Sideswipe: One ring to rule Destiny Church

Eleanor thinks perhaps Bishop Brian Tamaki has many copies of the "one ring to rule them all", because the Destiny Church covenant ring looks a lot like this The Lord of the Rings Dwarven Ring of Power (Source: Badali Jewelery)

* * *

A reader writes: "I work at a mall bookshop in a wealthy suburb in Auckland, and we have a real problem with parents leaving their children in our store while they go to the supermarket. Often we find children as young as 4 or 5 left in our store, on their own. Most of the time they're very well behaved, but sometimes we've had kids running around, pulling things off shelves and spilling things all over the floor. Once, a very small child wet himself on our carpet because he'd been left so long ... I understand that children can get very bored in supermarkets, but shops are not day-care centres and staff should not have to supervise small children. This keeps happening despite signage prohibiting it. I just want these parents to realise that leaving children alone in a shop is not only dangerous, it's criminal neglect. If something happened to a child in our store, a lot of us would never be able to forgive ourselves."

* * *

A reader writes: "At the beginning of the year we bought a new BBQ equipped with canvas cover etc. We contacted the reputable NZ BBQ manufacturer to ask where we could get a new cover as ours has been shredded by the weather (in three months), only to be told their covers are not made for the outdoors and are not weatherproof! I didn't realise I was supposed to have my BBQ indoors."

* * *

A rare Austin 12/4, made in 1929, has been found languishing in a garage, unused for five decades. But when Roger Bulled turned the starter handle to fire up the engine for first time since 1961, he was amazed to hear it turn over as if it had been driven every day. The fabric-bodied motor car was owned by Mr Bulled's late father, who had been given it by his parents brand new. Mr Bulled, 63, said he discovered the old car while going through his father's possessions shortly after his death and is now putting it up for sale to allow an expert to restore it fully.

* * *

To Pauline of Pakuranga, who objected to a dog on a cafe table, another reader doubts a dog is much more germ-ridden than the base of someone's handbag. "Handbags get plonked on grubby bus seats, on the floor of the pub, on stained pavements where goodness only knows what's been happening the previous night ... but we wouldn't think twice about someone putting their handbag on the table while they ate. Don't lick the table top and you should be fine." (Er, but, to put it bluntly, handbags don't have anuses)

* * *

Many readers declared their phone books were superfluous to their lives last week. So now it's time to let your fingers do the walking. Lisa has just found out Yellow Pages customer services can arrange collection of unwanted copies of Yellow Pages books, if you call 0800-803-803.

* * *

See today's Herald cartoon