Sydney Morning Herald Column 9, Monday, March 30, 2026
Bermagui’s Rob Venables has a use for the tie (C8) that we hadn’t considered: “During our sailing days, I had the privilege of going to New Zealand with Ian Kiernan, founder of Clean up Australia. Ian thought the only good thing about ties was starting the outboard if the cable broke.”
“Before supermarkets sold reusable bags, I belonged to a Boomerang Bag sewing group that turned old fabric such as curtains into bags to leave outside supermarkets for shoppers to pick up for free,” says Stephanie Edwards of Leichhardt. “We used old ties, often donated, to make the handles. We reduced both the use of plastic bags and the amount of fabric going to landfill.”
Ron Burke of Arrawarra has another story from the bowser (C8): “About 70 years ago I usually only put 2s per gallon (4.54 litres) into my 28 Chev (frequently running out of gas via the gravity system rather than the pump is another story). Today at a local servo it was $10.89 per gallon.”
Consider yourself lucky, Margaret Grove (C8). Geoff Kervin of Shellharbour remembers eating at a motel in Norseman, WA. “I wanted the wine list to say ‘there are three bottles on the shelf behind the bar. Take your wish.'”
After dealing with various medications for about a month we think it’s time to close the subject, but first, Ross Storey from Normanhurst: “Being a sickly child, I had to take a tablespoon of a devilish concoction called Waterbury’s Compound every night before dinner. This affected my early education as I sat in class trying to find ways to avoid the daily torture. I recently researched the ingredients and found it contained cod liver oil and, believe it or not, creosote!”
And with that, the last word goes to Castle Hill’s Tim Slack-Smith: “I used to ask Nola Tucker if she had orange peel after a spoonful of olive oil?”
“Recently the BOM put the temperature in our area at ‘16.7’, it feels like 16.6. I know about the wind chill factor and relative humidity and all that, but isn’t this a bit ridiculous?” asks David Morrison of Springwood. It’s fair to be ridiculous, but that doesn’t deter Bob Hall of Wyoming: “Can someone tell me how to get a ‘feel like’ contraption/thermometer? Or is it just the weather office that has it?”
Column8@smh.com.au
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