Poetic justice for Ray Symmans with this letter and stamp from 1981.
Poetic justice for Ray Symmans with this letter and stamp from 1981.
Sticking to the letter of the short-change law
Ray Symmans of Beach Haven writes of crossing the newly built Auckland Harbour Bridge: "I mostly rode a motor scooter in those days and I usually paid the toll with a pre-purchased paper ticket, which I fumbled to tear from the bookletin the pocket of my windproof jacket as I approached the toll booth. On one memorable occasion, as I accelerated away from the toll collector, a whistle blew and alarms sounded. I stopped 20m out and the collector ran out flourishing a small piece of blue paper exclaiming. "What is this supposed to be?" "It looks like a piece of the cover of a toll ticket booklet, I guess," I replied and handed him a proper ticket. Then followed a five-minute tirade about fines and how cheeky youth had become while a 100m queue formed behind his booth. About a week later I paid the motorcycle toll with a 50c coin and I felt the change was a bit light so pulled over to the Harbour Bridge Authority headquarters and found I'd been short changed 10c. I found the shift supervisor, held out my meagre change and asked him "What is this supposed to be?" He told me I would have to make a formal complaint and so I did. Several days later I received this letter with a 10c stamp enclosed."
Quarter-Acre
Pets behaving badly
"One night we heard a strange clanking noise coming from our front steps," writes Pip of Remuera. "On investigation, there was our siamese coming down the steps, dragging a big plastic bag containing a tin of cat food and a fork. Our neighbours were away and another neighbour had come to feed their cat. She put the bag down and went around the side of the house to call the cat and our cat saw an opportunity."
