“Peter Singer’s pain at the loss of his motorbike (C8) stirred childhood memories for me,” says Warwick Farley of Roseville. “I had a wonderful collection of comics – Superman, Dick Tracy and many more. Moving house when I was in early high school, my parents did a cull of what they considered to be superfluous items. Out went my comics. I miss them to this day.”
Daniel Flesch of Bellingen thinks “there must be multiple stories of wives forcing motorbike sales as Peter’s wife did. When our daughter was born, my wife made me sell mine and buy a mower with the proceeds. Told a friend in Sydney who happened to have a daughter born the same day as ours. Turned out it happened to him too, with the money going towards a dishwasher.” Here’s hoping that in your case, Daniel, it was a ride-on mower at least.
In starting the wax paper discussion (C8) last week, David Rose lamented having to buy it online from the US. This was also the case for Jennifer Boyle of Mudgeeraba (Qld) who was able to stock-up on trips across the ditch, until our Kiwi neighbours also abandoned it. So she too has resorted to buying it from the Yanks. With that in mind, Alison Stewart of Waitara has a suggestion: “I’ve replaced wax paper with Bee Wrappy, a beeswax replacement for plastic wrap. It’s colourful too and made locally from our own bees’ wax.”
“Any mention of Meccano (C8) should give a cooee to the Australian version, Ezy-Bilt. It was so good that they were sued by Meccano,” claims Peter McNair of Newcastle. “With Set 8 you could build a working model of the Hammerhead Crane at Garden Island. I still have mine, loved by three generations of blokes, Dinkum.”
The “blokes” side of things does not sit well with our friend, Dawn Hope of Wahroonga: “As a child, I hinted for years or asked outright for some Meccano for my birthday, only to always be told it was a toy just for boys.”
Suzanne Saunders of Wadeville has a slightly Orwellian take on the alleged demise of running writing (C8): “There’s evidence of the cognitive and creative benefits of cursive writing. Maybe that’s why they ditched it.” Peter Miniutti of Ashbury adds: “I’m sure if the delivery drivers Tim Ingall speaks of can’t read cursive, then they’d sure understand cursive expletives.”
Column8@smh.com.au
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