“Enthralled as we are that the King will visit us and maybe attend the world’s richest race on turf, the TAB Everest, I wonder if he is still as fast on his feet as his mother,” writes Nola Tucker of Kiama. “We attended Randwick races on the occasion it became Royal Randwick when Queen Elizabeth II graced it with her presence. Glancing up at the royal enclosure we saw Her Majesty come sprinting down the aisle just as the main race began. Still wondering if she had a castle or two wagered on one of her ponies.”
Olympic pie fanciers (C8) need not worry, reckons Garry Thomas of Oatlands: “I’ll give you odds of London to a brick that the pies for the Olympics are the very same ones sold at TG Millner Field (Eastwood’s home ground) and cannot be forgotten. Quite possibly the best pies in Sydney and definitely in the Shute Shield. Vegemite? Oh, poo!” We might need confirmation from insiders at the Woodies on this, but about 20 years ago, Herald rugby scribe, the late, great Greg Growden, lamentably reported on an alleged change of caterer at Millner with post-2004 correspondence describing it as the “once sensational meat pie”.
Sheelagh Brien of Mona Vale is happy to report that “My daughter lives in Condom, France (C8) and regularly sends French letters to us and her friends.” We also note that John Ure of Mount Hutton once made a point of stopping there to post a letter. “Written in French, of course.”
Hey Charger! “A discussion in another forum suggested that Volkswagen should manufacture an electric car called a ‘Lightning Beetle’,” writes John Perry of Newtown. “It would probably get nicknamed the ‘Bug Zapper’. Any other creative names? The Nissan Electric Cedric or Ford Edison perhaps?”
We’ve chosen the intrepid Bill Avery of Blackheath to round out our place name (C8) discussion: “Twenty years ago, on my bushwalk from Sydney to Melbourne, I reached Mount Buggery in Victoria and rang several friends to tell them that I had finally acquiesced to their oft-repeated requests.”
“Janita Rankin’s tale of the elderly woman who was ‘no whipper snipper’ (C8) reminded me of a neighbour’s remark as we pondered gossip of a local adulterous affair,” says Daniel Flesch of Bellingen. “She said ‘It takes two to tangle.’ Quite so, and somewhat more evocative than the original wording too.”
Column8@smh.com.au
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