Sideswipe: October 10: Is this yours?

"My daughter found this old gold locket in a carpark in New Lynn some time ago," writes a reader. "It must be special to someone." Please contact Sideswipe.

Turf war

In reply to "cutting remarks" and misguided praise for mowed lawn monoculture, Caroline Mabry, Glen Eden writes: "I support unruly gardens which make the birds sing, cause celebration from my two free range chickens and attract bees, insects, mice, and lizards. If we are to care for our environment we must wage war against suburban deserts (called lawns) and invite nature in to share our property. For my berm, I am trying to cultivate low-growing vegetation, even weeds which also flower and so contributes to diversity. Tidy gardeners look aghast when I say my yard is a statement; its my war against suburban deserts."

You've been warned

A sign at the summit of Mount Paku, Tairua.

Cold (blooded) caller

Dr Claire Simeone, the hospital director of the Marine Mammal Center in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii was confounded by a series of ominous phone calls from the hospital while she was out. Thinking someone may have had a "seal-related question", she picked up, but was met with silence. After receiving nine calls over a 15-minute period, Simeone rushed back to the hospital, thinking there must be an emergency. But when she arrived at the hospital, everything was calm. A representative from Hawaiian Telcom suggested that the incessant calls were coming from a single landline somewhere inside the hospital, so Simeone walked through the hospital, checked out the landlines ... then another call and silence on the other end. It turns out the gecko had placed calls to everyone on the hospital's recent call list, looming silently on the other end of the line each time. "I enter the laboratory," she tweeted. There, she found the culprit: a green gecko stretching its body across the screen - and it was on an active call. Its tail lingered just millimetres away from a touch screen button suggesting to hold, end, or transfer the call. (Via San Francisco Chronicle)

DO NOT READ

Spotted in Kotor, Montenegro by a New Zealander.

Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz