Reporter’s diary

Press, 29 September 1988, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Jonson, for Johnson THANKS to our literary sniffer-dog, Graham Herbert, who has found a particularly topical quotation after Ben Johnson was banned from the Olympic Games and stripped of his gold medal for failing a drugs test. The quote comes from another Ben Jonson, Englih dramatist, poet and critic and contemporary of Shakespeare. In his epistle to Elizabeth, Countess of Rutland, Jonson writes: “Whilst that for which all virtue now is sold, And almost every vice, almighty gold.” It is perhaps ironic that Jonson also wrote “The Alchemist.” Hello, cheeky HMMMPH — the cheek of it. A reader reports that she got a card from relatives in Dunedin, after the rugby clash the other week-end. The sombre sympathy card was addressed to Mr and Mrs Canterbury, and was signed “Otago.” Mrs Canterbury is fuming and refuses to let them get away with it. We suggest sending Canterbury’s gravestone in a parcel — with insufficient postage. Confidence Day support OCTOBER is fast becoming a month of Days. Some Christchurch businesses and individuals are displaying posters saying that they will support Wednesday, October 19, as an official National Confidence Day. The day was suggested by an American, Peter Racht-

man, and reported in the “National Business Review” last week. October 19 is the anniversary of the sharemarket crash, but Mr Rachtman sees the confidence day as a “day that looks forward to the future.” Businesses like the Strand Bookshop and the Gloucester Bookshop say they think “this is a brilliant idea” and are advertising the concept in their shop windows. They join Westpac, Continental Airlines and Thrifty Car Rentals Cars, in the at-

tempt to make Confidence Day a sign of a bright future. Korean Embassy AFTER the reference to dog-eating Koreans in yesterday’s diary, a reader suggested that, if people wished they could write to the Korean Embassy to protest about dog diets, especially while the Olympics are still on. The address is: Williams City Centre, Plimmers Steps, P.O. Box 12-115, Wellington. i—___

Late bloomers A FOUR-DOLLAR package of knickers ordered from Hong Kong by a Christchurch woman made ah unscheduled trip to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries quarantine quarters. An over-zealous sorter had misread the “panties” label as “pansies,” so the offending bundle had been redirected to be inspected for green-fly, leaf curl, or whatever it is that pansies are prone to.

Good advice BUMPER sticker seen in Durham Street: “Don’t follow me, I’m lost!” Ghost post AUTHORITIES who notified the residents of Greymouth that it was safe to drink water again, were nothing if not thorough. They kindly thought to include a funeral parlour on the mailing list. —Jenny Setchell