“Some Bourn Russell (C8) descendants will be wriggling out of the worm-holes en masse. Others will be retreating as far back in as possible,” declares Margaret Rose of Forestville. “He was a man of strength, vision and determination; his log from the Lady Rowena is held by the State Library of NSW, and his parliamentary career is documented in the upper house. One of his sons became the Government Astronomer. Born in 1794, dying in 1880, Russell left a large family. Of his many descendants, I wonder how many are simply ‘one-great’ grandchildren? My brother Charles Cameron Russell and I are — and only one of us has turned eighty so far!”
Allan Gibson of Cherrybrook still has his copy of A Guide to Good Telling published by the Bank of New South Wales in 1962 which contains a section entitled Revolvers (C8). “The opening paragraph reads ‘The greatest care and vigilance must be exercised in the handling of firearms; many accidents have occurred because of lack of care in handling firearms’.”
No argument from Frank Maundrell of Nundle: “I first saw a pistol when I joined the CBC Bank in 1959. I watched the accountant cleaning the branch gun and had a hole in the ceiling pointed out to me, which was the result of his first attempt at gun cleaning!”
Still on banking business, Philip Cooney of Wentworth Falls saw a notice for a Public Holiday for August 7th. “Apparently, it’s a bank holiday, not quite public. I would’ve thought bank holidays were something of an anachronism in this digital age. Can anyone explain why they still exist?”
“It must be something about Vancouver,” thinks Alan Marel of North Curl Curl. “Although we luckily missed out on Vegemite ice cream (C8), we were introduced to their version of a Bloody Mary; the Bloody Caesar. It has all the usual ingredients of a Bloody Mary, but instead of tomato juice it has Clamato juice, a mixture of clam and tomato juice. And yes, it was every bit as disgusting as it sounds. It brought back memories of Aunty Jack’s fish milkshakes.”
Must be something about Iceland, too: “I don’t know, Peter Miniutti, most people have a ball drinking that Stedji draft,” reckons a testy Peter Rosier of Narrawallee.
“The Matildas are doing well and appear to have countless reserves,” notes Bob Moses of Figtree. “Perhaps they could assist the Wallabies?”
Column8@smh.com.au
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