Sideswipe

Parking in Akaroa, near Christchurch, is a breeze.

Auckland City Council should do its bit for Round the Bays: A reader writes: "Yesterday my family and I participated in the Round the Bays fun run. We parked in Federal St on a 120-minute park at 8.29am and fed the metre to the maximum. Not surprisingly, we exceeded the 120 minutes - I doubt even the fittest and most organised athlete could park in the city, complete the run and return to collect their car within a two-hour time frame. I think this is a pretty shoddy contribution to the Round the Bays event from the Auckland City Council."

* * * 

Clare Hambly of Mt Eden writes: "On a recent Saturday evening, a group of teenagers congregated in the carpark near our home. They weren't there on a tagging spree, to get drunk or indulge in a little illegal drug-taking. They were spending the night in the church hall to raise money for the 40-hour famine.

A band had been booked to play in the evening and a letter had been sent to all the neighbours making us aware of the event (and inviting us along if we wished). However, after being contacted by another neighbour, noise control confiscated the equipment and fined the church $500. I hope the residents who complained slept well that night and enjoyed a good meal.The teenagers slept on flattened cardboard boxes and waited until the morning to eat."

* * * 

A reader suggests our national carrier take a leaf out of British Airways book to solve the problem of overbooked flights: "My husband and I had booked a flight from London to Athens with BA. On arriving at Heathrow we were told the flight was overbooked and they were offering an inducement of 150 ($387.50) to customers who accepted a transfer to a Virgin Airlines flight. Needless to say, we accepted, and arrived in Athens 300 pounds better off, after a very pleasant flight with Virgin Airlines. Interesting how competition forces companies to put customer satisfaction first."

While watching the sevens rugby it was noticed that Eric Rush ran onto the field with bottles of water presumably for the team. Ordinarily, he would be called the "water boy" but not on TV One. He was referred to as a "hydration expert".