Reporter’s diary

Press, 1 February 1988, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Power mad TREES that were victims of the recent violent winds . are still being cleaned up by voracious chainsaws. One chap who had to clear his Cashmere property of a huge, fully grown pine that had blown neatly on to its side, wondered why the electric-driven chainsaw kept cutting out. Back he clambered to the power source. There sat his four-year-old son, chirpily switching the power on and off, on and off. Daddy just did not appreciate what fun it was to make the whirring noise stop and start...

Looking ahead

UNTHINKABLE though it may seem, the days of the steering wheel may be numbered for drivers in the United States. Boffins at General Motors, which

makes the popular Chevrolet range, are installing joysticks into an experimental line of cars. The new look is only one of many innovations being tested. The company hopes to install infra-red door openers on its Cadillac line, making door handles redundant. Out will go the rear vision mirror, to be replaced with a camera in the boot relaying to a screen on the ' dashboard. By the early 19905, G.M. hopes to produce a moving map to appear on a screen on the dashboard, telling wayward wayfarers exactly where they are. It will also help those who find that folding a map needs a diploma in advanced origami. Ant-i-dote

GROUND ants are the latest cure-all in China reports the “China Daily.”

A tonic of ant juice, explains the paper, is “rich in trace elements, including zinc —- a shortage of which retards children’s growth and quickens adult aging.” An ant expert (yes, really), called Wu Zhichang, said his ant tonics had cured hundreds of people of ailments such as rheumatoid arthritis. Chinese emperors have valued ants as a delicacy for 3000 years. But gorging on them in vast quantities could present a problem: ants are fattening. The newspaper said that they contain four times as many calories as beef. Sold a pup? ’TIS the season for finding homes for kittens and puppies. Advertisements for the little darlings get more inventive as the owners get more desper-

ate. To one Christchurch office notice board an employee pinned a note about his five kittens — "Free to good homes, price negotiable for bad or indifferent homes. All are in easy-care, shorthair style,” he assured likely takers. “These fine animals are now up and running, all systems go. They should be weaned and ready to go out and seek their fortunes early February. Contact Nigel

..." To the bottom a fellow worker had added: “Free puppy with every kitten. Contact Sue ...” 0.K., boss? GRAFFITI on a wall in Cambridge, Britain, has an unusually gentle way about it: “And the meek shall inherit the earth ...

if that’s all right with you.”

—Jenny Feltham.