Reporter's Diary

Press, 17 April 1979, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

(,ood grief! WESTPORT’S fire chief, Mr Pat O’Dea, could be excused for thinking someone was up to no good outside the fire station on Saturday. He was driving into the station when he was hit, almost simultaneously, from the front and the rear bv two members of the Bedggood family in different cars. Nobody was hurt, but it is believed that the Bedggoods and Mr O’Dea are talking about htaking good the damage. Appropriate THE POMS have a monopoly on pom-poms, it Seems. A firm in Coventry, England, says that It is the only pom-pom manufacturer in Europe The firm was founded nearly a century ■ ago by Lavinia Lenton, a greatgrandmother ofthe

present owners. Before World War 11, when pompoms were made by hand, 60 girls could produce about 30,000 a week. Now, 10 girls working four machines make 350,000 a week, for export to 65 countries.. And what are they used for? To decorate air hostesses’ hats, golfers’ tarn o’ shanters, Greek national, costumes, whiskybottles, Italian soldiers’ caps, and all manner of toys. Muppet-mania THE FIRST full-length film of the familiar characters from “The Muppet Show” will be released in June, and already a second film is being planned by the British showman, Lord Grade, who has invested S6OM in new films this year. As part of the promotion of his first Muppet film. Lord Grade threw a Hollywood party last week

for Kermit, Miss Piggy, and the gang. Miss Piggy danced with Dick Van Dyke and was given a standing ovation as Johnny Mathis sang “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.” Slow boat to Muck CITY DWELLERS must envy the tranquillity that rules the lives of the inhabitants of the small islands — Rhum, Muck, Eigg, and Canna — off the Scottish coast between Mull and Skye. But thesb simple folk, mostly farmers, and fishermen, failed to appreciate the compliment paid to their way of life by the Scottish Office civil servants, who set up a leisurely committee to consider what kind of vessel should be ordered as the new ferry and mail boat. The islanders were even bold enough to suggest that there might be some urgency — the 37-year-old wooden-hulled former minesweeper that had Served the purpose for some years was fast coming to the end of its useful life.

But the committee would not be rushed. It rejected several proposals for a replacement boat, including one supported by 90 per cent of the. small islanders for a bigger boat able to withstand the Hebridean gales and capable of carrying sheep and cattle as well as people. After two years the committee had not reached a conclusion, so the Scottish Office imposed its own compromise and, last year, the keel of a new ship was laid. The vessel will be delivered later this year. However, the old minesweeper recently gave her own verdict on the delay in her retireinent. In a strong gale the old lady gave up the struggle and settled her hull firmly stern-first on the bed of Mallaig Harbour. Roundabout uav A BANKRUPT businessman, under a cloud in London for his dealings with the Arabs, told a London court last week: “I don’t agree I’m a con man. I’m an opportunist. If somebody asked me to buy Tower Bridge for

them I wouldn’t say yes. Nor would I say no. I’d say I would look into it.” Head line TRAVOLTA fever has sufficiently permeated the French culture to leave “Grease” untranslated. In Spain. however, the crowds are flocking to see “Brlllantiha,” while the youth of South America are raving about the more clinical-sounding “Vaselina.” In the words of an executive from the distributors of the popular movie, the Cinema International Corporation, “the basic meaning is, after all, a hairdressing.” Substitute GARAGE sales have become accepted throughout New Zealand as an effective way of cashing in on all those unwanted bits and pieces around the house. But what do you do if you don’t have a garage? One family solved this problem at the weekend by advertising a “Carport sale.” —Felicity Pike