Reporter’s diary

Press, 30 August 1989, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Flying boats, then? AIR safety regulations prevented the Democratic Party introducing a model of their Cirius-hull oceanic patrol ship to Auckland, Aucklanders, and hence the rest of the world. The model patrol ship had been launched on the pond outside the Brevet Club during the party’s conference in Christchurch. It was given to the Democrats’ defence spokesman, Dick Ryan, by its maker, Ray Palmer, of Rangiora. Commander Ryan was told by Air New Zealand staff that the patrol ship was too big to be taken on board as cabin luggage, and it was suggested that he sail the boat up to Auckland instead of flying. Commander Ryan declined, since, he explained, the vessel has yet to undergo sea trials. (If it’s any consolation, frigates are also considered generally too bulky for cabin luggage.) Of books ..

AMONG the thousands of cancelled books from the Canterbury Public Library sale yesterday were a number of gems, one of which was snaffled by a colleague with a nose for that sort of thing. “The Fall of Venice” tells us that in the fourteenth century Venice made snobbery illegal. “You could get six months stifling under the leads of the ducal palace for boasting about your forbears,” writes the author, Maurice Rowdon, “and if you

did it a second time you could be drowned secretly.”

... and bookmarks SOME volumes bought at second-hand book sales come complete with their bookmarks. Libraries have dealt with odd assortments of markers, ranging from rashers of bacon, through condoms, to chocolate papers. A reader recently sent us one he discovered in a 1920 s book bought at a book fair in Nelson. This was a tram ticket for nine four-section rides at three shillings and ninepence. A pity it had been fully clipped. Tongue-twisted IN Monday’s issue of "The Press,” but not, mercifully in this column, we wrote of an Indian wedding and claimed that the marriage vows were spoken in Indian. Which would have been rather awkward,

since there is no such language. It was probably either Hindi or Gujerati, says our lingo disciplinarian, who also growled a warning against talking about the Swiss, Pakistani, or Chinese languages — which likewise don’t exist We wouldn’t dream of it. Not now. Bughouse LISTENERS to Radio Avon have been happily arguing about a cinema. Once upon a time, they say, there was a picture theatre in Cathedral Square which was fondly (oh really?) referred to as the bughouse. Which was it: The Grand, The Empire or the Crystal Palace? The radio station was swamped during yesterday morning’s breakfast show by calls from listeners with diverting tales of rats and huhu bugs that frequented the bug-house, but no-one could conclusively estab-

lish the identity of the cinema. Perhaps they were all, at various times, called the bug-house, keeping in mind that fleapit is a favourite term for theatres in general. Hi-tech smileys SOME more smileys on their sides, as produced by a typewriter keyboard: :-) Smiley punk rocker; :-x “my lips are sealed” smiley; :%)% smiley with acne; :-q smiley trying to touch its nose with its tongue; and 8:-) smiley wearing glasses on forehead. Puss in boot?

FROM the lost and found column of “The Press,” this week comes the lament: “Lost from Riccarton area, champagnecoloured long haired female car, answers to the name Libby ..And in the moulting season too.

—Jenny Setchell

David Fletcher