Sideswipe: Wheelie bin of horrors

A macabre wheelie bin (left) and more arrogant parking (right). Photos / Supplied

Left image: Amanda Sachtleben noticed this macabre wheelie bin in Kingsland.
Right image: Lance Steven snapped another example of arrogant parking on the North Shore, similar to the Ferrari. "This Mercedes was left parked blocking the uphill lane of Lydia Ave in Northcote while the owner went in to the takeaway shop. There was parking available slightly further up the hill on the main road and also across the other side of the road. Perhaps publicity might stop a repeat."

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David writes: "My mother-in-law, who lives in an Auckland rest home, fell and cut her head. She was taken to Auckland Hospital where she was stitched up and sent home. She had had surgery there about eight years ago. I have just received a letter from the hospital demanding to see her passport or birth certificate or she will be charged. They have no record of her entering the country and don't know where she came from. She was born in Auckland in 1911 and hasn't been further south than Te Awamutu. I told them that if she hasn't come into the country she must have been born here but this isn't acceptable, so at the ripe old age of 99 years we have had to order a $26 birth certificate to prove she was born here. Is this bureaucracy going madder or just keeping more people in work?"

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Thanks to the American Idol franchise, describing something as a journey has become a terrible cliche. But that didn't stop Britain's former Prime Minister Tony Blair using it for the title of his memoirs, alongside a heavily air-brushed picture. "Some people will see The Journey as a brilliant title while others will think it's just a clever PR job playing to the X-Factor generation," writes psychologist Gladeana McMahon in the Daily Mirror.

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Leslie Paul went to Burger King at the Mega Centre in Albany on Sunday with his wife and two boys aged 2 and 5. "The boys played while my wife and I ordered, when I was approached by a staff member and told to keep my kids quiet - they were too loud and being 'irritating'. I would understand a reprimand if they were having a tantrum, but loud playing? I thought Burger King was meant to be a family-friendly eating place. I cancelled my order, complained to the manager and walked out. I was quite vocal in my disgust with the staff member and I proceeded to tell her that if she wanted to work in a place with peace and quiet, she should work in a rest home."

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A woman in Germany phoned police after hearing suspicious noises in her flat. The noise was so loud and strange, even over the telephone, that police sent a patrol car. The police report read: "Daringly, and with the occupier's permission, one of the officers opened the drawer of a wardrobe where the noise was coming from ... Underneath some clothes he found a personal, battery-operated object which had switched itself on. The tenant's face abruptly changed." (Source: AFP)