Sideswipe: December 24: Reddit's Secret Santa

Auckland Transport has its own abbreviation for Christmas.

Gates gets into spirit of Secret Santa
Bill Gates participated in the annual Reddit Secret Santa gift exchange and gifted the lucky recipient a replica Loki helmet from Marvel's Thor franchise. He also made a donation in her name to Shot@Life, an organisation that provides vaccines for children in poor countries. This year's Reddit Secret Santa broke its own world record for the largest Secret Santa gift exchange with more than 200,000 users participating.

More oomph urgently needed.

Epsom car mystery
"There is a car that has been in my street for at least a year," writes a reader. "Council have tagged it and they tell me police have been informed and say it's possibly stolen. It's a beige Volvo and it's full of blue plastic crates of books. It looks like work-related stuff. I wonder if any one knows the owner. The street is Brightside Rd, Epsom."

Moaning in 'moderation'
A reader writes: "The best correction I read had to be this from the Sun: 'In a story Britain's Biggest Whinger we stated that Marcus Stead, who appeared in the Channel 4 documentary The Complainers, "moans to the council every day for a year". Mr Stead says that, in fact, the number of complaints is closer to one or two per week. We are happy to put his position on record.'"

Singing from different spirit of Christmas song sheet
"I note with interest a letter from 'Rachel', who complains of a Franklin Rd home owner who 'was not 100 per cent into Xmas'. I confess. I am the accused. Despite Rachel's accusations, I do decorate my house from December 1 through to Boxing Day and I also often allow singers to perform outside the house, especially when they knock and ask, which Rachel's ensemble saw no reason to do. But this doesn't really address the biggest issue. Rachel's group were really not very good. Their intentions were probably entirely honourable, but for them to think 'being charitable' entitles them to make my home hard to live in for hours is not what Xmas spirit is all about. I would gladly give the Auckland City Mission $100 not to have to listen to them and indeed I have done so. FYI the music I played comprised Ella Fitzgerald, the Pogues, Frank Sinatra, etc singing the same repertoire but far more attractively. I will be a bit better organised next year with a more hi-fi setup and no less than 95 per cent Xmas spirit!"

Video: BBC's Middle East correspondent attempts to report in front of a pile of burning drugs...

Picture this: A Christmas joke missed...

Good read: In an emergency would you hand over you baby to a stranger?

Video: Charlie the Venus flytrap wishes everyone a Merry Christmas

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