Reporter’s diary

Press, 31 January 1989, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

No trouble brewing ON Saturday, A.B.C. bottlers popped a neat little shot over the net into the home brewers’ court by announcing that brewers could be made to tip their beer out and hand their empty bottles back to A.B.C. bottlers. A player from the home brewers’ side has replied that they don’t need glass bottles anyway. The plastic varieties (used for soft drinks) are even better since they come equipped with screw caps. The results, they claim, are excellent. Score: 30-all. Slow grow — no mow SCIENTISTS in Canberra have developed a native variety of grass called Wallaby grass that needs mowing only twice a year. But persuading Aussies to change from the imported British grasses may not be easy, in spite of the benefits of a slow-growing variety, fears lan Dawson, of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. “People here tend to have a very European view,” he says. In arm, arm, arm’s reach SUFFERING the indignities of a gown that flaps alarmingly at the rear is a problem for anyone in hospital, or even just nipping in for a quick X-ray. But not for the patients at

St George’s Hospital X-ray department or Gloucester Radiology. A radiologist, Dr Richard Coates first met the three-armholed gown when working in West Australia about 10 years ago, and brought the idea back with him. Of Scandinavian origin, the gown is like a wraparound skirt, without ties,

yet leaving no embarrassing gaps. The gowns are also colour-coded for size, which is a relief for both behemoths and pixies. About the only minor drawback is the number of armholes, which sometimes bamboozles patients, worried that they don’t have enough limbs in theright place.

Consuming passions CALLS about what to feed ravenous monarch caterpillars on (raw pumpkin, folks, raw pumpkin) continue at the rate of about four a day. For people uninterested in monarchs, but curious about dietary matters, here is a report that appeared in the “Daily Telegraph” recently. Having picked some daisies, Samantha Smith, aged seven, told her father she would like to pick some grass — "so they would have something to eat” Who started all this? Fair question JEAN Giraudoux, diplomat and dramatist who died 45 years ago today, was France’s Minister of Information just before World War I. He attended a meeting about the problem of unemployment, 'and, after a long debate, one speaker summed it up: “If things go on this way another year, we'll all be begging.” “From whom?” asked Giraudoux. Desperate measures RUNNING along Ferry Road, a jogger noticed a woman trying to get to the middle of the road. Twice she was nearly sent flying by speeding traffic. He said to hen “You could get yourself killed doing that” She pointed to the centre of the road: “But there’s a sixpence stuck in the tarseal...” —Jenny Setchell