“In our rural city,when I was at school,girls had bikes with flat handlebars,while the males had upturned racing handlebars,” recalls Donald Hawes of Peel. “It took years for me to realise they were designed to be down.”
“Kath Hollins’ needlework (C8) item reminded me of my dear departed mum who taught me how to darn socks and sew on buttons,” writes Peter Pocock of Hornsby. “Very helpful when I left home at 17 and emigrated downunder. Does anyone darn socks nowadays?” Llieda Wild of Eastwood “was good at needlework and still have a small cross stitch napkin that I was very proud of,but my Mum failed at teaching me to knit!”
Coral Button of North Epping reckons “The comment ‘lazy’ on your correspondent’s husband’s school report would be considered kindly encouragement from my former Latin (C8) teacher,who once described my work as ‘slovenly,slipshod,slapdash and slothful’. I wonder how that would sound in Latin. Any takers?”
Words of wisdom for Anthony Clark (C8) via John Lees of Castlecrag:“As Spike Milligan’s mother said to him,‘Son,licorice will always give you a good run for your money’.”
Chris Hornsby of Bayview is looking to turn a corner:“I heard on the radio that someone’s views were at ‘a right-angle tangent’ to the discussion. Can anyone explain how this is achieved?”
Having touched (down) on airline acronyms (C8) back in 2019,we thought it was a dead issue,but the latest batch is far from terminal,with Alastair Wilson of Balmain even getting stuck into the national carrier,alleging that QANTAS stands for “Quick And Nasty Tours A Specialty” and according to Fee MacGregor of Randwick,the meaning of Portugal’s Transportes Aereos Portugueses aka TAP is “Take Another Plane”.
“My grandchildren also have the shopping set (C8) with credit card swiper and till,” says Lyn Langtry of East Ryde. “I’m thinking not only will the till go but also the swiper. The future equivalent to playing shop will be a phone and a van loaded with items ready for delivery.”
Column8@smh.com.au
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