KEY POINTS:
The ever-widening reach of the international credit crunch hits Waitakere City.
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Steve Brook and Mandy Smith took their 11-month-old daughter Rebecca out to a local park in Oldham, England. They were taking a photo of her on a swing when a park warden rushed over and ordered them to stop. "I asked him why and he said it was illegal to take pictures of children in the park," Steve said. Town officials said the warden misinterpreted their policy and they have corrected him. (Source: Reason.com)
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The "exploding pig" headline from yesterday's Sideswipe reminds David from Auckland of a story that circulated about 10 years ago. "In Fyfe, Scotland, there's an annual tench-eating competition [tench are small fish like sardines]. The world champion, Sven from Finland, was in Fyfe to defend his title. Local boy Hix won through to the final and it was a contest between him and Sven. The result was that Hix ate 27 tench and Sven managed only nine - so Hix was crowned world champion. The headline? One To Three For Fyfe's Hix, Sven Ate Nine Tench."
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First poisonous snakes and spiders, now this: a cactus so tough that its spines can pierce tramping boots and car tyres and kill koalas has been found growing in Mundubbera, Queensland. Once spines of the Hudson Pear cactus penetrate the skin, they often require pliers to pull them out. It is potentially the worst cactus species to spread in Australia since prickly pear in the 1920s. Biosecurity Queensland says there is anecdotal evidence that koala deaths have also occurred. It's thought that when animals are impaled, spines break off, leaving foreign matter under the skin that leads to infection. (Source: News.com.au)
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Further to Shirley's problem with Vodafone, says Kirsty Wintle, "A couple of years ago I got a new mobile from Telecom on one of their monthly plans. They asked for a security password, so I used my 1-year-old nephew's name. When the phone arrived I called Telecom to activate it and discovered that the lovely person at Telecom had put the account under my nephew's name and used mine as the password. And they wouldn't make any changes to the account without my nephew's authorisation."
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Vodafone has a severely geographically challenged staff member in its call centre, claims Grant. "As I am about to go to Europe for a few weeks I rang Vodafone to make sure I could use my phone in England and Italy. The lady I spoke to was very nice but when I asked if my phone could be used in Italy she asked, 'Is that in Europe or America?' Thought at first she was taking the mickey, but no, she was quite serious."
