At the risk of you thinking all I do in my down time is drink coffee at various cafes around Dunedin, I was sitting in the cosy window corner at Copper when I started noticing motorist after motorist for whom the right obviously didn't exist (not talking politics here, as I doubt that's the case in Maori Hill ...).
As is often the case, once I'd spotted it I became a bit obsessed. I reckon only one in every five drivers heading north on Highgate looked right. The rest just blithely drove straight through.
Talking about roads, who's excited about the reintroduction of Barnes Dance crossings in Dunedin? With the ones I've used in Christchurch, it always seems such a nice way to meet new people, just in a slightly perilous situation.
The Dunedin City Council says the last one here was in place at Cargill's Corner in the 1980s. Fair to say the new one this week on the corner of Princes St and the Octagon - the first of half a dozen or so - had a gentle start to life, with just a few souls trying it out on its first morning on Monday.
I'm keen to hear from anyone with memories of the old ''dances'' from decades ago.
Monarch accounts
These wonderful butterflies continue to grab our attention.
Leana Campbell, of Macandrew Bay, fears for the future of their 2-year-old swan plant.
''It is covered in monarch caterpillars! We have three daughters (and their parents) pretty excited about our caterpillar babies.''
I also heard from Balaclava Primary School. The 25 children of room 4 and their teacher, Sarah Pledger, emailed to say there's no shortage of butterflies at the school.
''We had a monarch land on our two swan plants and it laid so many eggs that we have just had 41 baby caterpillars hatch in the past few days! We also have three chrysalises, another two forming into chrysalises and one very fat caterpillar.
''Our problem is that we don't have enough swan plants! We have searched all over Dunedin and can't find any.''
Please get in touch with Sarah on (03) 488 4667 or email sarahp@ balaclava.school.nz if you can help.
University camps
Remember our discussion about what used to - or didn't use to - go on at university camps or on field trips?
David Harrowfield, of Oamaru, says he used to go on the same University of Canterbury second-year geography field trip to Pareora that I went on in 1984.
''As a former technician and, later, a student who also attended the same field camp, I have fond memories.
''Over several years, my duties included work in a variety of environments. I found the trips to be well-organised and we were well-fed with roasts often a speciality. I developed a great appreciation and love for our landscape, to the extent that I maintained detailed journals.
''Every field trip was different and there were many experiences.
''One I recall relates to being on a fishing boat dredging for sediment samples. The dredge on being lifted was emptied and found to also have a lump of anthracite coal. The skipper then gave a detailed explanation of how he had previously discovered an eroded coal seam in Pegasus Bay.
''But he had, of course, put the coal from his small stove in the dredge before it went overboard. The joke wore a bit thin when, later in the day, the dredge came up with a rubber glove, immediately recognised as one of his.
''I will always look back on these days as a special time in my life.''
Thanks David. I still remember students climbing the big fireplace.
Brushes with fame
Delving back to our thread on meeting famous people, Lala Frazer, of Broad Bay, shares this:
''When our daughter was working in London, she wrote to tell us excitedly that Robbie Williams had moved into the neighbourhood.
''I asked, 'Who is he?'. With disbelief, she replied that I must have heard of him, he was a really famous rock star.
''As an aside, she added, 'Well, you may have heard of the grandfather of the children I'm looking after - I've never heard of him. Apparently he's famous for running the mile in under four minutes.'
''That of course was Roger Bannister, who has just died at the age of 88.''