“Adding to Judy Archer’s tale of a council clean-up faux pas (C8), a friend of mine, name withheld for legal reasons, was out jogging with me on the path between Tamarama and Bondi,” reveals Ian McNeilly of Darlinghurst. “This jog coincided with Sculpture by the Sea. My friend, after noticing some of the more exotic entries, exhorted me to stop, saying ‘I have to get back home, it’s council clean-up day, and I forgot to put our stuff out.’ I didn’t have the heart to tell him his error.”
“I can attest to animals eating a car’s electrical wire insulation although in my case it was possums, otherwise known as tree rats here in the USA, rather than mice,” writes Dominic Rice of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “I understand that insurance companies are increasingly listing rodent damage as a policy exclusion.”
“This phenomenon is well known,” confirms Caz Willis of Bowral. “And not all are electric vehicles. It is the insulation being made with a corn syrup material. Mice destroyed a friend’s car overnight. I have seen rivers (literally) of mice in country NSW. If you come across them on the road, DO NOT STOP, otherwise they will be in the vehicle with you!”
“Paul Koff (C8) asks what do we call supporters of One Nation,” reports Julian Neylan of Dulwich Hill. “The logical answer is PHONies, as the party’s official name is Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.”
“I’d forgotten about The Shiralee (C8),” admits Nola Tucker of Kiama. “Who was the child, the shiralee? Mostly I remember the effort to make it Australian and, just in case you didn’t cotton on, the producers popped a bewildered looking koala on the side of the road as the father and child set out on their trek. Subtle. I hope they put it back in its tree afterwards.”
Greg Oehm of Western Creek (Tas) is “happy to advise readers that I have found the easiest way to negotiate State Circle roundabout (C8) in Canberra without getting confused. It’s at 4000 feet – as a recent joy flight provided by a friend proved. At that height, you can see the exits better. Though I have to admit we did two circuits just for the views.”
“I’ve recently been given a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle,” says Halcyon Evans of Lane Cove. “The first item under safety precautions is ‘Do not put the puzzle in your mouth’.”
Column8@smh.com.au
No attachments, please.
Include name, suburb and daytime phone.
