Sideswipe: Happy worker mask

Three steps to instant happiness. Cut along dotted line. For ear handles, punch two holes and thread rubber band through. Put your happy worker mask on and be a happy worker. (www.happyworker.com)

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Too early or too late?
A reader writes: "I wonder if there is any chance the Merry Christmas banners surrounding the Plaza Pakuranga will be taken down soon? They are looking very shabby and, it is April after all."

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Burning ambition
An Australian man built up so much static electricity in his clothes as he walked that he burned carpets, melted plastic and sparked a mass evacuation. Frank Clewer, of Warrnambool, was wearing a synthetic nylon jacket and a woollen shirt when he went for a job interview. As he walked into the building, the carpet ignited from the 40,000 volts of static electricity that had built up. "It sounded almost like a firecracker or something like that," he said. (Source: BBC.co.uk)

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There for the taking
A man gambled away nearly £20,000 ($43,000) in two hours after the money was accidentally placed in his account. Luke Aldridge, 26, was on trip to Amsterdam following a row with his partner when he checked his bank balance and discovered he was heavily in the black. Aldridge then withdrew nearly all the cash - spending more than £18,200 playing blackjack and poker in casinos in the Dutch capital - before the error was discovered in June last year. Inquiries revealed a bank had mistakenly transferred the funds into Aldridge's account from a construction company.

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Sleeping on the job
British retail chain Halfords is advertising for a sleeping-bag tester to evaluate its sleeping bags "in terms of warmth, strength and longevity". The position pays £600 ($1300) for five days of snoozing. "Previous camping experience would be a bonus but we're not ruling out a novice," says Halfords. (Source: Adfreak.com)

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Newsworthy feet
This from Britain's Daily Mail, which included a close-up photo of the offending feet: "Sarah Brown, the wife of British Prime Minister and Labour leader Gordon Brown, should have been putting her best foot forward when she visited a temple in northwest London today. Instead she unveiled a rather unsightly problem on her left foot - her little toe and fourth toe crossed over one another."

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Take a bow Downer guys!
A bouquet for a change: Elizabeth Stevens writes, "To the two Downer EDi Works guys who, completely above and beyond the call of duty, came to the aid of a cyclist hit by a ute outside my work in Ellerslie yesterday morning. Not only did they race to assist with a first aid kit, they also swept up the glass after the ambulance left. Works states on their website they're about more than roads and pipes, they're about community building. Their efforts today showed they're not just paying lip service!"

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