Highway 78 Revisited

September 21, 2021 â€" 9.00pm

“Con Vaitsas, if it’s going to take years to get through your vinyl collection (C8), why not just crank your turntable up to 78 rpm?” suggests Chipmunks fan George Manojlovic of Mangerton. “You’ll knock them over in less than half the time.” Can’t wait to hear how Ken Gill’s Best of Benny Hill platter goes.

With Column 8’s COVID-19 listening party getting a little competitive, the completest in John Lees of Castlecrag is coming out: “Without in any way bragging, I wish to let Eric Scott know that I have over 80 Bob Dylan CDs and was wondering if he has any I don’t, in particular the bootleg releases (both official and true bootlegs). As much as I love Dylan’s work, I doubt I could get through my whole collection in such a short time as Eric has managed.”

Ultimately, this kind of stuff is slightly trifling, going by the commentary of John Flint of St Leonards: “I have been working through my collection of Bach’s 200 cantatas. I’m up to number 120, and as I have up to five different performances of each, I confidently expect this to get me out of lockdown.” Told you it was getting competitive.

“Thanks to ScoMo, any chance of Australia winning Eurovision has just been blown out of the water,” laments John Ireland of Thirroul.

“It was with great amusement that I read your item about a Dr Needle (C8) to my sister in Adelaide,” says Dr Gordon Pike of Warrawee. “My sister is retired GP Dr Anne Needle, and she told me that she was informed by a friend some years ago that there was a Sydney-based Dr Needle as well. It’s a small world.”

“Names are misleading. As one of the world’s worst at cooking, I am not actually entitled to be called a cook, see?” writes Joy Cooksey of Harrington.

Better decide which side you’re on. “The Latte Line (C8) varies according to the observer’s position,” reckons Wayne Duncombe of Glebe. “On one side, it’s froth and bubble. On the other, it’s instantly recognisable, a boiling concern.” George Zivkovic of Northmead thinks it’s “our very own Mason-Dixon Line based around the 33rd parallel south. Rainbows and unicorns, sunshine and lollipops on one side; Cimmerian on the other.”

Michael Winnick of Wollombi has the formula to determine the end of middle age (C8): “It starts five years after my age at the time.”

Column8@smh.com.au

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