Sideswipe: Perplexing pleasure

A new bottle store in Helensville. Photo / Supplied

"My wife and I had a bit of a laugh when we saw this shop sign for a new bottle store in Helensville," says Tim. "Visitors to the area might get a little confused as to what the shop is selling."

Fingers in the pie?

"I had a surprise when I visited my local Four Square after caving in to the kids' requests for an icecream," says Kelle. "Every single Trumpet in the freezer had been opened and resealed (and not very neatly: some still had the edges of the icecreams exposed). I can only guess that the shop owners had decided to see if they had any instant winners for the All Blacks promotion that Tip Top is running on its Trumpets. I decided to spend my money elsewhere."

The mail must get through

"Congratulations to NZ Post," says a reader. "I just learned that a letter that had been put in the Cathedral Square mail box the morning of the February earthquake has just reached its destination in France. We truly didn't expect that letter to be ever seen again."

Chick your accent

Charlotte moved to Australia in the 1980s and got a job at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers. The Towers section was the top three floors of the hotel and very upmarket. "I worked as a telephone operator. One of our tasks was to up-sell the Towers by explaining the benefits with the spiel provided. 'Can I suggest our Towers section, which has your own butler, robe, cocktails and your own personal check-in?' After a moment's silence, the caller asked, 'Why would I get a personal chicken?"'

Try-scoring is gorgeous

Ken Donelan of Paihia writes: "Years ago there was a radio broadcast of a rugby match where the commentator was heard to say 'He's gorgeous by the post'. Later it transpired that what he actually said was 'He's scored just by the post'."

Police defend spraying of squirrel

The video of a police officer using pepper spray on a baby squirrel has shocked some, but Texas police defended the officer's actions. The officer said a baby squirrel began chasing students outside a primary school and he thought it may have been rabid. After several unsuccessful attempts to scare the squirrel away, he resorted to the spray. But the students didn't see it that way. They claimed the animal wasn't a threat to anyone. One student used a cellphone to record the incident. In the video students can be heard crying, "No!" and "Don't spray him!" (Source: Fox News)