Family counts two 100-year-olds; what’s a doppelganger, silly questions asked by call centres
“What are the chances of two members of a family turning 100 in one month?” asks Bill Hardy of Glenmore Park. “Jack Kershaw from Caddens turned 100 on October 2nd and Rex Hardy from Emu Plains, Jack’s brother-in-law, turned 100 on October 29th.”
Speaking of high numbers, Cherrybrook’s Allan Gibson notes: “Saturday’s number reporter The palindromic number will be 58.685.”
Bruce Spencer from Hope Island (Qld) said: “My mother called me in a panic: ‘Richmond is digging the finish line; your father is under it! Go get his vase!’ Jack, father, former vice president, and lifelong greyhound man, chose the resting place (C8). When I got there, the excavations had started. RIP dad.
Royal heirloom expert Ted Richards of Batemans Bay says: “Thanks, Eric Scott (C8), but I know all about the Buccleuchs’ queue-jumping. One of the Buccleuchs’ boys was always trying to get in the tuck-shop queue when he was at primary school.”
Our latest doppelgänger (C8) offering comes courtesy of Bargo’s Anne Cloak: “My late father was generally thought to be broadcaster, war journalist and actor Alwyn Kurts, and is best remembered for his role in this film. Murder. He could never convince anyone that it wasn’t. He also had to surrender and sign. “There’s no doubt that if he had mobile phones, he would have been asked for photographs, even though he didn’t like having his picture taken.”
“All this talk of dead bells conjures up visions of Quasimodo,” says Chatswood’s Kin Wong. “Probably the bell of the Seine is ringing.”
Luke Pavel from Armidale writes: “Question 14 of Wednesday’s Super Quiz asked about a Disney movie featuring a talking pumpkin and the answer was: The Princess and the Frog. I can’t find a talking pumpkin and now I’ll have to watch it again to make sure. There are talking frogs, a talking crocodile [he plays the trumpet, too – Granny] and I talk to fireflies, but I don’t remember a talking pumpkin.” We reached out to the compiler and he “can’t understand” how he got this so wrong, but suggested we give Luke 15 minutes “so he doesn’t have to eat out.”
“The ATO has no time limit on data collection,” says Judy Maclean of Bowral. “During a telephone conversation, I gave my date of birth as ’55.’ I was asked if that was ‘1955 or 1855.’ ‘Really?’ “I was told they had to make sure.”
Column8@smh.com.au
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