Reporter’s diary

Press, 14 September 1988, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

lb the best tradition ONE of journalism’s heroic chapters was written in Greymouth yesterday, by Pat Taylor, the West Coast reporter for “The Press.” A veteran of many flaps on the Coast, Taylor phoned his Christchurch head office to tell of the waters rising in the central business area, about 10 a.m. An hour later, he phoned to say sandbags had been laid at his door. At 1 p.m. he was on the telephone again, to advise that the water had topped the bags and was ankle-deep in his office. Late afternoon, just after he filed his story, the rising waters reached the telephone socket, and Taylor, then deeply immersed in his work, abruptly went off the line. First meetings

ELECTRIC Pictures’ search for unusual proposals of marriage (see Diary) could also unearth some strange situations in which marriage partners first met. If

the several that have been described to this column are any indication, first encounters can be deliciously unpropitious or unromantic. There were, for instance, two radiologists who said they met over an x-ray of a man’s stomach (“Darling, I saw right. through you from the moment we met.”) We would like to hear from any reader who has had a first encounter of the extremely unusual or unpromising kind — and has survived to tell the tale. Cosseted canines FROM the pampered pets department: 10 salukis — Arabian greyhounds — annoy their neighbours so much with their barking that their owner, Sandra Wornum, is building a $23,550 luxury doghouse to keep them quiet. The 14 sq m kennel, fit for the exclusive neighbourhood of Marin County, near San Francisco, features a courtyard for sunbathing, central heating, Venetian blinds, white fur blankets and imported Moroccan tiles. Oh yes, there is also, a colour telly — which is

probably a little excessive, since dogs are colour blind. Cost of kindness NICEST Mug of the Week Award goes to the woman who found a purse containing a small amount of change in the Shirley shopping area. Her bill for placing an advertisement in a newspaper “Lost and Found” column came to twice the amount of the small change inside; and no-one has rushed to claim their mislaid fortune. Galloping gourmet THE eat-and-run gourmet conman, Brian Yeomans, has been jailed for four months after police caught up with his 14 years of free dining out. The 51-year-old former seaman had amassed 96 convictions from throughout Britain of failing to pay, and had developed a taste for expensive meals at top restaurants. His lawyer, Mr Howard Ogden, blamed some restaurants for failing to notice something wrong about a scruffily dressed, stained

diner who had no bulging wallet or jangling coins, eating expensive meals — topped off with his favourite, equally expensive; wine. “There may be some eccentric millionaires around who dress scruffily, but people serving should maybe exercise a little more judgment,” Mr Ogden said. More on the Maori ANOTHER vessel named the Maori has come to light, bringing the total up to 10. This last was a Tribal-class destroyer, 1870 tons, which was built in 1939. A reader who served on a Tribal-class destroyer called Eskimo said that the Maori was sunk in Malta Harbour in 1942, after playing a prominent part in the first few years of World War 11. Close to the bone A LITTLE lad who had just seen the dinosaur skeleton at Northlands Mall, rushed home with his news. “Hey, I’ve just seen a bonasaur.” —Jenny Setchell