Reporter’s diary

Press, 4 April 1989, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Light relief THERE IS LITTLE to brighten the day for Mrs Ann Gason, whose husband, Vince, is under house arrest in Somalia. Last week, Mrs Gason tried to phone Somalia, which normally is not a problem, but for two days it was extremely difficult. All calls to Somalia, for some reason, go through Rome. When the international tolls operator placed the call, she was propositioned by an Italian operator with the endearing words: “You and me get together and make little Kiwis. Not just one, but two — one for me and one for you.” After the operator sweetly told him just what he could with his Kiwis, it took even longer than before to have the call connected to Somalia. If nothing else; the short discussion brought some light relief to the Gason household.

Decaffeinated coffee INTERESTED in the contents of decaffeinated coffee, a reader wrote to ask what exactly goes into (and is taken out of) her bedtime cup of coffee. Understandably, companies are a little coy about revealing their manufacturing secrets, but we can say that it depends on the process of decaffeination. One method extracts caffeine by using only water and a natural coffee constituent on the moist beans, which are then dried, roasted and brewed. Other processes use chemical solvents such as methylene, chloride or ethyl acetate to break down or remove the caffeine. By the way, a cup of instant coffee contains 0.059 g of caffeine, but a cup of decaffeinated coffee contains 0.003 g of caffeine. Sleep tight.

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Further back FASHION does not just come round again. It comes round and round and round and round. After reading the diary item, “Hats off to fashion,” last week, Mrs Denise Pike, of Timaru, found a picture of the same hat-style, dated 1587, in a book titled “Women’s Headdress and Hairstyles in England from A.D. 600 to the Present Day,” by Georgine de Courtais. Anyone know of any cave rock drawings showing the same fashionable topper? Excuses, excuses? WAS THIS, readers wanted to know, the latest batch of “800-boos Department” graduating gremlins making their debut in Saturday’s edition of “The Press?” In a show of spirited independence, page eight claimed to be Monday, April 3. Not all

of the numerous readers who reported this phenomenon realised it was also April Fool’s Day. Forgotten TEACHERS have been having trouble with an Education Department computer which has forgotten to pay some of them. One man in this predicament telephoned a northern Education Board and was invited to make an 18km journey into town to pick up an interim payment. He was given a cheque for $lOOO but when he went to cash it at the bank, it bounced. The board official had forgotten to sign it. Clean joke A COUNTRY MOLE tells us that at a recent quiz evening the question “Who cleaned the Augean stables?” was answered: “Crothalls.” —Jenny Setchell