“Speaking of quirky badges (C8),I have a bright yellow one with a large smiley face and the words ‘Be Nice to Prostitutes’,” declares the civically minded Sue Casiglia of North Ryde. “It never ceases to bring on a smile in anybody who sees it.” Yes,but is it a “that’s great” smile or an “of course,dear” smile?
“I was given a badge by someone who knows me well that read,‘I Used To Be Indecisive,But Now I Am Not So Sure’,” says Jim Pollitt of Wahroonga.
Helen Howes of Collaroy explains why sugar sandwiches (C8) carried a certain sense of occasion:“Sugar didn’t come off rationing in the UK until September 1953. After that,if my brother and I were very good,we might be given a sugar sandwich on white bread with real butter. Ah,the crunch!”
Granny can’t help thinking that Truth Social is branching out into providing email. “The latest scam to land in my Inbox,purportedly from Telstra,warns that my Mailbox ‘is out as a result of our system update to Oath Mail’,” writes Allan Gibson of Cherrybrook. “I have until November 10,2025 before they cut me loose!”
“My husband still has his shoe-cleaning box in the laundry cupboard of our apartment,” says Alison Stewart of Waitara. “In the past,it was taken,weekly,to the backyard to clean the children’s school shoes as well as his shoes. Now it’s done on the balcony. Kiwi polish of various colours still good for use. They’ll see us out!”
“Don’t know if I’m having a false memory,but as an eight-year-old,when we found an old dried-up tin of Kiwi Boot Polish,we would set fire to it,and it would melt back into usable polish,” says Geoff Careyof Pagewood. “Yeah/nah,we wouldn’t have been able to play with matches at that age.”
Looks like youwere the firebug,Geoff,judging by the experience of Richard Lee of Ulladulla who says “you could light it up for a few seconds,then put the lid back on to douse it. What was left was black liquid gold which you would spread on your army boots with a rag to give them a mirror shine. Dangerous,I hear you say? Pah!”
The recent reference to “gentlemen’s hours” (C8) had Viv Mackenzie of Port Hacking asking:“Don’t you mean Tony Nicod was dropping in?”
Column8@smh.com.au
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