Sideswipe: September 28: Sonny Bill or not Sonny Bill?

BBC unsure about SBW and Kaino

It must be the grief over England's loss to Wales but the BBC's caption editors are having problems identifying All Blacks. A recent interview with Jerome Kaino on the BBC was captioned "Sonny Bill Williams" (see pic). At least they got the name of the team right.

From out of the shadowlands

"As a middle-aged, partially-sighted male teacher, you have the occasional surreal experience," writes Peter. "Most people appear as silhouettes. I was on duty at the train station the other day making sure the students behaved. I sidled up to a young male colleague, also on duty. "How's it going?" I asked. "Good," he said. "What are you doing in your holidays?" I asked. "Not much," he said. (He is a man of few words.) I persisted: "Any romance in your life?" (He's unmarried so there is a possibility that there may be romance in his life.) As soon as I asked the question, he fled. A few minutes later my actual colleague turned up. Mistaken identity."

Return furniture and all will be suite

"To the person that picked up my new and well-packaged lounge suite off the side of the northern motorway, between the Greville and Oteha Valley Rd exits (heading north) on Tuesday September 22 at 3pm. This is one part of an expensive four-piece modular lounge suite that I have worked hard to pay for. This piece had miraculously leapt from the trailer floor and over the 1.6m cage. I was waiting off the motorway for the roadside recovery unit to pick this up. A police patrolman had just recovered it from the centre barrier and moved it to the left for the recovery team. You've had ample time to track me down ... My wife's name is on the packaging, with Freedom Furniture and the freight company that brought this into the country ... I hope visitors to your house are left wondering why this brown, two seater, genuine leather couch has no ends, with the exposed Freedom Furniture logo repeated in a pattern across the side fabric. I am waiting for the police to view the motorway surveillance cameras. Other witnesses welcome."

Three cheers for Springboks fans

Japan's victory over the Springboks. A reader writes: "The story that will remain with me the longest is the humility of the South Africans in defeat. As the fan train pulled into Victoria station in London after the match in Brighton, crammed with supporters from both nations, the South Africans, as if choreographed, formed a guard of honour along the platform and applauded every single Japanese fan off the train and insisted they go through the ticket gates first."

What are chainsaw things, then?

Jafas just getting on with it

The final word on the term Jafa and the connotations associated with it. "Actually, contrary to popular belief, most Aucklanders do not think we're the centre of New Zealand, even if you're not talking geographically," writes a reader. "Most of us don't even think we're 'superior'. Most of us are just getting on with our lives ... I'm not sure who I feel more sorry for: people who are offended by the term Jafa, or people who feel the need to use it as an insult. Both groups are suffering unnecessarily from insecurities that they should really seek help for."