Reporter’s diary

Press, 4 February 1986, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Wandering A GOOSE found wandering in Sumner on Sunday, at the height of the Coast-to-Coast endurance race, was taken into protective custody for its own good. It was seen on the Esplanade playing chicken with heavy traffic. A nearby resident tried to encourage it toward the footpath, but the goose did not want to go. Eventually, to keep it from causing an accident, the goose was herded down a driveway and into a garage, where it was put up overnight. At first, it hissed whenever anyone opened the garage door, but it settled down. The white goose with grey-tipped feathers has clipped wings, and is probably someone’s pet. By yesterday morning, it had eaten some bread and water and allowed itself to be stroked. It went peacefully when the S.P.C.A. came, and can now be claimed from the Animal Home. Useful gift WHEN a clerk for an accounting firm left last week after 12 years, his workmates wanted to give

him something he could really use as the operator of a private rest home. He was presented with several packages, each connected to the other. They were parts of a kitset concrete mixer, which will come in handy to create paths, mowing strips and other improvements around the place. Risky business THE DIRECTOR of a Dunedin film company says he views the recent kerfuffle over Danny Watson and Trevor Hiles completing the Coast-to-Coast endurance race route in one day with wry amusement. lan Taylor says he cannot let the criticisms by Robin Judkins, the race organiser, pass without comment. Judkins was angry about the failure of Watson to wear a helmet while canoeing through the Waimakariri River gorge, and the failure of Hiles to wear a life jacket. Taylor, whose Remarkable Films has filmed a number of Judkins’s endurance events for television documentaries, says the organiser probably does all he can under the circumstances to ensure the safety of his contestants; but the risk he takes in having so many people in the mountains for a race “far outweighs the risk he so self-righteously perceived as having been taken by Watson’s failure to wear a helmet on the river.” He has no doubt that there was an element of publicity seeking in Watson’s South Island crossing, "and why not, it

was a significant achievement, almost as significant as the amount of publicity Judkins has managed to generate for himself, his event and, no doubt, a fairly happy sponsoring brewery.” Regular dip THE SEVERE European winter is taking its toll, but it holds no fears for an elderly German man who has a favourite swimming pond near Hamburg. He visits the pond twice a week to swim in the bitterly cold water. These days, he has to use a pickaxe to chop away the pond’s icy cover. He makes the regular trip to guard against getting a cold. Whistling wolf BIRDS often send out warning cries to tell their friends there is danger in the offing. Sentinels are known throughout the bird world, but a New York Zoological Society researcher has found that some species commit fraud as they go about their duties. Mixed flocks were watched in the Amazon forest of Peru, where one species can act as sentinels and set off an alarm if hawks are nearby. The researcher saw cases where bogus calls were made, when no danger was near. Feeding birds heeded the calls by scurrying for safety, but the alarm-sounders stayed where they were, diving down to take advantage of insects dislodged by the birds. The sen-

tinels did not even try to hide. The study said that sentinel birds were more likely to make fraudulent calls when they needed extra food for their young. Nighty night A CHRISTCHURCH man who prides himself on being able to get his two-year-old boy down for a nap was having a rough time yesterday as he put in an unexpected childcare stint until the early afternoon. Things seemed to be going fine in the recreation department as the boy did at least 50 laps of the living room at a run, played tennis with the dog, held his father down while he painted his face with an assortment of crayons, and bounced on all the beds. It finally came time for some reading, since the boy was visibly weakening. After stories with such helpful titles as "50 Ways to Outsmart Dad” and “Hop on Pop,” the boy said he had no intention of going to bed. He was hungry. He allowed himself to be put in his high chair for his favourite lunch of chicken bits and peanut butter sandwiches. His dad kept him occupied with a bowl of chicken and had his back to the boy as he described the delights of the peanut butter sandwich coming up. He turned around to find the reluctant sleeper snoring, with his head lolling back and a piece of half-eaten chicken clutched in his fingers. —Stan Darling ■ 4