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“In the early ’60s, I was Premier Askin’s (C8) afternoon paperboy after school in Manly,” writes Jim Rogers of Byron Bay. “He insisted it be delivered to his door step. If home, he’d open the door for a chat after I blew the whistle and give me a coin. Once, around Christmas, he gave me the massive sum of 10 shillings to buy my mum a present. Perhaps Perce had just been around?”
Julie Apps of Pemulwuy has just received “an email from Service NSW promising ‘Get the best price at the pump. Free breast screening’. Strange juxtapositions of items. Is this a new service from them?”
One familiar with wine list woes (C8) is Frank McGrath of Bulli: “In 1990, I went for a few weeks’ walk inland through the NSW north coast and stayed several nights in Bowraville. On August 17 (yeah, I kept a diary), at the local RSL, I asked what red wine they had to go with my steak. A moment of puzzlement, then a smiling ‘oh yes, Club Port!’ Well, the beer was good.”
We’re not going to stay with the band name discussion (C8) for too long, the main reason being that about 90 per cent of missives refer to noted combo Jock Strap and His Elastic Band – and that was covered last year. A couple of others, both in the undergraduate category, did catch our attention. Jim Pollitt of Wahroonga says, “A band made up of medical students at UNSW in the rebellious ’60s was called The Antibodies.” Over the way, at University of Sydney in the 1980s, Mark Morgan of Palmwoods (Qld) “saw a poster advertising a local gig featuring the bands Box of Fish and The Real F—ing Idiots. I have always regretted not stealing the poster.”
For Duncan McRobert of Hawks Nest, the name game goes beyond rock’n’roll: “Apparently it took nine police officers to subdue a well-known rugby league identity. That’s more than the entire backline. They should form a team and call it The Wallopers.”
Wanna trade? Gerhard Winger of Northmead has a garage full of toilet paper that he would like to swap for five drums (40 gallons) of petrol.
Matthew Wilson of Warriewood gets it: “Yesterday, I filled my car with petrol and suddenly experienced a warm sense of security and happiness. I realised the last time I felt this way was in 1974.”
Column8@smh.com.au
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