Ian Wheeler’s mention of the positioning of the filler-cap (C8) on various cars reminded Bill Irvine of Goulburn that “there was a time when some people didn’t have to worry about which side of the car to present to the bowser. The Jaguar XJ6 and the Morris Cooper S both had fuel fillers on both sides. Mind you, the connecting pipe between the two tanks of the Cooper S wasn’t big, so waiting for them to equalise was slower than just filling both tanks separately. Never having owned an XJ6, I don’t know how it fared in that regard. Another variation was the filler location behind the rear number plate. Ambidextrous in another way.”
Nonetheless, Pauline McGinley of Drummoyne says this presented hire-car issues in the 1980s in rural Queensland, where “my husband was on his second walk around the car, bewildered, when the attendant came to his rescue and all was revealed upon lifting the rear number plate”. Gary Logan of Bardia still reckons it “seems like a good idea, now forgotten”. Bring it back!
“All this talk of men’s haircare products (C8) reminded me of my time at boarding school in the ’60s,” says Geoff Gilligan of Coogee. “The brother in charge of the refectory would not allow anyone without hair oil in for breakfast. So if you had forgotten to put on your Brylcreem/Spruso/Californian Poppy, he had a bottle of cricket bat oil at the ready.”
Geoff Turnbull of Ashfield reports on an altruistic act: “Recently after coffee at my favourite local cafe, I went to pay and was informed that another customer, Leslie-Ann, who had just left the cafe, had paid for my coffee. A wonderful ‘random act of kindness’ which made my day. To quote Peter FitzSimons, ‘Gotta love this city!’”
“Mention of Trump-themed toilet paper (C8) reminded me of a recent visit to a restaurant in Vancouver,” writes Mike Gordon of McMahons Point. “A trip to the restroom revealed laminated photographs of ‘the Don’ strategically positioned in the urinals, thus ensuring he was given a warm welcome.”
“Of course Dermot Perry’s noisy plastic Donald Trump pig toy (C8) was unsold,” says Tim Slack-Smith of Castle Hill. “It’s just too boaring. That’s sow it is.” Brian Byrne of Flinders thinks it would make the “perfect rear bumper accessory, emitting a snorty grunt to advise how close you are to the wall during reversing.”
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