“Recently, my wife received birthday greetings from a dear friend in England,” relates Philip Laird of Keiraville. “The envelope was marked by Royal Mail in September 2022, and by the Sydney West Mail Facility (SWMF) in October 2025. We wonder where it has spent the past three years.”
Lynne Cook of Fairy Meadow gives further credence to the theory that certain border guards (C8) should never give up their day jobs: “As Rob Watson points out, East German border guards occasionally showed a sense of humour. Presenting my Australian passport at Checkpoint Charlie in 1981, the East German guard jumped up and down delightedly doing his best ‘Kangaruh’ impression. Only moments before, he had, with a stony face, waved the American girl I was travelling with into No Man’s Land.”
“So The Minns Government is increasing busking locations (C8),” notes George Manojlovic of Mangerton. “What a great name for a band. They should play on the same bill as The Whitlams.”
“I suggest that Ron Vernon (C8) seeks help from scammers in finding his former friend’s contact details,” offers Graham Lum of North Rocks. “They seem to know everyone’s phone numbers and email addresses.” And while Ron lamented that in the old days he would’ve just gone straight to the phone book, Alison Stewart of Waitara was clever enough to hold on to her White Pages from 2011.
Considerate C8-ers Tim O’Hearn of Castle Hill and John Constable of Balmain both advise that any condolences are immediately passed on by the funeral director.
“Now that ‘Guinea’ (C8) has been exhaustively dealt with, two other old-fashioned words come to mind,” writes David Linfoot of Castle Hill. “In the days when snail mail was more relevant, my father often received correspondence with ‘Esq.’ after his name. It was as an adult that I found out that Esq. was an abbreviation for Esquire, meaning landowner. The only land my father owned was the block on which our family home was located. The other word is ‘Master’ before an infant male’s name. Birthday cards from grandmothers or aunts were addressed to me this way when I was a youngster.”
With Travis Head going biblical in Perth, Anthony Clark of Bowral’s thoughts also turned to the good book, specifically the Old Testament: “‘For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind’ (Hosea 8:7). On Saturday, Brendon McCullum and his team certainly did!”
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