Sideswipe

The Vidstone Serenity Panel is a headstone with solar-powered, weatherproof LCD screen to watch an in-cemetery video tribute to the recently deceased.

Some excellent suggestions from Victoria University student magazine Salient: Top Five things to do after leaving university:
Come back
Bag groceries
Join a cult
Watch your political stance take a violent swing to the right
Frame your degree
(Source: www.salient.org.nz, see the link below)

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A response to a diner's moan about the Parnell restaurant that charged cakeage (like corkage but for baked goods): "The other side of the story would be that she/he booked at the restaurant for 20 people and only 12 turned up. The 12 people shared eight meals between them , had no dessert and then brought their own cake. Probably on a Friday night". Sounds like a hospitality insider to me.

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Another reader is also slapped with hidden charges: "After dining at a Jervois Road eatery my party was presented with a bill that included a $32 entertainment fee (there were six adults and two children in our group). This was apparently a cover charge ($4pp) for the live music provided. We asked why we hadn't been told about this when booking and were directed to a small board inside the door that says an entertainment fee will be charged from 7.30pm. Some in our group had noticed the sign but, since we arrived at 6pm, didn't think it applied to us. When you go to a bar that has a cover charge after a certain time, no one comes around and gets money off people that arrived earlier. The only concession was deducting $8 for the two children."

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A reader writes: "A couple of weeks ago, I needed to catch an early flight to Sydney. Being proactive, I ordered my taxi pickup the night before, asking to be collected at 4.45am the following morning. ... 4.45am came and typically I was running late, so rang the taxi company to delay my pickup by half an hour. The operator conceded there was no record of my booking, so as it turned out it was a bloody good thing I rang. However the mystery of the missed booking was solved this morning (a good week and a half after it was required), when I was rudely awakened by the phone ringing at 4.45am, to be told my taxi was waiting, and could I please hurry up to catch it!"


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The banner in K Rd pictured in Sideswipe yesterday asking "So, are you rich and famous yet?" is plugging an exhibition October 12-22 at Spiral Gallery (above McDonald's) featuring work by art school graduates Jennie Remedy, Dewi Pitman, Henrietta Harris and Rose Coppin.