“Are the bakers at Coles bored or just feeling game?” asks Paul Marynissen of Watanobbi. “My mother, Diane, bought half a dozen hot cross buns from the Yamba store, only to find five hot cross buns and one hot nought bun. Was the boredom kicking in for the poor bakers or did she get part of a game of culinary Tic-tac-toe?”
Jeff Stanton of Strathfield has a different retail observation: “I saw advertising outside a supermarket the other day proclaiming ‘From the farm to your refrigerator since 1895’. Really? A refrigerator? More likely an ice chest or a damp cloth draped over a billy can. We had an ice chest in the 1950s when I was young. The ice man came twice a week, I think, carrying a heavy block of ice.
“Reading all the references to Blue Hills (C8) in Granny’s column recently, brought back fond memories for me,” writes Janet Learoyd of Wahroonga. “My mother was Queenie Ashton who played Granny in the long-running serial. She was also a real life loving grandmother (and great-grandmother). She spoke the last words of the final episode. We played the Blue Hills music at her funeral. So many loving memories of my dear mum.” This Granny remembers watching Queenie strut her stuff on the ABC drama Certain Women, which, one remembers, was referred to as ‘Cretin Women’ by certain brazen kids. Digging deeper, we see that in the ’80s, she even got a gig on The Love Boat.
Marginally younger readers will recall that, while Blue Hills was for the adults, for the kids it was The Argonauts Club. Both Ian Graham of Lake Conjola and Rob Baxter of Naremburn were among its listenership, with Rob noting that “My crew name (Cnidus 13) meant nothing to me but thanks to Wikipedia I now know more about Cnidus (in modern Türkiye) than I ever dreamt as an 8-year-old.”
Gregory Abbott lists his location as Macleay Island, but his curious post is giving Noble’s Isle vibes: “Once upon a cold time a Lady GAGA and a Lord MAGA married, the offspring AGAMA could talk flat out, like a red-headed, rock lizard drinking.”
While we’re getting acronymous, now might be a good time to farewell the POTUS decoders (C8). We thank Judith Campbell of Drummoyne – Petulant Old Tyrant Undermines Stability and Donna Wiemann of Balmain – Perpetrator Of Treacherously Unadulterated Skulduggery.
Column8@smh.com.au
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