OBITER

Conflict of Interest?

A postman in London who gave people advice on how to stem the rising tide of junk mail into their homes has been suspended by the Royal Mail and could lose his job. While some people welcomed the unofficial advice, Royal Mail bosses took a dim view of the apparent bid to undermine a lucrative and growing part of its business.

Driving Miss Li

Giving a whole new twist to the phrase ‘to teach an old dog new tricks’, a woman in Hohhot, the capital of north China’s Inner Mongolia region, crashed her car while giving her dog a driving lesson. The woman, identified only by her surname, Li, said her dog ‘was fond of crouching on the steering wheel and often watched her drive, and so thought she would let the dog have a try while she operated the accelerator and brake,’ a report in XinHua Daily said. Xinhua did not say what kind of dog or vehicles were involved but Li paid for repairs. No injuries were reported.

Not Toilet Humour

While Singapore is busy ensuring that it produces four million smiles to welcome the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund, neighbouring Malaysia has come up with its own campaign to create a new ‘national restroom culture’. Malaysia’s National Toilet Expo and Forum has opened at a shopping mall in the suburb of Subang Jaya outside of Kuala Lumpur, attracting curious shoppers to some 60 exhibition booths.

Less Repenting in Leisure

Stars may have to come out in the day for their quicky marriages now. After-midnight marriage licences will no longer be available to lovebirds in the self-proclaimed marriage capital of the world, Las Vegas. After years of sanctioning hasty matches, the Las Vegas marriage bureau plans to close its all-night counter, eliminating its 24-hour marriage licence service on Fridays, Saturdays and holidays, and confining it to a 8am-to-midnight schedule. The move would apparently affect less than four per cent of the licences issued by the bureau, but would save operation costs of US$200,000 a year, not to mention the high-profile grief of some of the world’s rich and spontaneous, whose Vegas marriages have been short-lived.