The USA have always given us the ships
“Recent discussions about the purchase of second-hand AUKUS submarines (C8) reminded me of the cautionary tale of the purchase of (renamed) HMAS Kanimbla and HMAS Manoora by Australia in 1994,” recalls Natasha Lee of Alexandria. “Friends from the Navy named the second ship ‘HMAS Manure’ because they thought that’s what the US sold us.”
Arrawarra’s Ron Burke writes: “Stories about car redeployment (C8) remind me of a story my father used to tell from much earlier days.” “A horse and a sulky horse standing silently in front of a fenced house were the targets of some local pranksters. The horse was quickly removed from the sullen horse and the arrows came out through the fence. The horse then went through the gate and was re-harnessed for the sullen horse on the other side of the fence. My memory did not fail me as to the outcome of the joke.”
Seaforth’s Ross MacPherson notes: “David Greatorex tells us that a car at the University of Sydney was magically transported to the dining room at Wesley college. A favorite prank in the 1970s at St Andrew’s across the road was to break into a student’s room and, after removing all the furniture and accessories, transplant the plot perfectly into the middle of the illuminated oval, in the same position, with meters of extension cord. Poor student returns from the pub to find his home somewhere else Those who were transferred often preferred to spend the night where they were, and the next day the perpetrators always returned the room to where it belonged.”
Hills Hoist (C8) enthusiast Aidan Cuddington from Umina Beach said: “Perhaps Engadine’s more famous namesake, Richard Branson, could follow his lead in promoting climate-friendly technology?” he wonders.
In light of recent comments regarding the Presidential building rise (C8), North Turramurra’s Tony Early says: “Don Leayr questions the US president’s possible erection problem. The latest health check may not have covered the much more visible Building Complex.” Hornsby’s Richard Murnane and Hawks Nest’s Duncan McRobert thought the same thing.
“Yes Judith Campbell, I remember cloth nappies (C8) very well,” says Josephine Hill from Blackwall. “We had three little babies in the early 1970s and cloth diapers were still on the market. The third baby wore them so bad I couldn’t afford new ones, I had to sew two together to make them absorbent enough. Ah, the memories of that damn smelly diaper pail!”
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