” or "boom-boxes” ■ in the 1970 s is a good 111 example. Last summer ■ New York city officials IM introduced five “quiet ■ zones” across New York’s ■ five boroughs where port- ■ able stereos were forbid- ■ den. This year they added MM another 10 areas to the ■ boom-box-free list. Last ■ summer nine summonses f| were issued, each carry-

wiui iai i ing a $5O fine and the ; threat of equipment ■ confiscation. Two for the price i WHILE Dr Roger Sawyer

was in the Sahara researching his forthcoming book, "Slavery in the Twentieth Century,” his interpreter took him to a small village. “The Times” reports that during a conversation with one man, Sawyer made it known that he was interested in the welfare of children. The man misunderstood Sawyer’s purpose and immediately offered him a little girl, saying, “This is one of my slaves; you are welcome to her.” Sawyer politely declined. "I said that the girl would be better off with her mother.” So the mother was added to the gift. Holiday hinformation THE GENTLE art of oneupmanship is alive and well at the headquarters of “Burke’s Peerage.” Writing to their regular contacts in Britain the staff declared that their

publicity office would be closed “from the birthday of His Imperial Majesty — Napoleon I on August 15 to the birthday of H.R.H. Prince Albrecht

Alexander Maria Frederick William Carl Joseph of Wurtemburg on September 2.” The crowning touch, so to speak, was that the letter was dated “IV.VIII.MCMLXXXVI.” A far cry from the simple “Gone fishing” notice. Glacial pernod JUST when we thought we had seen it all up pops a bizarre addition to designer labels. “Designer ices” for children are being marketed by a major American lolly manufacturer. The ice lollies, such as “Miami Ice” or “Grand Marnier Lollipop” are aimed at “the kids who will drive Porsches and wear designer clothes.” To show that they know what they are doing, they add: “The children of today are the adults of tomorrow.” Fancy that. > '■ - —Jenny Clark