Source : the age
“The Herald has many uses,” reckons Lance Dover of Pretty Beach. “In the 1950s, one of our four cycling mates always carried a copy. Back then, we took our bikes by train to Clarence Junction and rode on the disused rail bed to the Wolgan Valley glow-worm tunnels and left our bikes, sleeping bags and food. Coming back, after trekking down to the Newnes ghost town, darkness and a rail-bed washaway prevented us from reaching the tunnels so we had to make camp on the side of the mountain using stripped leafy branches to make the ground a little more bearable to lie on. As if by magic, our friend produced his Herald which we eagerly used to start a warming camp fire. God bless Granny.”
Donald Hawes of Peel says that “old Australian train toilets didn’t have a flap to flush (C8), you could watch the track sleepers rushing past by looking down the pan. I often wondered if anyone ever used the loo while the train was going over Burwood Road railway bridge.”
We’re afraid this is it for the grandparenting designations (C8), but not before we hear from John Crowe of Cherrybrook, who notes that “one granddaughter called her grandmother the French name Mimi. Said granddaughter ended up studying in France and is fluent in that beautiful language. Regrettably her cousin as he learnt to speak dubbed me Grumpy.” Patrick McMahon of Paddington adds: “A good friend’s grandchild gave him the name Gumpy. I’ve no idea where it came from and, I believe, neither does he, but he loves it.”
Frances Suttling of Newport Beach gets all sensible on us: “Gee, given all the creative names recently published, we must be out of touch as we happily accepted we were grandma and grandpa to our eight grandchildren.”
Peter Miniutti of Ashbury thinks, “The way Peter Riley (C8) is carrying on, you’d think he was Granny’s husband.” While there were a number of rejoinders to Peter’s diatribe, this was the only printable one.
“William Cameron forgot to mention another feature of the sublime Helsinki Central Library (C8),” says Londoner Nicola Taylor. “No, not the fact robots take books to the shelves (they do). But alongside the music recording rooms and meeting rooms, there is a kitchen for rent, fully equipped including a dining table for 10. Why entertain at home? I wonder if the robots deliver recipe books?”
Column8@smh.com.au
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