Sideswipe: Aug 2: New shoes?

New shoes? Ruth spotted this rider heading home in the rain this week.

Let the daft games begin

An amusing Twitter hash tag (#RejectedOlympicEvents) took off yesterday. These are my top 10:

1. 50m sprint to the fridge.

2. Women's parallel parking.

3. Synchronised racism.

4. Fitted sheet folding.

5. Fart jumping.

6. Lightsabre fencing.

7. 100m emotional hurdles.

8. Wrestling with inner demons.

9. Menstrual cycling.

10. Cross dressage.

Swimmer out of his depth

A 34-year-old London man was stopped by French lifeguards trying to swim more than 5500km to America from the French Atlantic coastal town of Biarritz on Saturday. The incident could have turned to tragedy, police said, since the man had no special equipment and had no idea of the scale of the task. At 3.30pm, lifeguards noticed the swimmer had gone out very, very far and called police, who sent a helicopter. A diver was lowered and explained that swimming to America was a pretty tall order. The man replied that he was a good swimmer and in good condition. He was given a lifeguard's paddleboard and agreed to go back to shore. His rescuers describe him as "naive".

Brady Bunch gets modern twist

No new ideas: According to Deadline Hollywood there is a new Brady Bunch being made. "In the new Brady Bunch a divorced Bobby Brady, with children of his own, is remarried to a woman who also has kids, and they share a child. In addition, their ex-spouses are still part of their lives. The changes in the premiere reflect the evolution of family dynamics over the past four decades. Back in 1969, [producer] Sherwood Schwartz wanted Carol to be a divorcee but the network refused, so the end of her first marriage was never addressed."

You've made your bed ...

A reader has little sympathy for the lost mattress couple: "You might want to advise Shirleen to forget about her mattress. I'm sure NZ's finest would love an opportunity to fine her for an insecure load ... or that cyclist or motorist who suffered a near-miss might want to contact her for quite different reasons than giving back the mattress that nearly killed them."