Sideswipe: August 5: Kiddie door

Kiddie door. Photo / Supplied

A small locked 175mm square cat door rendered David's swimming pool non-compliant. He explains: "My 12-month-old crawling grandson has head diameter 180mm x 160mm, so not even his head could get through let alone shoulders and whole body. Previous inspectors had declared the cat door compliant. Pay $130. Given pool stickers to place on windows by inspector. Stickers were not in place on inspection. (I had not received stickers). Remove cat door. Pay $170 for re-inspection."

Brutality of the natural world

A chihuahua was recently snatched by a large seagull from his backyard in Devon. There are no photos of the attack, but large gulls have been known to ambush small mammals, an avian expert told Live Science. But such attacks "are very rare," said Viola Ross-Smith, a science communicator with the British Trust for Ornithology. Becca Hill's chihuahua named Gizmo was safe in the garden when a gull swooped down and scooped up the tiny pup with its beak. His owners could only watch helplessly as the gull carried poor Gizmo away. Large gulls eat whatever they can find. The bulk of their diet is typically made up of fish, invertebrates, vegetables and discarded human food, but sometimes near-chihuahua-size mammals such as rats, moles and even small rabbits are on the menu. "They tend to fly up with them to the height of just a few metres and then drop them, to overcome them," Ross-Smith said.

Most irritating phrase

"Any advances on 'my bad'?" asks Lucy Nichol on Twitter.

1. "Just bantz though."

2. "It is what it is."

3. "Boy did good."

4. "Gin o'clock."

5. "Reach out."

6. "Low-hanging fruit."

7. "Woke folk. My bad is just silly in itself, but woke folk takes itself seriously."

8. "Pop. Everyone is popping. Pop your pin in there, I'll just pop you over here, pop your coat there, she's popped out, pop in sometime."

Getting an Ed-ucation

Getting an Ed-ucation. Photo / Supplied

Small world

Peter Patten of Albany: "Walking around Florence near the Duomo (cathedral) my wife said: 'All these people and we don't know anyone'. Then she spotted a couple munching lunch on the steps of the Duomo — recognised the woman as living next door to the doctor's surgery in Milford where my wife was a practice nurse for many years."