Reporter's Diary

Press, 7 April 1979, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Star guide COSMONAUTS and space navigators who are having difficulty finding their bearings in the galaxy will no doubt be pleased to know that in future they will be able to take a road map with them on intergalactic travels. The Soviet Union has published the world’s first catalogue of the stars which is in-

tended for this very pur- ’ ’ pose. The spectro-photo- J metric catalogue contains I data on each of the 600- I odd stars on the outer | boundary of the Earth’s i atmosphere. J {

Sparks flew

IT WAS like a scene from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” villagers in Hertfordshire, England, said. Washing machines and television sets went crazy, refrigerators jumped up and down, and even doorbells rang themselves, while the frighte n e d villagers of Chipperfield wondered what on earth was happening. A rare power surge was found to be the cause of all the electrical antics, and all the villagers have since been advised to have their appliances checked. The only man about at the time of the power surge was a civil servant, Mr John Hogan, who rushed from house to house, turning off the power for the bewildered women. His own radiogramme poured smoke, and his electric

drill jumped about in his hands before blowing a fuse. “It was hysterical,” he said. “Just like something out of science fic- . tion.’ 4 f Free rides W I IF YOU should happen to I spot a red, double-decker | bus roaming the streets of ; Christchurch between 7 ; a.m. and 9 a.m. on Monday, dangle your car keys at it and you will get a free ride into town. It is all part of a Radio Avon promotion, aimed at drawing attention to the fuel problem and at encouraging wider use of public transport. The bus Will zig-zag through the city to Cathedral Square, picking up car-key danglers on the, way. . Good grief! ONE OF Elvis Presley’s 160-odd impersonators arrived in New Zealand this week at the beginning of a month-long tour with the show “Elvis — His Legend’s Still Alive.” Raymond “Elvis” Michael, who is described as “an ambitious Elvis impersonator” by the show’s promoters, is apparently among the elite of the numerous Elvis clones because — again according to the promoters — he

can sing. When Raymond I “Elvis”- Michael appeared at a concert in Bakersfield, in the United States, 300 fans mobbed the stage and Bakersfield policemen had to hold them off the Elvis clone, with clubs and batons. Later, a fan bought the coathanger which had hung up his costumes for $2. A legend within a legend, perhaps?.

'A possie? Y"

AN ARTICLE by Garry Arthur in “The Press” last week about opossum farming mentioned that there was no known collective noun in existence that could apply to a gathering of opossums. To date, three suggestions have been made by readers. A Kaiapoi man thinks that “a ponk of ‘possums” might be suitable, in that it is specific, quantitative, and rather descriptive.’ 4 Two Christchurch women separately suggested “an opus of opossums” and “a possie of opossums.” .. J Butting in

CLASSES at a Christchurch primary school were rudely interrupted last Monday by the sudden arrival of the school’s caretaker — through the ceiling. He had been up in

the roof above the class, cleaning the pipes in a boiler that had become clogged with starlings’ nests, and had to stand on the ceiling, between the roof beams, to get around the boiler tray. Being a light-weight sort of chap, he reckoned the ceiling would be able to take his weight. But what he did not know was that the ceiling was wet as a result of the boiler’s overflow. So he went crashing down through the ceiling and landed neatly on the school’s dolls’ house. Fortunately, he neither hurt himself badly nor landed on any of the startled children. Singing vote A SWINGING vote, as most people will know, generally belongs to someone who is unable to make up his or her mind before an election. But a singing vote, until now, was unheard of. A voter in Spain’s municipal elections stuffed a live cricket into a voting envelope earlier this week in Lerida. Election officials reported that they could not stop the insect from chirping or legally remove the beast from the ballot box until the polls had closed. —Felicity Price