KEY POINTS:
Keep local body electorates in the circus. The picture was taken on the corner of Bardia St and Lake Rd, Belmont.
***
A reader was witness to the Parnell Chuck-ler: "It must have been a very rough night for the middle-aged man driving the red VW Golf through Parnell at 8.45am yesterday morning. While waiting at the lights beside the Cathedral at the top of Parnell, he projectile vomited three times out the driver's window then calmly sluiced the "collateral splatter" off the side of his car with his bottle of water. He then made it as far as the bus stop outside Iguacu pub in Parnell before pulling to the side and projectile vomiting yet again. Classy stuff. A small request - next time could he please do it in his lap so the rest of us don't have to watch."
***
New Zealanders can't get a locally made big brand peanut butter for love or money, so how come ETA is claiming its salted peanuts are locally made? ETA says on its website that its peanuts aren't from New Zealand. "They are supplied from Australia although we sometimes source from USA" yet it has slapped the "Buy NZ Made" logo on its packaging. The Australian/US nuts are, however, processed locally at its Wiri plant. The Made in New Zealand Campaign says the definition of "local" actually includes products which are substantially transformed in appearance or nature here. The processing and manufacturing of peanuts - a bit of a wash, roast and a dash of salt - hardly makes a peanut something else. The Made in New Zealand Campaign say a product needs to qualify under the Fair Trading Act to get endorsed. The Commerce Commission's handy guide to the Fair Trading Act says a place of origin is "the country or region where the product's 'essential quality' was created. It is not necessarily the place where the most money was spent on a product - and it is not the place where only final assembly or packaging was done."
***
A 12-year-old has been hauled before the courts and charged with assault. The Manchester pre-teen was accused of throwing a cocktail sausage at an elderly neighbour. When he appeared in Youth Court, the judge said he couldn't believe the case had been brought before him.
***
Cautionary tale for all Garage Salers: "We had a garage sale last weekend and one of the first customers was a pushy bloke who was obviously a second hand dealer. He bought a couple of things off us and said he would be back later to get them. When picking up the goods he asked for a pen to write down my number and while I was inside getting it, he ducked into the garage and helped himself to my wallet with all the takings from the sale. Be on the lookout for him at your sale this coming weekend. He is medium height, overweight and drives a dark-coloured late 90s Mazda Familia."
