Sideswipe: December 1: Cover up in the sun

Protect your skin whilst in the sun. Photo / Supplied

Sunbathing at Takapuna beach ... I guess it must be the high UV.

Crash course regretted

A reader writes of a lesson her mother tried to teach her that backfired. "Just before I started school I taught myself how to undo my seatbelt. My mother would stop immediately and make me put it on while driving, but this was ineffective after we'd turned down our steep driveway. Every time we turned off, I'd undo my belt and stand between the two front seats in excitement. To teach me a lesson one day, Mum built up a bit of speed down the driveway before hitting the brakes. She'd intended to just give me a fright. I catapulted forward and took out the volume knob on the radio with my front tooth. She later told me she felt deep guilt every time she saw the blackened baby tooth I sported for the next year. The shame eventually made her ask the dental nurse to extract it, but she still gets a twinge when she sees it in photos."

Serenade for elephants

A mad-cap pianist has dragged his piano up a mountain in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, to serenade a group of blind elephants. Brit Paul Barton, aged 50, who played Slow Movement 2 from Beethoven's Pathetique sonata for the beasts, made the odd bid to raise money for charity. He hopes to raise enough money to install an electric fence at the sanctuary where injured and handicapped elephants live. Barton was quick to point out the keys on his piano were made from synthetic plastic. (Newslite.tv)

Painter framed

Eric writes: "About 30 years ago, while I was a traffic cop, I went to Middlemore to interview the victim of an accident. While I was there, an elderly gentleman was brought in, lying face down, with a sheet covering, but not disguising, a familiar household object, firmly attached to his bum. The poor old boy had been doing some household redecoration and had varnished his wooden toilet seat, it can't have been quite dry when he sat down, and went to sleep. As the ward sister said, she had seen bums before, but never framed."

Rabbits be gone!

A reader responds to the rabbits: "While the rabbit hanging from the car is not in the best taste, it may be prudent to let your children know that rabbits are out of control in this country and ruin farmland and native plants. They do not make good pets and shouldn't be encouraged. I've lost two trees in the last month from rabbits ring barking my trees, and digging underneath them, as well as countless holes in my new expensive lawn. If any readers have any advice on how to stop them from doing this, then this ex-Aucklander would dearly like to know."