“Ned Snow, I don’t care about koels (C8) so much,” says Eva Elbourne of Pennant Hills, “but I have been delighted to be awoken around 3am every morning for several weeks by the sound of powerful owls calling to each other (it’s breeding season). I found a half-possum on my front path, neatly dissected down the middle. When a ‘Missing Kitten’ post went around the local message page, I gazed thoughtfully at the sky.”
Greg Briggs of Greenwich is streets ahead when it comes to pairing thoroughfares (C8): “Intriguing that there’s an intersection of Abbott Road and Costello Place in Seven Hills, not to mention the corner of Balfour Street and Lansdowne Street in Greenwich. British prime minister Arthur Balfour and his foreign secretary, Lord Lansdowne, improved relations with France, culminating in the Entente Cordiale of 1904 which formed the basis of the Anglo-French co-operation in World War I.”
In Howard Clark of Ryde’s neck of the woods, Laurel Park is directly opposite Hardy Park, and Gary Murrell of Gladesville warns: “The road leading to Failford Cemetery is called St Peters Close.”
“My mother, Betty Bernadou, was living with the family of Fred Walker, the inventor of Vegemite (C8), in 1923 when his daughter Sheilah drew the winning entry from a hat to name this new black spread,” writes Diana Anderson of Wahroonga. “Vegemite’s fame was fast and unexpected and is still a household staple 80 years later. Nobody would be more surprised than Fred!”
Betty isn’t the only Vegemite celebrity: “My father invented Tiger Toast for my daughters when they were toddlers,” claims Ben Cato of Bonnet Bay. “Vegemite on toast with strips of cheese across it. My 35-year-old daughter still makes it.”
Contributors are beginning to beat their chess (C8). One is Don Firth of Wooli: “Ian Wheeler is absolutely right, not only about the white squares but also about how annoying it is to see a board set up incorrectly. Years ago, I was helping to arouse enthusiasm for chess at a nearby primary school. The teachers proudly displayed a beautiful board that had been gifted by a local woodwork group. It was a table with an inlaid board with alternative dark and light timber squares, exquisitely produced. Sadly, it was not a chessboard because the right-hand front square was dark. And the table was too long for players to sit at the ends.”
Column8@smh.com.au
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