Have gun – will travel

“I was a flight attendant (C8) in the Netherlands in the 70s when there was no security check,” recalls Enid Murphy from Manly. “Passengers were asked to hand over their guns and knives, which would be kept in the cockpit when boarding the plane. Imagine my surprise when I was given such an item.”

“A few years ago, I was returning a valuable bottle of pepper-flavored Marmite and explained this to airport security staff, who wisely wanted to confiscate it,” writes Miles Harvey of Newtown. “After protesting that there was no liquid, I was sent to Room 28, where people would hand over their weapons and other dangerous items, where they would be placed in a special bag and handed back after landing. The staff in Room 28 thought I was tricking them into thinking they could even put the Marmite in the secure bag. After some banter, one of them suggested I keep it in my pocket and go through security, as the lid was plastic. So I did so, and all passengers plus the red pepper Marmite were safe to Sydney.” somehow reached.

“Have TV news reports been taken over by AI clichés?” asks Martin Field from Noosa Heads (Qld). “Not a day goes by without a story involving crimes being committed in ‘public’ daylight, in a ‘tight-knit’ community, and creating a ‘palpable sense of fear’.” After all, it’s true, but it is what it is.

“If I could have had Camp Pie as a kid in the 1950s and 1960s instead of Brussels sprouts, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, pumpkin, meatballs, roast beef and onions, and yes – tripe – I would have been over the moon,” says Geri Badham of Waramanga (ACT). “Please don’t shoot Camp Pie!”

Mangerton’s Stewart Martin saw some promise at first: “The box, as I recall, contained a colorful picture of a tempting arrangement of peas, carrots and chips, garnishing chunks of meat with glossy gravy. Unfortunately, it fell out of the box in a brown and chaotic lump!”

“Speaking of twins (C8), do a Google Image search for Captain Wallace B. Binghamton and you’ll see Anthony Albanese standing next to PT-73 at Taratupa!” claims Matt Petersen from Randwick. Cherrybrook’s Allan Gibson adds: “C8ers may recall that fellow contributor Paul Hunt dined as a dead ringer for Australia’s current ambassador to the US.” It’s a shame he grew that beard.

Column8@smh.com.au

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