Sideswipe: September 23: Sniff sniff

Photo / Supplied

Amy and her brother spotted this poke in the ribs on their road trip around New Zealand this week.

New twist on fine dining

Marmar Restaurant in Saudi Arabia has started fining diners who fail to finish their meals. The bizarre move - intended to discourage greed - was introduced after it was noticed some customers ordered excessively large meals to impress people around them.

See it later, alligator

A reader writes: "Studying the mural in the upper observation area at Auckland Airport, I was surprised to find the Concorde visited in 1986 with passengers wanting to view Hayley's Comet. Presumably not one of Bill Haley's Comets; more likely Halley's Comet."

Disgusting, no butts about it

David wants to send big ups to the brave woman waiting at the lights at the intersection of Mt Albert and New North Rds on Monday. "Seeing someone drop a ciggie butt out their car window, our heroine jumped out of her car, picked up the smouldering toxic trash and gave it back to the unthinking swine! That is something I've wanted to do for decades but haven't had the guts. Aside from being disgusting, cigarette butts are made of plastic and don't decompose. They contribute 1.5 billion kg of plastic to our landfills, waterways and oceans globally every year."

Petrol price includes ACC levy

Taya writes that the ACC levy on Robert's registration is higher because the price of petrol includes an ACC levy component, whereas diesel (and other non-petrol fuels) doesn't.

Fuel tax would be fairer

Another reader asks: "Why should I pay the same ACC fee as, say, a travelling rep when I am behind the wheel only one hour a month? Put the fee on the fuel and then the real user is paying!"

Calling intrepid boy reporter ...

Attention cub reporters: If you lost a brown leather Tintin wallet and contents on Wednesday, it was found on the Inner Link bus and handed to the bus driver. Contact Maxx to collect.