“We’ve had a fun visit from our friend Lola, from Washington DC,” writes Sue Lugsdin of Balgowlah Heights. “We met in Seoul, Korea in the 1990s, and haven’t seen each other since. She was most fascinated by the water girls running onto the field at the Swans’ match last weekend as well as the art of hanging washing on the line. It’s simply not done in the US. Everything goes in the dryer. She bought a red Swans hat but realises she could NEVER wear it when she gets home!”
Sticking with the Sherrin, it appears that bird droppings (C8) aren’t limited to cars and laundry. Here’s John Orr of Clontarf: “While visiting Melbourne, a friend took me to my first AFL match, where Richmond was the ‘away’ side. One of the circling seagulls dropped a deposit from a great height onto the back of my new jacket. A voice from behind yelled: ‘You must be a Richmond supporter – they can tell!’” Lucky they weren’t playing the Bombers.
Graham Lum of North Rocks “didn’t realise birds had a fetish for white targets. I thought they were pooping on my car because they had a vendetta against me. It’s nice to know it isn’t personal.”
“I was one of those RAAF apprentices in Wagga Wagga who put a Vampire aircraft (C8) on the parade ground in 1962,” admits Terry Cook of Ermington. “The Vampire was constructed mainly of wood, and this one didn’t have an engine, so it wasn’t heavy. We did, however, manage to get it caught on the railway line that ran through the RAAF base. Luckily, the Tumbarumba Terror was not imminent.”
“In 1969, at Orange High School, we also put a teacher’s car onto the quadrangle,” says Ann Smith of Tweed Heads West. “What upset the powers that be was the banner put above the final assembly, which read: ‘Bread is the Staff of Life But the Life of This Staff is One Big Loaf’. It was removed fairly quickly.”
Elizabeth Savage of Hughes (ACT) reports on the pre-disposable era: “Canberra in the ’60s: my father, having observed me trying to dry cloth nappies (C8) in a Canberra winter, bought me the latest clothes dryer. It was actually a heated cabinet with wooden dowel rods on which to hang the nappies. It dried them, but they were stiff as boards. Thankfully, my children survived the experience.”
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