Reporter’s diary

Press, 26 July 1989, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Simple, really SEVERAL years ago an innocent kind of chap took his toaster to the electrician because it wasn’t working. Simple, really, said the electrician with a faint sneer — you’ve been terribly wicked and put frozen bread in it, haven’t you? Ah, yes, admitted the chap/ Won’t do it again, he promised. Soon after, he returned to the same sparky with his vacuum cleaner. It was equally extinct. Simple really, sighed the electrician — have you tried emptying the bag? Emptying the what? asked our chap, surprised. Ypu mean, this thing inside? Well, actually, hadn’t thought of that Mind you, he had bought it only a year or so ago. Then, last week, he took a tape recorder to the same electrician, whom he had successfully avoided having to see for some time. But this was an extreme emergency. It just wouldn’t record, just at the very moment I needed it most, he wailed. Simple, really, muttered

the electrician. The delete tabs at the back of the tape have been broken off so you can’t record on the tape by accident. Anything else the matter? No. Never again, said his customer, blushing deeply. Good day for it FOR those who look for coincidences, note that yesterday was particularly fortuitous for English Channel crossings. On July 25, 1909, Louis Bleriot, French aviator and inventor, piloted the first heavier-than-air craft over the ocean. Bleriot flew his Bleriot X, a monoplane with a 28horsepower engine, from Calais to Dover, winning a prize of £lOOO offered by the “Daily Mail,” of London. On the same day exactly 50 years later the first channel hovercraft crossing was made, also from Calais to Dover. Could it be too much to expect the opening of the Chunnel another 50 years on, in 2009?

Large eels ALVIN Watson, of Rangi-

ora, would like to know if there is a record for the longest freshwater eel in New Zealand. Years ago, he says, he heard a radio programme that said that New Zealand had the largest freshwater eels in the world, some growing up to 3 metres long. Recently Mr Watson met a man who said he had seen a huge eel in the Oamaru Showgrounds around the time of World War I. The eel was hung over a hurdle 1.36 metres high and reached the ground on each side. It had been caught in the Shag River by a man who lived by the old bridge and had a threshing plant. Mr Watson would like to know what is recorded as the largest eel caught in New Zealand. The “Guinness Book of Records” lists only eels landed in Britain. Long, long-term loan THE latest issue of the University of Canterbury’s "Chronicle” reports the return of an overdue book to the Engineering

Library. An accompanying letter from the person who retrieved the book from a relative’s estate apologised for the delay, since “Silvicultural Systems” by R. S. Troup had. been on loan for what must be a record 60 years. The fine was, naturally, waived, but amused staff figured that had a fine been imposed it would have come to about $3OOO. Hokay READERS may recall that names of beers are needed for the new brewery attached to the Dux de Lux Tavern in the Arts Centre. Norm Wilkinson rang to tell us of his thought, which although it is not suitable for a drink, could be ideal for the bar. He suggested “Ale and Arty.” Motto for Budget Day? “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.” — Herbert Hoover. Jenny Setchell