The flight of reply

Chrissie Whitlock of Earlwood was “gazing into the blue sky” last weekend and witnessed a plane skywriting ‘Will You Marry Me?’ and got to thinking, “How do you answer? Does one have to hire another skywriter to reply? I would think it’s expensive.”

“The last stops of the 387 bus to Vaucluse are a daycare centre, a retirement village and a cemetery. Is there a message here?” wonders Irene Thom of Vaucluse. “And do other bus routes tell a story?” Barry Wooldridge of Harden notes, “On Monteagle Street in Binalong stands a pole holding three signs all pointing in the same direction to the Catholic Church, transfer station and cemetery. Sounds like the ultimate package deal.”

“Speaking of cemeteries, while visiting relatives in California, we came to a street where there are multiple cemeteries adjacent to each other in the town of Colma, otherwise known as the City of Souls,” writes Gerardo Prietto of Stockton. “Directly across the street is an Irish pub called Molloys. They sell Molloys T-shirts with a small stylised cross on the front and words on the back that say: ‘It’s Great to be Alive in Colma’. We bought two.”

Andrew Cohen of Glebe has flipped the Morris Cowley (C8) narrative: “By 1968, the robust Cowley was cheap, so my late big brother Phil and his teenage friends bought a black one they dubbed ‘The Rolly Machine’ and delighted in taking turns to spectacularly overturn it umpteen times in otherwise quiet Bungalow Avenue, Pymble, until on the third day of this, it broke when Mark attempted a full 720 degrees. No seatbelts and, miraculously, no injuries.”

During his university days in the mid-1970s, Michael McFadyen of Kareela worked in a number of Sydney clubs as a barman and claims, “It was not uncommon to have a person order a beer and tomato juice (C8). Yes, a very strange combination but not rare.”

“I’d like to add to the body of Vegemite (C8) knowledge by letting you know that, in the 1970s, I knew a teenage punk who used Vegemite to spike his hair,” says Jane Craig of Holt (ACT). “Worked a treat.” And probably a better option than soap on those rainy days.

“Back in our school days, some of my friends used to bring Vegemite and honey sandwiches for lunch,” recalls Meri Will of Northmead. “Funnily enough, I never developed a taste for that combo.”

Column8@smh.com.au

No attachments, please. Include

name, suburb and daytime phone