Tabling an offer with relish
“A replica of Paul Duncan’s lost living room in Paddington (C8) was my large kitchen table in Melbourne’s Carlton North,” says Susan Bradley of Eltham (Vic). “I left it in the back alley while I went to the front of the house to open the door from the inside. When I came back about two minutes later, it was gone! Walking down the street I revealed an open back door and my desk with an old Italian gentleman’s tomato sauce bottling equipment on it. After a fierce argument, I took it back, plus last year’s sugo.”
Meri Will, from Baulkham Hills, wonders if “our disgruntled Volvo owner (C8) has received an infringement notice for tautology”, while Andrew Cohen, from Glebe, thinks all is well: “When I inherited my parents’ big white 1972 Volvo, I noticed that other drivers gave it a wide berth. For example, no matter how bumper-to-bumper the traffic was, wide gaps instantly opened up when I blinked with the intention of changing lanes.”
“The reference to apprentices being sent out for left-hand screwdrivers or elbow grease (C8) reminded me of my first job in a government agency at age 18,” writes Robert Silvestrini of Fairfield West. “The department occupied three floors and had a printing room downstairs. About two weeks after I started, my manager asked me to go to the printing room and get some verbal agreement forms. It took a long time to put up with that.”
Newcastle’s Chris Smith is familiar with the verbal agreement form in banking circles, adding: “If the nearby bank was the Banque Nationale de Paris, trainees would have to request a letter in French.”
More uses for reporter (C8): “In the 50s we always spent the winter school holidays in a hotel in Leura,” recalls Coogee’s Geoff Gilligan. “Every week they had a costume ball for the kids. One year my mother dressed my sister as Granny Herald. She had steel wool for her hair, a pair of glasses, knitting needles, yarn and a full-length skirt made from the pleated pages of a book. Herald At the time it was a demo page, so it would have been easier to make than it is now.”
John Elder from Annerley (Qld) thinks: ” reporter argument; “Never trust a news source you can’t wipe your ass with.”
Column8@smh.com.au
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