Reporter’s diary

Press, 5 March 1988, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Left behind

THE double-decker bus ; on loan from Ferrymead , Historic i Park went on a promotional tour to Inver- ; cargill. { Three drivers went along for the jaunt, two taking turns to sit on ; the upper deck because the material for the firm took up most of the space on the lower deck. At Gore they paused for a toilet stop. The driver alighted,) followed soon after by two co-drivers: from upstairs. The driver returned, and without' checking the upper deck drove off. Had he looked in the .'rear mirror he might have seen his co-: drivers (jumping up and down and waving. It was not until he reached In-j vercargill that he realised he had no. passengers: They ! had, meanwhile, boarded! a passing Road Services bus, which just

caught up with the older vehicle at Invercargill.

Ea vesdropping

OVERHEARD on a taxi radio yesterday: "Unit such and such go to the Air New Zealand domestic terminal and pick up some goldfish.” Replied the bemused driver, “I hope they’re in a bowl.” Success...

A MAN who has difficulty reading and writing, has never passed an examination, and was considered a failure at school has been named Britain’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year. ! The Press Associatibn reports that. Gary Rees won the award, presented by the “Independent” newspaper, for building up successful trucking, packing and clothing companies in north London.

... story THE partially Rees had a disastrous school career. "I j was a very, very slow learner. I couldn’t see properly. I used to look out' of the window and dream,” he said. After leaving school Rees worked through a string of jobs until he started selling encyclopaedias door-to-door. “I realised reading and writing was not my cup of tea, and that talking and selling were more my line,” he said. After steadily developing his business, described by the judges as “absolutely : reiqarkable by anybody’s criteria,” Rees now employs more than 100 full-time staff. Flying long ! CONTESTANTS 'entered for the birdman challenge at Lyttelton i No. 2 wharf tomorrow, might I be in-

spired to know that the world record for humanpowered flight |i stands at 59.8 km. On January 22, ' 1987, Glenn Tremfnl, of Connecticut, jflew! the Michelob Light Eagle for 2h 13min 14s (in California. The craft weighed only 40.8 kg and had a wing span of 34.7 m. The flight was part of the Daedalus Project bf the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the goal of which is to make the flight from Crete to mainland Greece (1|12.6km) using human power. | i I Set in his ways THE Minister !of Forestry, Mr Tapsell, opened a conference on the marketing of timber in Christchurch this week, with this: “I look: forward l to ! seeing something concrete come from these two days of deliberations.