Sideswipe: Please just go outside

'My sister and I saw this sign on the public toilet block at Te Kuiti,' writes Jennifer Miller. 'We feel that it could have been worded a little better!' Photo / Supplied

You sexy beast

Wildlife documentary makers are infringing animals' rights to privacy by filming their most private and intimate moments, according to a study.

Footage of animals giving birth in their burrows or mating crosses an ethical line that film-makers should respect, according to Brett Mills, a lecturer in film studies at the University of East Anglia in Britain.

"We have an assumption that humans have some right to privacy, so why do we not assume that for other species, particularly when they are engaging in behaviour that suggests they don't want to be seen?" Mills said. (Source: The Guardian.co.uk)

Service-free petrol station

While Robert Howell was on a bike ride, his wheel slipped and jammed against the frame.

"I popped into the Mobil "service" station in Parnell to ask if I could borrow a wrench or spanner to adjust the wheel - a very quick simple task - but I was told they had no spanners or wrenches. I spied wrenches for sale which were not wrapped in plastic and asked if I could borrow one for a moment. I was told "no" by the helpful staff member who expressed no desire to help me whatsoever. Great to see the friendly, helpful service spirit in action."

Cyber space vs paper trail

Mark Harrison received in the mail, with his annual rates notice, an invitation form to complete in order to receive email notifications from the council.

"Why in this 21st century is a public office: a) sending paper forms; b) to be returned by snail mail (post); 3) to be collated by hand; d) data entered by hand, and e) as a public record of our email addresses, stored for the official period? Why not invite to register via email or via their website? Public money to burn perhaps? Or just old fashioned?"

Park once and pay thrice

"Be very, very careful of parking meter charges on credit cards," writes Tina. "I run the Visas at my work and noticed several times the parking fee has been charged twice or three times and on the wrong date. When I tackled the parking firm Tournament, they told me the machine broke down but they still had the Visa details so weeks after the fact billed us. Countless phone calls later it got credited."

Unsecured load

Dave Woodward on the tailgating for good: "A good many years back I was driving up the Albany hill behind a station wagon with a split back door - the top half opens up and the bottom comes down. It was stacked to the windows with holiday stuff. I eventually noticed that lying on top of all the stuff was a kid, apparently asleep.

"The upper door was not fastened properly and opened slightly, and the kid began to slide feet first, very slowly, out the back. For several hundred metres I did the whole tailgating thing with horn, lights flashing, waiting for the worst as the kid continued to slide, with me staying back far enough not to hit him if he did fall out and trying to attract the driver's attention.

"Finally, he got enough of a message to pull over, and stopped with the kid hanging from the top of the lower back door with his arms. He was around 4 years old or thereabouts. You can imagine the parents' response when they saw what was going on."