John Riley of Edgecumbe writes: "I've been sitting on this photo for a wee while. It was taken one morning during one of my early bike rides. The farmer who owns the land could see nothing odd about the shape of the tree, so I'm wondering if my heart rate may have been slightly elevated when I noticed it. I see it as a cross between a brontosaurus and a giraffe but it could be just a plain old windswept tree!"
A class act in corporal punishment
Otahuhu College in the 1950s had a sadistic deputy principal, writes Adrian Muller of Papamoa. "One morning he decided there would be a blitz on late-comers and sent we prefects out to catch anyone not in class, so they could be sent to him for caning. I caught a couple of tiny third formers and warned them to disappear fast. When I returned and tried to tell the DP I had no one for him to cane he shouted at me, "You are late, bend over!" And he caned me. I had tried to explain and got as far as saying, "But, but it was you who ..." He interrupted as he swung his cane saying: "He who excuses himself accuses himself."
Signs you are getting old ...
1. I walked into a youth label clothing shop last week and the woman giggled and said 'Oh are you just killing time in your lunch break?'