Reporter’s diary

Press, 18 December 1986, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Martinis — on the rocks IT IS NOT all plain sailing for New Zealanders who take to the water, especially if they happen to be celebrating the festive season. A reader recounts how his son, a senior partner in a law firm in Auckland, joined in the annual office party on board a hired catamaran. Halfway through the harbour trip by moonlight the skipper casually announced that they had run

aground, and that they would have to wait for the tide. The party, which should have finished at midnight, ended closer to 7 a.m. the next day. The pleas of mitigation made to land-bound spouses afterwards were reputed to be the best heard for some time. On the sound waves BACK TO KZ7: A new release from CBS Records is called “You can’t beat a

plastic Fantastic,” which is sung by — naturally — suzy and the Sailors. The dogmatic assertion makes more sense to the uninitiated when you learn that a “plastic fantastic” is a nickname for KZ7, because of its fibreglass hull. Those with vested — and invested — interest are hoping that both record and its source of inspiration reach the top. Good hiding A SIGN inside a warehouse selling sheepskin

and leather goods near Stockport, England, warns: “Shoplifters will be tanned.” Para (ab)normal experience THIEVES WHO stole a Para pool from a house near Riccarton Bush also took the 8550 litres of water inside it on Tuesday evening — and the family of six who owned the pool slept blissfully on. They were amazed on waking

to find their 3.65 m (12ft) diameter by 0.91 m (3ft) deep pool had vanished, with no sign of the water which had been in it, and only a ladder, some paving stories and a piece of black lining remaining. It took the family two hours to erect the pool, so presumably the thieves must have spent a similar time dismantling it before wading back across the Avon, and into the night. — Jenny Feltham