Sideswipe: July 5: The irony! AT driver caught double parking

And the considerate parking award goes to...

Road rager flies off the handle

"Exiting the Waterview Tunnel at lunchtime yesterday I was surprised to see two cars stationary in the overtaking lane, and even more shocked when one started to reverse towards the other, who pulled into the middle lane and sped away to avoid a collision. It became apparent it was some form of road rage incident, as the remaining car then chased the fleeing vehicle. After managing to get alongside the other car at the lights the female passenger hung out of the window and hurled abuse. Her fury unabated she then popped back into the car, reappearing seconds later to, incredibly, throw cutlery at the other car. We did manage to avoid the forks in the road, but if anyone else was damaged, the police have the rego of the offending vehicle to provide your insurers."

Honest theives in Otahuhu

"We've been waiting patiently for our travel itinerary to arrive for our upcoming trip overseas. This morning our neighbour came over to give us an open postbag that his dog found under the hedge. Clearly someone felt very apologetic for stealing our mail, they even wrote us a note!"

An effort for the books

In 1895, UK Prime Minister William Gladstone founded a public library. Aged 85, he wheelbarrowed his personal collection of 32,000 books the 1.2km between his home and the library. His desire, his daughter said, was to "bring together books who had no readers with readers who had no books".

Triggering school memories

A reader writes: "Back in the early 1960s our high school bus route was over back-country roads and the farming community knew everyone on the roads. The bus driver was a keen pheasant hunter and during the game-bird season he used to carry his 12 gauge shotgun on the school bus. If a cock-pheasant ran across the road he would stop and get out of the bus and try to bag it. One morning a pheasant ran across the road, he stopped the bus, looked at me, and said 'take the gun and have a shot'. He knew this 15-year-old schoolboy sitting up front in the bus was also a keen game bird hunter. So I duly dismounted the bus, climbed over a farm gate, loaded the shotgun and proceeded to try and flush the bird, it jumped and I shot it. I returned to the bus with the dead bird in hand to the shouting, clapping and applause of the other students on the bus ... life was so much simpler then."