Reporter’s diary

Press, 1 December 1988, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Nm? 0r... A RAILWAYS Road Services bus was seen trundling out of Christchurch with the destination “Hamner” prominent on the roller indicator on the front. The name gets mispronounced that way often, but the bus was surely heading for Hanmer? ... Mn? CONFUSION about which comes first, the N or the M, is understandable, given that Sumner is the opposite. If it helps to remember, think of Thomas Hanmer, the Canterbury pioneer after whom the Post Office in Hanmer Springs was named in 1905. Sumner is named after the Most Rev. John Bird Sumner, inaugural chairman of the Canterbury Association and Archbishop of Canterbury (1848-62). In reality, the two words are most likely to be misspelled if you stop and think about them. Company of saints HELLO to goldsmiths, farriers, blacksmiths and metalworkers — today is the feast day of your patron saint, St Eligius, or Saint Eloi, who lived from about 588 to 660. Eloi is the first of a few slightly off-beat saints who are remembered this month. St Lucy, as the patron of opticians, is celebrated on December 13, and the

feast of St Barbara as the patron of miners and gunners used to be held on December 4 until it was suppressed in the Roman calendar of 1969. Incidentally, although St Nicholas (December 6) is mainly connected with children he is a versatile all-rounder as a patron saint of unmarried girls, perfumiers, pawnbrokers, merchants, travellers and bakers. Up against the wallets LOST wallets are a worry for the owners, but, says a reader, found wallets can also be a problem. In three days, he and his family found three wallets around Christchurch — one in the Avon having been picked over then dumped, and two others lying in the street, still with money and credit cards inside. The problem was how to return these to their owners quickly enough. Banks are naturally protective and will not supply contact phone numbers or addresses, and our reader was able to save one person from considerable trouble only by getting a phone number from the video-hire shop card in the wallet. He suggests that a contact name or number be clearly marked on the wallet so that it can be swiftly returned — preferably before all the licences and cards have been cancelled.

Hotel... A SHORTAGE of hotel rooms in Hong Kong recently led to a travel agent being put up in a brand new psychiatric clinic. The owner reassured him that “the only difference between my clinic and a five-star hotel is that here you get a Valium on your pillow at night instead of a chocolate mint.” ... perks HOTELS are sometimes quite generous with the gifts they bestow upon their guests’ pillows. A fellow from Southland tells about the hotel in Seoul he stayed in at the time of the Olympics. The first evening he found a condom neatly placed on the turned down covers. Another souvenir, he thought, and tucked it in to his suitcase. The next day, there were two condoms, which ended up in the same place. The third evening there were four, and so the multiplication continued for days. Towards the end of his stay he returned to his room early and met the maid in the process of making the evening ritual donations. Her terror-filled eyes and hurried retreat surprised the man until, equally horrified, he remembered the contents of his suitcase. Quinney’s Bush REGULAR campers at

Quinney’s Bush amusement park and campsite, Motupiko, Nelson, are reassured that it will be open for business as, usual this year. The owner, Ray Quinney, writes that “a few troublemakers will not be allowed back, so campers and visitors will find it the same happy peaceful family place.” Donations towards the camp (50 cents for children, adults $3 suggested) are currently given to the Wakefield Medical Centre after costs for maintenance are met. Eye for an eye AS Heracles in the “Rape of the Belt” now on at the Repertory Theatre, Greg Smith likes to think himself into his. part. At a final rehearsal, he had worked his imagination into the realm of the trenches, with feelings probably akin to those of soldiers about to go over the top. Immersed in such fantasy, he was, therefore, stunned when, during an enthusiastic sword fight on stage, realism took over. A real, shiny, nonrubber, makes-dents-in-people-type sword was thrust through the 1 staging to where he was waiting, narrowly missing his face. It wouldn’t have alarmed him so much if it had been a close shave near his other eye, he reckons somewhat philosophically. He can’t see out of that one anyway. —Jenny Setchell