Sideswipe: August 19: Carmageddon in Auckland

This guy was desperate for his sushi. Photo / Supplied

A reader writes: "The number of vehicles on the footpaths around Newmarket is really concerning. Lime scooters get a lot of attention, but there is nothing more alarming as a pedestrian than seeing a car coming up onto the footpath because the driver doesn't want to walk up to 50m, or being forced onto a busy road to get around a parked car. Outside McGreals and Les Mills on Khyber Pass is particularly bad, especially given it is at a bus stop used by the local schools. This guy was so desperate for his sushi, but the carparks across the road were just too far away. He parked on the footpath, ran into the sushi shop, came back out with his sushi and then drove off."

Toilets panned

Public toilets planned for a seaside town in Wales will include design features aimed at deterring vandalism, rough sleepers and sexual activity. Plans for the facilities in Porthcawl's Griffin Park include weight-sensitive floors to ensure one user at a time and movement sensors inside the toilets will respond to "violent" activity. The toilets have also been designed to prevent rough sleepers taking shelter inside: If a user remains in the toilet for too long, a warning message will play, while the lights and heating will switch off. The toilets have already come under criticism on social media with some calling them cruel and suggesting they could "humiliate" users. "Weight sensitive floors to detect more than 1 user? What baseline weight are they using? I'm easily the weight of 2 teenagers! And what about people who need assistance? I have to go in with my kids," one Twitter user responded. Another adding: "Anti-shagging measures that will be triggered by innocent users is one thing, but measures against rough sleeping? If someone's homeless and desperate enough to sleep in public toilets, they need help, not technology to shoo them away." (Via CNN)

Small world stories

At a dinner party in Copenhagen Sue Leman of Mt Albert was introduced to a Danish guest. "When she heard I was from New Zealand she said, 'I had a boyfriend from New Zealand 30 years ago. I met him on a kibbutz in Israel. His name was Keith so-and-so ... Do you know him?' 'Yes,' I replied. 'He was my neighbour and we were all envious of him going on such an adventure'."

Possums pay off

"My sister and I trapped possums on our family farm near Mt Taranaki," writes Allan Oliver. "We saved our token money in the Post Office Savings account our school teacher operated for us. Mine eventually made a significant contribution to the purchase of the section for our first home at Farm Cove."