KEY POINTS:
Auckland's train service doesn't live up to the slogan for one reader: "'Modern trains, modern stations, every 10 minutes by 2006' ... I must have been mistaken when I waited 40 minutes for a train at a station covered in graffiti and stinking of urine, and eventually boarded an overcrowded carriage only to be overwhelmed by unbearable heat because there was no air-conditioning."
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Nancy McMillan of Red Beach went to a cafe on Labour weekend for a birthday treat. "I had ordered a pot of tea which came served as a large pot filled with boiling water, a cup, a jug of milk and a sachet of sugar. I unwrapped the tea bag, placed it in the pot and waited for it to brew. Maybe it was that the pot was filled with water, or maybe it was because by the time the tea bag got into the water it had cooled enough to not infuse sufficiently but it was weak. I signalled to the owner of the cafe and requested another tea bag which she handed to me. When I went to pay I was speechless when I discovered I was charged the price of an extra pot of tea because of the extra tea bag."
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Osama Bin Laden's secret caves hideout is being converted into a $5.3 million tourist resort. Hotels and restaurants are being constructed on mountains overlooking the al Qaeda chief's Tora Bora refuge in Afghanistan. Former warlord Gul Agha Sherazi, now a local governor, said: "Tora Bora is world famous - but we want it to be known for tourism, not terrorism. It was known as a picnic spot long before anyone had heard of Osama Bin Laden." Bin Laden, who hid there in 2001 after the Taleban Government was ousted, is believed to have fled after a US bombing blitz. Two journalists were killed there this month but Mr Sherazi insisted: "Tora Bora is 100 per cent safe." (source: Ananova)
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Bad bus: With the recent bus crash problems, Guy Hollister wonders if the male driver of The Saints Bus Company driving the white bus turning right off Ayr St on to Parnell Rd yesterday afternoon, managed to text his message accurately with his right hand on his flip-phone while he steered around the corner with his left hand.
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Good bus: Peter Meredith was riding a scooter through Newmarket and was nearly sideswiped by a bus moving into his lane. He saw the bus indicating, and had time to drop back. "When we stopped at the next traffic lights, I was surprised to receive a very sincere apology from the driver."
