Reporter’s diary

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Nuttin’ ... NO wonder the expression “going nutty” was evolved. The lengths that Brazil-nut lovers will go to extract the insides equal army manoeuvres in complexity. Some are patently absurd, while others have a ritual element that is fascinating. Like the woman who freezes her nuts overnight, then takes them to the beach where she places them on large rocks. She then removes the shell by smashing them with another large rock. Another reader claims that burying the Brazils in damp earth or sand for two weeks softens the shells sufficiently to allow them to be picked off by hand. Try telling that to theplod platoon when they catch you digging up your back garden at midnight. ... doin’ SERIOUSLY, the easiest and most sane way of prising open the blighter Brazils is possibly this hint, which comes from a cutting saved by a reader for emergencies such as this. It goes: "Bring salted water to boil and immerse in for three minutes. Drain, and immerse in cold water for one minute. Drain again and shell. The nut should come out whole.” Operative word: should. Guarantees not included. Support for farmers MANY generous gifts have been channelled through the North Canterbury Rural Support Committee to farmers and their families under stress this year. The committee chairman, Mrs Dorothy Oakley, said that gifts of money have been coming in through the year, but lots of new toys were

especially valued at Christmas. Save the Children Fund gave $5500 worth of shoe vouchers for children aged 12 and under. The committee has 3000 shoe vouchers for children of high-school age, which will be distributed next year. Mrs Oakley said shoe vouchers

were especially useful since, unlike clothes, shoes were not usually passed . on from child to child, or family to family. The committee would still be pleased to accept other gifts (except second-hand clothing, which is catered for by other organisations), at any time, in the

Federated Farmers offices at 8 Armagh Court, 78 Armagh Street. Throwing light AN article in yesterday’s paper on Yasser Arafat had one reader thumbing in vain through all his dictionaries for a definition of the world “lucifugous.” The “Chambers Twentieth-Century Dictionary” has it as meaning shunning light, from lux, light, and fugere, to flee. It is not connected to Lucifer (other than the Lux bit), no matter what the Israelis might think. New city walks PEDESTRIANS in the centre of Christchurch may have puzzled over the sudden appearance of yellow arrows painted at odd intervals on the footpaths. The numbered arrows are part of two new city walks devised by the City Council’s walks committee. Although both walks begin outside the Cathedral in the Square, they take different routes. Colour brochures detailing points of interest on the walks are available from the Canterbury Promotion Council and other information outlets. “I wonder as I wander?” FARMERS are not alone in wrestling with the headaches of how to cope with their parched lot. According to the minutes of the Akaroa County Council finance-commit-tee meeting held earlier this month, even the animals are furrowing their brows and contemplating the grim rural scene: “The County Clerk said he has received a number of complaints ... regarding wondering stock on the road.” —Jenny Setchell