KEY POINTS:
Mihi Smith travels to Britomart by train, passing through Middlemore just before 7am on weekdays, and regularly notices hospital staff wearing hospital garb, ie, a uniform of light blue or pale purple, operating theatre-type cotton trousers and top and plastic clogs. "I remember there was a story on
the bugs found on the ties of doctors in a UK hospital. With the infestation of super bugs through some NZ hospitals, I'm assuming that staff either change out of their street wear into sterile uniforms and footwear, or the hospitals have gone high tech and introduced sterilising chambers for them to walk through. I don't think so. The mind boggles at the amount of 'bugs' they pick up from train seats and the sidewalks and then trail them through the wards. Heaven forbid I ever have to be hospitalised there."
***
Tony King writes: "Watching TV the other night the ad for The F Word came on and they were talking about a dish on the table. When asked what it was, Gordon told his guest but I didn't quite catch what it was. On my asking, my wife said it was a bull's penis and a used vagina. I commented that that sounded a bit weird. On seeing the ad a second time I informed her of her mistake, it was indeed a bull's penis, and it's huge in China."
***
A drunk driver caught behind the wheel at nearly five times the legal limit said he drove to avoid a mosquito attack. Stephen James Diggs, 30, made the "stupid decision" to drive over the limit because "sand flies and mosquitoes" where he was fishing with a mate were "absolutely horrific", a Darwin court heard. Because "they'd run out of Aerogard" and had drunk many beers, which "didn't even help", he "took the risk" and drove home with his dogs and gear, only to be caught by police. (Source: Northern Territory News)
***
Michael Brown wonders if any other readers were caught up in the Royal Gala event on the Southern Motorway near the Manurewa on-ramp in the Thursday evening rush hour. "It seems a few spilled apples proved irresistible to the highway patrol peelers, who deemed this core police work and the situation Gravenstein. Traffic was brought to a standstill when three lanes were reduced to one - lest the boy-racer in us be tempted to do Braeburn-outs on what little of the offending fruit remained by the time the Sturmer troopers, in all their Splendour, finally arrived. I doubt any arrests were made - it looked suspiciously like an in-cider job!"
***
Dean Cook, head of marketing for Farmers, is perplexed by the Sideswipe reader's claim that the perfume she wanted went up 50 per cent in price just before Christmas. "There have been NO price increases at all, across any of our cosmetics and beauty categories in December," he says. "In fact quite the opposite. Given the competitive nature of Christmas shopping there has been a number of pre-Christmas sales, offering customers the opportunity to make some great savings."