Reporter’s diary

Press, 13 May 1987, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

No misunderstanding KOREANS are receiving special language training in preparation for playing host to next year’s Olympic Games. As well as the multiple language training given to staff on the Seoul Olympic organising, committee, a course on Olympic English is played daily through the public address system at the 14floor Olympic Centre. The course includes replays of 8.8. C. sports commentaries with Korean explanations of such oddities as “Coe is sitting on Walker’s shoulder,” or “the stagger unwinds and it’s still Wells.” Organisers are recruiting a team of 5000 volunteer interpreters, 3000 of them in English, to ensure international understanding.

Merry month of DELEGATES at the

annual Institute of Professional Engineers of New Zealand conference, being held at Canterbury University, seemed unconcerned that the enormous banner heralding the occasion in the Ngaio Marsh Theatre said February, 1987. Was this an ingenious invention to fit more work into a year? Or a way to diddle taxes? Could they not count? Actually, it was a deliberate decision to make the conference, usually held in February, coincide with the school of engineering’s anniversary celebrations. Hungry youths TEENAGERS have not earned a reputation as mobile food disposal units for nothing. The Institute of Family Studies in Aus-’ tralia has worked out the cost of keeping children. In New Zealand dollars,

the annual costs for a medium-income family are: two-year-old, $2073; five-year-old, $2304; eight-year-old, $3000; 11-year-old, $3780; teenagers, $5695. Missing part A RUSTON 9x diesel single-cylinder engine, about 87 years old, which came from the West Coast, is ready to drive a sawmill again, this time at Ferrymead Historic Park. The sawmiller who is determined to restore the engine, Mr Barry Webster, has spent about $ll,OOO of his money on the sawmill. All that is needed to get it fully running as a working exhibit is a small part called an injector nozzle. The trust has tried all its usual (and some unusual) sources without success and it hopes someone might have this spare

part, or a working drawing from which the part could be made, or even a spare motor. If you can help, please contact Mr Derek Rout at Ferrymead, 841-970. Sobering thought A RESTAURANT owner in north-west France is encouraging clients not to drink and drive by charging only half price for the meals of anyone who gives a negative breathalyser test. After a wave of drink-drive deaths in the region, the restaurateur, Yves Baussant, decided to find a way to cut alcohol consumption while not losing clients. At the end of each meal, car drivers are asked to volunteer for a breathalyser test. A positive result means full price for the meal; a negative result means the price is halved. —Jenny Feltham