Sideswipe: Freejoas

Photo / Supplied

'Tis the season to help yourself...

Think you're unlucky in love?

Britain's Border Agency has fired an immigration officer who became sick of his marriage and, while his wife was on holiday in Pakistan, quietly added her name to the list of terrorists not allowed into the country.

And a woman who dumped her truck-driver boyfriend for being dull, only to see him win a Lotto fortune, has been branded Britain's unluckiest woman. They had been together for 14 years.

Boobies bracelet court-approved

A judge in Philadelphia has ruled in favour of kids who criticised their school for banning Breast Cancer Awareness bracelets featuring the slogan "I (Heart) Boobies!" The 12-year-olds were suspended for flouting the ban on Breast Cancer Awareness Day. "The bracelets are intended to be, and they can reasonably be viewed, as speech designed to raise awareness of breast cancer and to reduce the stigma associated with openly discussing breast health," read the ruling.

Sharing bargain grocery finds

Wendela Walta from Motueka says her best find is Independent Fish Fingers at around $8 a kilo, which contains 40 fingers. "One box can supply my family of five with their daily protein intake for two days. That's $4 per day; you can't buy meat for that. I peel the crumbs off myself, to make them low fat."

Another reader reckons Homebrand Gingernuts are "light and crispy with a slight dusting of sugar crystals. Pam's chips taste just like chips should. Pam's cereals, jam and Budget honey taste like other brands and Pam's Ginger Ale tastes nicer than the expensive stuff".

Loan repayment irony

A reader wonders how anyone could overpay their student loan by $3000. He writes: "Is your reader that financially illiterate as to not know how much they owe? For four years? I kept track of my student loan on a fortnightly, then monthly (pay-cycle) basis because I didn't want to pay IRD one cent more than I had to. The ultimate irony for me was that the final balance of my student loan ('earned' at Auckland University) was paid off with part of the payout from when I was made redundant by the university!"

Let's get our herbs straight

"Before you completely offend the chef or end up with the police at his restaurant ... I think you'll find that's a Japanese maple leaf," says a haughty reader of Sideswipe's suggestion that the chef at Auckland's Haruno Yume Japanese restaurant had an interesting herb garden. [I wasn't seriously suggesting it was the class C drug, otherwise I wouldn't have been so cruel as to include the name of the restaurant. - Ana]