Sideswipe

Snapped in the "fast" lane on Auckland's Southern Motorway yesterday morning.

A reader writes: "My 82-year-young dad who is considerably intelligent, has all his 'marbles' and doesn't suffer fools, but can't cock his leg to get into a dinghy, noticed a huge mountain of sand had been delivered to the kindy opposite his home in South Auckland. He wondered why they hadn't removed the fence and tipped the sand directly into the sandpit. Who was going to move this vast mountain of sand? In due course a team of men arrived and my sturdy 82-year-young dad got his shovel, and being the decent, kind, willing neighbour, went to help the band of kindy dads to move the mountain of sand. After a while he noticed a distinct lack of talking and after an hour of shovelling in the sweltering heat he asked if it was a paid job, because if it was he'd leave them to it. No, the work was all voluntary, one said. With that my dad continued shovelling and went home after more than two hours, tired but pleased that he had done his bit for the community. That evening while talking with a neighbour he suggested the job would've been easier had they just shifted the fence rather than relying on manpower shovelling sand by hand. The neighbour explained that that didn't matter, as the blokes brought in to shovel the sand were on periodic detention."

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It's official - reality TV is affecting our children's minds. A Sydney Morning Herald reader tells of planning the 7th birthday party, still eight months hence, for her son Benjamin. "Apparently, he is going to invite nine friends over to our house, and then, after eliminating six, the remaining three will be staying overnight. Everyone must turn up with their sleeping bags, just in case. We are still trying to understand the ethics behind this method of inviting guests, given that the elimination list has already been drawn up."

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Found on packaging for some headphones bought from a $2 shop. "Please Notice. You'd better use the mild volume, so as not to injure your ears. Don't take the earplug on your ears while driving ear or cycling. This kind of earplug is a kind of exoteric one, so someone nearby may hear what you are listening to ... "

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From last week's parliamentary question time ... Winston Peters shows off his needling flair by asking Steve Maharey about a colleague's faux pas: "As the minister has put into the arena the issue of cultural sensitivity and awareness, how do the minister and his colleagues feel about Marian Hobbs calling one of our leading female singers Rick Bunga at an official function?"