Baby Granny’s bygone diet of brains (C8) reminded Corrine Johnson of her own entry into parenthood: “Number one child, born 1980. I’d drive her to my mum, 15 minutes away, so she’d have her requisite brains to eat. Number two, born 1983. He thrived without eating brains, mainly ’cos his mum was less intimidated by baby advice.”
There’s a reason choko hand grenades (C8) were an accessible form of ordnance around cracker night back in the day. Daniel Low of Pymble explains: “Every other outdoor dunny was covered in choko vines and along fences, providing the ammunition for free. I also recall Tommy ‘Teapot’ Phillpot blocking his letter box slit with a custom-made wooden block preventing the ingress of explosives.”
“Back in the ’70s in Canberra, a friend and I decided that it would be fun to have a duel, using the 10-ball Magical Shooter,” writes Richard Jary of Waitara. “Using garbage can lids as shields, we would shoot them at each other. I still don’t know how he explained the big burn mark on the front of his top to his parents when he got home after he missed an incoming shot. Probably lucky neither of us caught one in the face.”
Andrew Cohen of Glebe would like it known that he “was not personally involved” in the destruction of any letterboxes but rather was reporting an incident he by chance, observed. Mr Cohen arrived on the scene just before it happened. “I didn’t laugh either. I was reporting what I saw.” Granny wouldn’t hurt you for quids, Andrew. We apologise unreservedly.
More rewards (C8). Joy Cooksey of Harrington recalls that “Back in the 1950s the Sunday Herald’s monetary awards from collecting point voucher certificates, from successful entries to the children’s comic pages, made me financially independent. For sending in artwork and answers to puzzles, point certificates were awarded. When the point certificates totalled the required amount, they were posted back to the Sunday Herald and a cheque was returned to the sender.”
Nestlé had a great system in the 1950s and ’60s to encourage the consumption of their product,” says Evan Bailey of Glebe. “Each chocolate bar had a colourful card included which would then be pasted into large informative scrapbooks about cars, aeroplanes or spaceflight. I still have those three scrapbooks with all the cards pasted in, and, most of my adult teeth!”
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