We don't have a 35-year-old washing machine, says a reader. "But we do have a 23-year-old TV, set up in an outside rumpus room for the blokes to watch sport on. Not sure of the brand but it was purchased in 1987. A Sky technician came in last week to change the VHF receiver to a digital one and he reckoned it was the oldest telly he'd ever worked on and couldn't believe it was still in use."
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Stuck in traffic, Linda was crawling at a snail's pace up Lake Rd, Northcote, when she noticed the New Zealand Transport Agency Wheel Of Misfortune, from its creepy TV ads, reminding drivers to be careful at intersections. "The thing that amused me was that the two attendants spinning the Wheel Of Misfortune were both overweight and smoking up a storm as the wheel had its arrow on 'death'." Touche.
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Malcolm McMillan, editor of the Northern News, was amused by this press release from Fish & Game announcing the annual Northland paradise shelduck hunting weekend, which said: "Shelduck are a Crown resource declared a game species under the first schedule of the Wildlife Act 1953. This means the minister who is responsible for declaring the open season for game birds can only legally be hunted subject to specific terms and conditions imposed on them."
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Mary Cooke called police to report a speeding driver near her Newcastle-under-Lyme, England, home. A policewoman visited and took a report. A few days later, Cooke, who is pregnant, got a letter from social services. The officer had reported her as a potentially unfit mother because of the condition her house was in. Cooke was in the middle of redecorating. (Source: Reason.com)
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Years ago we lived in a leafy lane in Epsom, writes Maree Bishop. "One evening the student son turned up in his beloved Ford Falcon for a good feed. On his way home the car conked out outside a grand villa down the end of the road. Legging it back to the student flat, he returned the next day to sort it out. The owner of the villa, a well-dressed matron, came out to ask when 'that thing' was going to be removed. 'Well, if you'll give me a push we could get it going now!' said my son."
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A long-time Meadowbank reader says she is horrified to read about the snobbery in her 'hood. To the reader whose letterbox was complained about, she writes: "May I suggest you tell your haughty neighbour that you intend to relocate your clothesline to the front lawn, and place two burnt-out car wrecks alongside near the letterbox."
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Today's Webpick: A kids TV show called Nice One from the 70s fronted by a grown man with a beard, in an un-tucked school uniform and a fantastic short film combining footage from the French 1979 rugby tour of New Zealand, slowed down and edited to Tchaikovsky. Go here to watch both these clips.
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