A reader from Mt Albert writes: "Our spring cleaning has created highly reflective kitchen windows and a pair of very persistent kingfishers use the nearby gazebo frame as a perch while they recover from nest-digging. While sitting on the gazebo waiting for his turn to go dig, the male assumes his reflection in our clean kitchen window is another male after his lady, so he flies at flank speed into our window. This sometimes starts about 5.30am - we are used to our local tui tuning up as early as 4am - but a thud on our window every minute or two is something else."
Squirm-inducing writing
Nancy Huston's Infrared, which just nabbed the Literary Review's tongue-in-cheek award for Bad Sex in Fiction, is about a photographer who takes pictures of her lovers' bodies. And there is plenty of squirm-inducing writing: "Kamal and I are totally immersed in flesh, that archaic kingdom that brings forth tears and terrors, nightmares, babies and bedazzlements." Go here to read more.
Duchess fringe observations
The Daily Mail guessed Kate Middleton was pregnant when she got a fringe. A story after the official announcement read: "The cannier observers among us had already guessed a royal baby was on the way. How? It was all thanks to Kate's hair: her great symbol, the vehicle through which she speaks to her public. The instant many of us caught sight of last week's new fringe we just knew ... When we spotted the young Duchess hiding bashfully behind her new bangs, it was evident that a fresh era for Kate, her marriage and her dynastic ambitions was being heralded."
