Sideswipe

Buyer Beware: It pays to check out retail prices when buying on Trade Me, says a reader from Howick... See article below.

"Friend of mine, who lives out of Auckland, bought a tent from Trade Me for $500 before Christmas, only to find the same tent (Stockman Weekender) at Kmart for $299. Now it's on sale for $194.65. Not everyone is honest when it comes to making a quick buck."

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Entrepreneurial spirit: Maria Tyrrell writes: "A North Shore road has a transit lane allowing only buses and cars with three or more people to travel down it. The rest of us queue for hours in the other backed up lane ... Yesterday morning two enterprising high school students stationed themselves at the top of the road with a sign offering to get commuters down the fast lane for $5. Brilliant. And yes someone did stop and take up their offer, no doubt making it to work hours ahead of me. I hadn't gone far when the fit entrepreneurs were seen jogging to the back of the traffic line ready to help another stranded motorist down the fast lane."

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Has the world gone mad?" a reader from Mt Albert asks. "First we learn plants are producing methane and contributing to greenhouse gases rather than helpfully sucking it up and now fruit is a sugary sin on a par with the evil MallowPuff ... Next we'll find out sunscreen attracts the sun's rays and smoking is actually good for us."

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Tent troubles of a different kind. While camping at Fletchers Bay at the top of the Coromandel Peninsula, Allen and Annie woke at 7am on New Year's Day with a bang. They thought it was fireworks, but no, the gas fridge in the awning of the tent had developed a leak and caught fire. The bang however was a can of baked beans exploding from the heat. Luckily it blew out the fire and dislodged the gas hose, which was promptly turned off. Unfortunately it also wrecked the tent as it rocketed away. Annie, who hates baked beans, is now praising their fire-fighting virtues.