KEY POINTS:
Seen en route to this year's Christmas party at a vineyard in Matakana, a father with a sense of humour offers his daughter some sage advice. To which she happily replies to her colleagues on the bus. "Too late"!
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British charity The Dogs Trust has published a list of some of the most inappropriate reasons given by owners for getting rid of their pets. The charity has seen a steep decline in the number of people giving live animals as presents, from 20 per cent of all dogs bought in 1978 to less than 2 per cent now. But still as many as 131,400 dogs are given away as gifts every year in Britain, many ending up abandoned shortly afterwards. The top 10 list of most irresponsible reasons for abandoning a dog:
1. My dog doesn't match the sofa.
2. The dog looks evil and has different coloured eyes, just like David Bowie.
3. My black dog doesn't match the new white carpet, can we swap him for a white dog?
4. My dog is too old, can we swap for a puppy or younger model?
5. My dog ate the Christmas turkey cooling on the worktop.
6. My pet guinea pig got worried with a dog in the house.
7. The dog opened all the presents on Christmas Eve.
8. An owner who accidentally knelt in dog mess while cleaning it up brought the dog in the next day.
9. A puppy bought as a present for an elderly couple with dementia.
10. The negative image of Staffordshire bull terriers because of their perceived resemblance to pit bulls.
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Auckland bar Sale Street's fashion police have nothing on Soul bar, says Terry. "Quite recently I was not allowed to enter Soul Bar because I had a limp. I was with a friend and we were both well dressed. After talking to the muscle on the door and explaining that I was waiting for a hip operation, and saying it would be several months until the limp was gone I was allowed in."
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The price of New Zealand lamb in France, as quoted by a Kiwi living there, is illuminating, writes Derek from Cockle Bay. "4.69 is near enough to $10/kg. At my local supermarket, lamb is around $15/kg. Farmers have every right to receive the same price from all of their customers but it seems as though we are subsiding the Europeans by paying their freight costs."
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Matt, a part-time door host (bouncer), says too many blokes in a bar is known as a "sausage feast or BBQ" and explains the reason why bars don't like to let in too many, er, small goods. "Most guys would want to go into a bar that has a good ratio of guys and girls and when you have a group of guys (best not to go in groups of four or more) that ratio tends to be guy-heavy. In most cases you are out to look at some skirt and would walk out after five minutes and would be wasting your time. The door host is only trying to help out."
