Might be time for a name change.
Alarming start to the morning
A reader writes: "Every morning, seven days a week, year after year, someone's car alarm goes off in or close to the upper part of Parnell Rd. It used to be shortly after 6.30am but at the moment it's around 7.30am and lasts for about 20 seconds and echoes all round the area. I can't remember when I first noticed it but it's a matter of years, not months. Is it actually a car alarm? If so, why do they let it go off? One suggestion is that the car remote needs a new battery so when the door is unlocked manually the alarm goes off until the key is in the ignition. If that's the case, I'll offer to donate the cost of a battery! It doesn't bother me much these days but people staying here remark on it, so it'd be great to know the source."
Strine easily interpreted
"I remembered just before making a purchase that I needed to put a pin number on my Visa card," writes Elayne. "I rang the help desk and was put through to an automatic system with an Australian accent. After a number of unsuccessful attempts I gave up as it couldn't recognise my Kiwi accent. Then my partner suggested I use an Australian accent. I made another call stating I wanted to change my pen number and answering 'yis' when required. I got my pin without a hitch. Go figure."
Stickers obscure message
These are the new stickers for your car's rear window to remind people to check for small children before they reverse (an awareness campaign to lower the number of kids run over in driveways by reversing cars). "The thing is," writes a reader. "They are so big that they take up a large chunk of the window, making it even less likely that you'd see a child behind you! This photo is of one on a big family car, but they're worse on smaller cars."
