KEY POINTS:
Car nut and All Blacks fan Barry took this photo in the Peugeot showroom on the Champs-Elysees in Paris a few weeks ago. The French seem to be really getting into the Rugby World Cup, judging from this promotional blurb for the car - "907: the All Black: a fabulous mixture of nobility and brutality, the growling 'haka' of its 500hp, V12 engine lays its cards on the table: the future looks dark for its opponents, but glittering for its allies!"
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The New York Times says ordering red meat on a first date will make it easier for a woman to land a man. The subject of the story is an online dater named Martha, who name-dropped "red meat" twice in her advertisement and is now happily one-half of a smug couple. Martha used to be a meat-hating vegetarian, but changed her ways when she realised red meat sent a message that she was "unpretentious and down to earth and unneurotic". She said: "I'm not obsessed with my weight, even though I'm thin, and I don't have any food issues. In terms of the burgers, it said I'm a cheap date, low maintenance."
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A reader writes: "Picture this. It's still dark outside as you carefully count and drop $12 worth of coins into the machine at the Tournament Parking Wakefield St carpark. It's the daily rate. However, the machine only registers that $10 worth of coins has been received and prints out a ticket for 3 hours of parking. You don't read the ticket as you know you put $12 in the machine. You place the ticket on the dashboard and head off to work. At 5pm you go to retrieve your car and you have to rush off to an important engagement. The car is gone - towed by Tournament Car Parking. For the amount of $2, Tournament Parking believes it is fully within its rights to tow away your car, charge you $200 to recover it and meanwhile you pay for a taxi to Tournament's towing compound - and miss your engagement. Hardly seems fair."
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A Catholic priest faces an indecent exposure charge after jogging in the nude about an hour before sunrise in a small town in Colorado. Father Robert Whipkey told police he had been running naked at a high school track and didn't think anyone would be around at that time of day. He claimed he sweated profusely if he wore clothing while jogging. "I know what I did was wrong," he said. If convicted of indecent exposure, a misdemeanour, he would have to register as a sex offender.
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John was in a very large store called Costco in Washington State last week and was delighted to see Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc on sale. "However, I was not so impressed to see that Australia is now claiming our wines," he complained.
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Sharon responds to yesterday's story about the fisherman from Ruakaka who found a swimming pig. "It can be counted on these days that a wild boar found swimming across a harbour would be destined for the freezer. A fine reward for its tenacity and courage making the journey. Did the hungry fishermen consider leaving it to finish its feat? Miserable buggers. Almost akin to shooting fish in a barrel."
