KEY POINTS:
A reader writes: "From the Herald today: Air New Zealand is comparing the way airports in this country set charges as 'tantamount to the privatisation of taxation'. Ah, the poor wee diddums. Maybe now they can understand what it has been like for us, the poor travelling public, with sod all choice, having been slugged with fuel surcharges for so long. Are those surcharges adjusted downwards? Just because the 'Gubbermint' own the national disgrace that is Air New Zild, doesn't mean they can tax us on the one hand then moan when it happens to them. Or maybe they've been taking lessons from Dr Cullen."
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A teacher flew home to Wales from Toronto, Canada, for a wedding, only to discover he was a year early. Dave Barclay, 34, mistakenly thought Dave Best was marrying on July 6, 2007, after he emailed him at the start of the year and started making plans. When he arrived back at his mother's house in Wenvoe, he realised he had travelled 6400km for a wedding 12 months away. "I am a year early - yeah, my mates are loving it, aren't they," he said. (Source: BBC Radio Wales).
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Rick Reale noticed the reporter on Close Up on Tuesday night talking to Mark Sainsbury about the weather bomb hotting up in the North was Sophia Windborn. "I was blown away," he says.
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Hell of a name for a Catholic: The Hell family may tell a Catholic school in Australia where to go after it objected to enrolling their son because of his name. The 5-year-old boy has since been offered a place at St Peter the Apostle School in Melbourne after discussions between the principal, the parish priest and the family. But father Alex Hell said he would rather send his son elsewhere because the school had originally baulked at taking him and changed its mind only when he went to the media. "We are the victims of our name," said Mr Hell, who has an Austrian background and says the name means "bright". (Source: The Scotsman)
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David Annetton spent a few months living in Zaporozhye in Ukraine and thought its traffic light system was rather good. "At night, when the traffic volumes had dropped to a low level, they would turn off the traffic lights as indicated by a slow flashing yellow light as a warning. It was great to be able to make a journey without having to stop at all the empty intersections and wait when there was not another vehicle to be seen. The time and gas saved was significant. While it wouldn't be a good idea here for our busy or complicated intersections, I think it would work great on the quieter streets where the traffic flow at night is light."
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A reader found a netball pole dumped in her garden: "Perhaps you can help us to find the owner of a sturdy netball pole which we discovered dumped in our Mt Eden garden on Tuesday morning. It seems to be in good condition and I assume it was lifted out of a playground nearby. The Balmoral police have not had any inquiries about lost poles but, as they pointed out, the schools are closed for the holidays." Contact Sideswipe via email if your school is down a pole.
