Reporter’s diary

Press, 7 February 1986, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Revealed AS THE walls come tumbling down around Christchurch, reminders of the past often stand out in stark relief before they are hidden again by new construction. At the , intersection of High and Cashel Streets, across from the City Mall, two first-floor fireplaces now stand above a vacant site where the latest in highrise offices will soon appear. How it feels A HEATHCOTE County Council officer says he knows how it must feel to be a traffic officer who lacks any way to defend himself when he comes up against an unfriendly offender. Derek Rout, the county’s supervisor/co-or-dinator of P.E.P. work projects, was the sergeant in charge of printing for an Army newspaper, the “Burma Star,” in Rangoon many years ago. Feelings were running high against the British, since men in Army uniforms had killed and wounded several members of the Burmese Government. Mr Rout’s duties were in a printing house not far from the Government buildings, in a neighbourhood surrounded by slums occupied by homeless people. He was the only European in the area and he was taken to work and picked up about 3.30 a.m. by an Indian Army driver. If it had been known that he was left there on his own, he thinks he might have been lynched. He asked his superiors, who did not go near the printing, works, for an armed guard or weapons to defend himself. They refused. They said that giving him means of selfdefence could provoke an incident. They told him that they would review the situation if he was killed or seriously injured. He knows how it feels to have “superiors tucked away miles from trouble.”

A Coaster

A WELLINGTON commuter train driver has a line of patter that he says gets his passengers fit for the working day. He doubles as a Railways public relations man and comedian as he surveys the passing scene for passengers through his intercom system. Lester Stewart points out sightseeing places, relays cricket scores and tells everyone to have a nice day. When a bird was nesting on the Wellington waterfront, he used to slow the train to let everyone have a look. If he makes passengers happy, he says, they will work harder. Good for them, good for the country. The secret of his knack? “I’m a West Coaster,” he says. “That explains everything.” German seeker DOES anyone remember Alan Burnet who lived in Christchurch in the late 19305? A German woman, who used to exchange letters with him will be in New Zealand soon, and would like to look him up. Susi Furstenhoff, formerly Susi Georgi, wrote to Mr Burnet from 1935 until the start of World War 11. She lived in Breslau from 1935 to 1936, then moved to Berlin. She can be reached through us. Millionaire

lAN BOTHAM could become the highest-paid British sportsman ever, in a league with John McEnroe and other superstars who bring you words from their sponsors. Botham has signed a deal with the' Nike sportswear company in America, and his managers are confident that the lucrative agreement will make him a millionaire. He will promote the company’s entire range, representing “the English look.” The Colonel

COLONEL Gadaffi, the Libyan leader whose eccen-

tric changes of pace are a constant fascination, might start wondering just who he is if he reads many American newspapers, which have a wide variety of ways to spell his name — Gaddafi, Kaddifi, Qadhafi, elQadafi, Qaddafi, Kadafi, Khadafy and others. The Library of Congress has him as Qaddafi, with cross references to 35 other spellings. Is he? ELDERS of a former Libyan Jewish community have told an Orthodox newspaper in Jerusalem that evidence points to Colonel Gadaffi being Jewish. They cite his face, which supposedly bearss a remarkable resemblance to a beautiful Jewish girl from that community — since moved to Israel —■ who was kidnapped by a desert sheik. The paper says the story is evidence of the awful consequences of intermarriage. That’s cricket A FLORIDA man, a veteran of seven sea cruises, talked about a new sporting interest when he was in Wellington on the Royal Viking Star last week. The 75-year-old passenger said he had been watching television in every country visited by the cruise ship, and he had become hooked on World Series Cup cricket from Australia. He was doing his best to figure it out in a short time. His comments: “They hit the ball and then they go for a run, and then they walk and then they go out. Those guys know how to hit the ball past the fielders to hit those screens, and they know how to hit it behind the wickets. Those other guys have to be good there to catch that cotton-picking ball. That is real sport. I would rather watch cricket before baseball.”

—Stan Darling