Sideswipe: Losing your lunch

This image sent in by Scott shows a rubbish truck that couldn't keep it in. Photo / Supplied

A message for parents
A North Carolina restaurant has put up signs that say, "Screaming children will not be tolerated". "It has been a good thing for us," says the owner. "It has brought us in more customers than it has ever kept away." She says screaming children and their parents are asked to take time outside the restaurant to calm down, rather than being booted out immediately.

Super City on notice
A reader says it has taken almost two months for the Auckland City Council to quash a fine for no rego (one day out). "Everyone should write letters to get off and see how long it takes. Wonder how long the wait will be once the Super City dons its spandex and comes to rescue us all."

Gothic pleasure
Emma says she took an English paper last year at Auckland University called Theory and Gothic, which had some un-dead action. The description reads: "This course opens a door to the cellar. It is about the horrible, tormented, perverse world of the Gothic - and the pleasure we take in going there. The course covers classic Gothic texts and films and deals with Gothic motifs - the monster, the vampire, the double, the zombie - and concludes with a study of Kiwi Gothic."