“Similar to Paul Duncan’s lost lounge in Paddington (C8) was my large kitchen table in Melbourne’s Carlton North,” says Susan Bradley of Eltham (Vic). “I left it in the rear laneway while I went to the front of the house to unlock the gate from inside. When I came back about two minutes later, it was gone! Walking up the laneway revealed an open rear gate and my table with an elderly Italian gentleman’s tomato sauce bottling equipment already on it. After vigorous debate, I got it back, plus a bottle of last year’s sugo.”
While Meri Will of Baulkham Hills wonders if “our disgruntled Volvo owner (C8) received an infringement notice for tautology,” Andrew Cohen of Glebe reckons they go all right: “When I inherited my parents’ big white 1972 Volvo, I noticed that other drivers gave it a wide berth. For example, wide gaps opened up instantly when I blinked an intention to change lanes, no matter how bumper-to-bumper the traffic was.”
“The reference to apprentices being sent for left-handed screwdrivers or elbow grease (C8) reminded me of my first job at age 18 in a government department,” writes Robert Silvestrini of Fairfield West. “The department occupied three floors and there was a print room on the lower ground floor. About two weeks into my employment, I was asked by my manager to go to the print room and get some verbal agreement forms. It took a long time to live that one down.”
Chris Smith of Newcastle is well familiar with the verbal agreement form from banking circles and adds that “if the bank close by was the Banque Nationale de Paris, trainees would be required to request a French letter”.
More uses for the Herald (C8): “In the ’50s we always spent the winter school holidays at a hotel in Leura,” recalls Geoff Gilligan of Coogee. “Each week, they held a fancy-dress ball for the kids. One year, mum dressed my big sister as Granny Herald. She had steel wool for the hair, a pair of specs, knitting needles, yarn and a full-length skirt made from pleated pages of the Herald. It was a broadsheet then, so it would have been easier to make than now.”
John Elder of Annerley (Qld) thinks that “regarding the online v paper edition of the Herald discussion; never trust a news source you can’t wipe your bum with”.
Column8@smh.com.au
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