How to wreck a perfect view from your bus seat

The reversed Orbus logo on Queenstown bus windows provides a whole new view for passengers of...
The reversed Orbus logo on Queenstown bus windows provides a whole new view for passengers of Lake Wakatipu and the Earnslaw in this simulation. PHOTO: PETER DOWDEN SIMULATION/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
One of the things I admired coming back into town from Portobello on Saturday was having wonderful views of Otago Harbour
through the big, clean windows of the bus.

So how would we feel about having large mirror-image advertising transfers stuck on the outside of the glass? Won't they ruin the scenery?

Peter Dowden, of the Bus Users' Support Group Otepoti-Dunedin, has strong opinions on any such move and has provided these simulations of the effect for passengers of such transfers on views of Queenstown scenery.

He is campaigning against the planned use of these window stickers later this year on Dunedin's bus fleets.

```As attractive as the back of a bus','' Peter says. ``It was never a kind thing to say, but how attractive is the back of a bus company logo?

``Queenstown's new public transport service Orbus has been a great success, but why do they feel the need to deface the landscape by slapping their logo on the windows?

A different look at the Remarkables, courtesy of the reversed Orbus logo mock-up. PHOTO: PETER...
A different look at the Remarkables, courtesy of the reversed Orbus logo mock-up. PHOTO: PETER DOWDEN SIMULATION/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
``Why present a corporate identity in such an unattractive and unreadable way? How do they imagine that this improves the passenger experience?''

It's a very good point. How would you feel about these stickers on the windows of your bus?

The cover of a photo album containing images of the 1925-26 New Zealand and South Seas...
The cover of a photo album containing images of the 1925-26 New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition in Dunedin. PHOTOS: ANNE IBBOTSON
The 1925-26 exhibition

Anne Ibbotson has written and sent these photos about her family connection with the New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition at Logan Park in Dunedin in 1925-26.

``I have been following the responses in your column regarding the exhibition with great interest.

A greenstone and silver piece presented to Anne Ibbotson's grandfather. Charles Hainsworth - the...
A greenstone and silver piece presented to Anne Ibbotson's grandfather. Charles Hainsworth - the general manager of the exhibition - on his and Gertrude's silver wedding anniversary in October 1925.
``As the granddaughter of the general manager of the event - Charles Hainsworth, known affectionately as ``CP'' - I hold quite a lot of memorabilia passed down to me.

``The first picture is of a very comprehensive photo album of various aspects of the exhibition and the second is of the inscription inside the cover.

``The third picture is of a greenstone and silver presentation piece to my grandfather from the works committee, on the occasion of my grandparents' silver wedding anniversary, which fell in October 1925.

``Those named on the lower plaque are: J.S. Douglas, chairman; A. Dempster; W.R. Hayward; W.H. Naylor; H.F. Nees; G. Simpson; A. Smellie; and J.H. Wilkinson.''

The inscription inside the cover.
The inscription inside the cover.
Malapropisms

Mervyn, of Portobello, passes this on: ``A gossip in Central Otago popped into his local pub to pass on the news that a woman who had already had five kids was `stagnant again'.''

Then there was the nervous man who didn't like going on to roofs because he suffered from ``verdigris''.

More amusement

Another merry quip from The Guardian's ``It's a funny old world'' column.

According to The Times: ``A young girl, who was blown out to sea on a set of inflatable teeth, was rescued by a man on an inflatable lobster. A coastguard spokesman commented: `This sort of thing is all too common these days'.''

 

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