The economic divide is a fine line

September 20, 2021 â€" 9.00pm

“I recently read with interest mention of Sydney’s Latte Line,” says Geoff Nilon of Mascot. “Has anyone seen it? What colour is it? I believe its red and green on one side and blue and red on the other. Perhaps we could spend our lockdown exercise time trying to find it, but only if it’s within five kilometres of our home, and within our LGA.”

“During a recent discussion with friends about modern longevity, it was wondered when middle age ends nowadays,” writes Jo Rainbow of Orange. “The consensus was when you become dependent on both caffeine and NSAIDs. So, I went cold turkey yesterday and lasted until 08.32hrs this morning. I am very proud â€" hobbling, but very proud.”

We have one among us: “As an occasional contributor on various topics, I now find myself a ‘topic’,” claims Barrie Restall of Teven. “When I taught relaxation techniques for the Healthy Lifestyle program in Lismore, the local newspaper noted that I was an example of nominative determinism (C8).”

Speaking of which, Deborah Harris of Glenbrook recalls that the local midwife in Poole, Dorset, was Nurse Tugwell.

Kerry Kyriacou of Strathfield reckons “the 1977 50c coin found by Linda Berry (C8) is probably worth six times that amount. Why? It was the year of the Silver Jubilee, and it had 25 crowns around its edge”.

“If I followed Ken Gill in committing to play all my vinyl albums during lockdown at the rate of one per day (C8) it would take about four years,” writes Con Vaitsas of Ashbury. Perhaps one needs to compartmentalise, like Eric Scott of Bondi Junction: “I have completed the lockdown task of listening to all 42 of my Dylan CDs, followed by my seven Leonard Cohen CDs. Might have to turn to my 17 Stones CDs or the 16 Beatles CDs next. Tough choice.”

Dr Joanna Nell of Clareville writes: “I’m with Heather Lindsay on the subject of chaotic prunes (C8), or, rather, four being bad luck. At medical school, we were taught to close a wound with an odd number of sutures, so even if four would have sufficed, the patient ended up with five. As in flower arranging.”

“Nicole from the NBN (C8) is on the move,” reports Murray Hutton of Mount Colah. “Last week I received three calls from her, one from Russia, one from Malaysia and one from South Africa.”

Column8@smh.com.au

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