KEY POINTS:
After reading the Herald's travel piece "Venice on a Budget", a reader was reminded of his own budget experience there. "Two friends and I also went around Venice on the cheap. We purchased a toy inflatable boat in Germany, which was useful for crossing the Rhine and great for the cheap white-water rafting in Croatia, but really came into its own in Venice. We spent the day exploring canals, getting rather lost among the back 'streets', squeezing past tourist-filled gondolas and even a few trips down the Grand Canal, much to the amusement of other tourists and a boat full of firefighters who cracked up laughing at our minute vessel dodging the busy Venice traffic. Good times."
* * *
After going to the Dizzee Rascal concert last week, Andrew Stevenson wondered why "the most frail little teenage waifs insist on being up the front and then get annoyed when anyone makes physical contact with them. One actually bit my arm when she thought I was encroaching on her space. Another pinched me. I'll just tell the 700 people pushing me into you to take a step back, shall I? Front rows at live concerts are invariably sweaty and violent. I'm a 6ft male and came away with a cut lip from a misplaced knee or elbow, but I chose to be in that position, so I'm not whingeing. These 45kg girls should keep to the back or quit complaining."
* * *
After Paul's story on the opportunistic thieves at Purewa, Rochelle writes: "A couple of weeks ago we had a lovely funeral service at one of the Purewa chapels, followed by a cup of tea and asparagus rolls at the Lounge of Remembrance. During this time my cousins noticed a 'funeral-crasher'. This person grabbed big handfuls of funeral food then disappeared outside to eat it without talking to anyone. He repeated this several times before vanishing. What a tragic hobby."
* * *
Your correspondent's caption of the clamped ARC car is a bit off, writes a reader. "Britomart is actually an Auckland Regional Council facility, making it all the more ironic. Not in your photo is an ARTNL business card wedged in the upper left corner of the car's window with 'Your permit is not valid in this area' scribbled on it. I spoke to the lady whose vehicle had been so cruelly immobilised - she said she had permission to park there but there must have been a breakdown in communications."
