Sideswipe: January 28: Vegan humour

Vegan humour. Photo / Supplied

J.R.R. Tolkien received this letter in March 1956:

"Dear Sir, I hope you do not mind my writing to you, but with reference to your story Lord of the Rings running as a serial on the radio ... I was rather interested in how you arrived at the name of one of the characters named Sam Gamgee because that happens to be my name.

I haven't heard the story myself not having a wireless but I know some who have, one being my nephew, bearing the same surname, who is a school teacher and it caused a laugh among his class when it came on.

Another, my great niece and the latter's daughter 9 years of age a pupil at a different school, also heard it and caused some surprise among the class when it came on at her school. I know it's fiction, but it is rather a coincidence as the name is very uncommon, but well known in the medical profession. Yrs faithfully Sam Gamgee."

Tolkien wrote back, "It was very kind of you to write. You can imagine my astonishment, when I saw your signature! I can only say, for your comfort I hope, that the 'Sam Gamgee' of my story is a most heroic character, now widely beloved by many readers, even though his origins are rustic.

So that perhaps you will not be displeased by the coincidence of the name of this imaginary character (of supposedly many centuries ago) being the same as yours."

Unrecreatable moments

"I was playing beer pong years ago. Definitely past my limit on drinks.This really pretty girl shows up to the party and asks how to play beer pong.

"I start explaining the rules and when I got to "trick shot", she asked what they were. Never breaking eye contact, I threw my ball up, which hit the ceiling fan blades (which were going at full speed) and went straight into a cup. After laughing for 10 mins, we all tried to recreate the hole-in-one. Never even slightly close."

Angels in Glenfield

Laura from Glenfield wants to thank the two "angels" — both named Kathy — who helped her after a bad fall in Glenfield Mall on Friday. "I didn't have my mobile on me, so one of them waited with me until the ambulance arrived. The other asked for a friend's contact details. I couldn't remember the number so I gave her the address. Later that day I found out she had driven all the way up to my friend's house — a 36km round trip — to tell her I was in hospital. I wanted to say thank you for the exceptional help, which I would not expect from a total stranger — I was totally blown away."