Sideswipe: Sayonara marijuana...

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Maybe the chef at Auckland's Haruno Yume Japanese Restaurant has an interesting herb garden.

Insect-aside

Australian Glenn Franks found a cockroach entombed in a lozenge. The 37-year-old said he bought a packet of Butter Menthol and was unwrapping a sweet as he left the store when he spotted the bug. "I was about to put it in my mouth when I saw it," he said. "I went straight back into the store and showed the guy I bought it off just to make sure." Mr Franks phoned Nestle immediately and they offered to send him a "modest" cheque and asked him not to speak to the media, he said.

Performance enhancer

Misheard #1: A reader writes: "My athletic grandson Harry is staying with me on holiday and, like all good athletes, has continued to train in his many different events. I mentioned to a friend that Harry was continuing with his training schedule and that he had even brought his own shot and discus. 'His what?' she said ... 'Oh. I thought you said chocolate biscuits!"'

Afternoon duties - not a sausage

Misheard #2: Nurse Helen was working at a local hospital and on her very first day she was left alone in the department. The telephone rang from the ward requesting a plaster to be done in the afternoon. "I proudly wrote in the Plaster Book 'Baloney Plaster'. Turned out it was a below-knee plaster!"

IRD, we're here to help

"The New Zealand government department failures work in many mysterious ways," writes an ex-pat. "In 2005, I got a message via Payroll to call IRD. When I called, I was told that I'd overpaid my student loan by nearly $3000 and had cleared the balance four years earlier. IRD hadn't notified me or contacted my employer to adjust my tax code, and had not paid any interest on the overpayment. Strangely, though, in 1998 when I started a new job and inadvertently gave them the incorrect tax code, they chased up my student loan repayments within nine weeks of starting the new job."

Budget boosters
Readers' recommendations for the budget brands.

* Homebrand nappies. "At around $5 a packet, they were the only disposables that didn't leak after a 10- to 12-hour sleep," says Karen.

* Budget Brand Cream Crackers. "Are better than any of the named brand ones and significantly cheaper," says a reader.

* Homebrand baking supplies, dried pasta, strawberry milk and cling wrap.

www.world'sworstwebsites

Garish colours, a mass of info, crazy sounds. Are these possibly the worst websites in the world? Talkboards on the internet seem to think so.

* yvettesbridalformal.com

* pianoartist.com

* dokimos.org/ajff

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