Sideswipe: Crossing parking is a thing this Christmas

Crossing parking is a thing this Christmas. Photo / Supplied

Did you know ...

1. Fred Astaire started skateboarding in his 70s and broke his wrist skateboarding at age 78.

2. Much like the 80s, when there were news reports about video-game-addicted kids getting repetitive stress injuries the media dubbed "Nintendonitis," a San Francisco doctor, Levi Harrison, has made "Selfie wrist" a thing. He claimed to be seeing a rise in an injury caused by "hyper-flexing your wrist inwards to capture the perfect selfie angle. "Selfie wrist" can reportedly cause numbness and a tingling sensation that people feel in their fingers and wrists, he says.

3. In July 2017, the Chinese Government banned Justin Bieber from performing in China. They released a statement later on saying: "In order to maintain order in the Chinese market and purify the Chinese performance environment, it is not suitable to bring in badly behaved entertainers."

"When they say 'Lifestyle' do they mean the lifestyle where you divide your time between the dentist's office and the dialysis unit?" writes a reader. Photo / Supplied

Out to SLUNCH

Reader Fiona has come up with a new name for the late lunch, which might become the early supper. "SLUNCH incorporates: The slouch late lunch/supper you have while wandering about in your PJs at 3pm searching for leftovers you take back to eat in bed while lazily watching TV, finishing a book or planning to be fitter while kicking back to the tennis or cricket (can be adjusted to S'LUNCH for bleary eyed teenagers). The planned relaxed late lunch where friends come bringing a plate and also enough pre-prepared food to keep youngsters totally catered for when 5.30 comes and the 'help-I-need-to-feed-the-children' panic sets in. The common garden variety SLUNCH involves delicious food, too much wine, slurring and a cab home."

Two things you need to know today ...

Pac-Man was originally released in Japan as Puck Man, because he looks like a hockey puck. When the game was launched in the US it was changed to Pac-Man, for fear that people might vandalise the first letter of Puck Man

... And since the magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Kaikoura in 2016, the South Island has crept 35cm closer to the North Island.