“A few days ago I watched a rerun of Martin Scorsese’sTaxi Driver (1976) starring Robert De Niro,” says John Lees of Castlecrag. “At one point,De Niro’s character,Travis Bickle, was polishing his boots,and he was using Kiwi polish (C8). I was quite proud that this Aussie product (first manufactured in 1906) featured in such a classic American film. Lamentably,we can no longer claim it as one of ours.”
Ted Richards of Batemans Bay recalls the merits of Kiwi Parade Gloss black shoe polish:“Young recruits will never see it’s like again. Well applied,breathed on and buffed,it gave a result that you could literally see your face in.”
“Rather than pedantry (C8),I thought Glen Innes was next to Godliness,” opines Barrie Restall of Teven.
Daniel Flesch of Bellingen writes:“While my neighbour Jenny Archbold (who I don’t know) dislikes the words ‘close’ and ‘proximity’ near each other (C8),I get a slight involuntary shudder at ‘free gift’ and ‘added bonus’.”
“Keep clear of Malaysia,Jenny,” warns Lynette Silver of Wahroonga. “There,the words ‘close proximity’ are used to describe the forbidden act in some states of unrelated and unmarried men and women being alone together,an offence called ‘klahwat’ that can result in arrest by the military police and a caning as punishment.”
It’s in a typical “look over there moment” that Chris Commens of Rosebery recalls that “50 years ago,Queensland’s ‘daddy’s home’ Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen hated the media and constantly talked of feeding the chooks (media) to distract them while he set about his agenda. One of his favourite sayings was ‘you don’t tell the frogs anything before you drain the swamp’. Sound familiar?”
Dermot Perry of Mount Keira wore two badges (C8) in the early 1980s:“Land Rights for Gay Whales” and “Reality is For People Who Can’t Handle Drugs”. Just the two? Good. Granny recalls comedian Frank Skinner opining that anyone with more than two badges “were to be avoided” and that in murder cases,“the first people I’d be rounding up are the excess badge-wearers.”
While Tony Hughes of Varsity Lakes (Qld) thinks Dave Horsfall’s sugar sandwiches (C8) would be “fairy bread without the pizzazz”,Alison Brooks of Hope Island (Qld) had a flatmate named Clarice who favoured jelly crystal sandwiches:“She was a school teacher,so maybe she picked up the idea from one of her charges.”
Column8@smh.com.au
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