Bloody Caesar finally has an admirer in Warwick Sherman of Huntleys Point: “I was introduced to clamato juice (C8) by Cathay Pacific in the late ’70s. Regrettably, I was unable to purchase this in Oz, but then noticed the product being sold at the fish markets in the early 2000s. We love it in our Virgin and/or Bloody Marys. Slightly more robust than tomato juice and a half-teaspoon of horseradish really peps up Mary.”
During his stint at the Bank of NSW in country NSW in the late ’70s, Mark Fuller of Armidale recalls tellers having to visit another branch in pairs to exchange notes and coins. “One lumped a calico bag loaded with coins, and the other a .38 revolver (C8) concealed in another calico bag. No training provided. God help us if something actually happened. Although we did have the misfortune of having the arse fall out of a $200 bag of loose coins while crossing the road.”
Ian Sheekey of Sawtell did the calico circuit as well: “On one occasion we were distracted by football talk and left the gun on the counter. Six hours later we realised it was missing. A hasty visit found it, still in its calico bag, sitting on the counter. It was decided the fewer people knew of this discrepancy, the better.”
And with that, it’s time to withdraw from the various banking bullet points – but not before this bit of wisdom from Edward Loong of Milsons Point: “It’s easier to rob by setting up a bank than holding up a teller.”
“About the marriage of Terrey Hills and Rose Bay (C8), there is indeed a suburb called Rose Hill,” says Susan Bradley of Eltham (Vic). “It’s in Oxford (UK), just around the corner from Cowley, where I grew up.”
Andrew Brown of Bowling Alley Point has a few more suburban namesakes in Ben Lomond, Dora Creek and Catherine Hill Bay, and points out he’s been a resident of the latter two, while Wolf Kempa of Lithgow bets “there are numerous grommets called Miranda”!
“Having not grown up with Australia’s answer to chemical warfare, aka Vegemite (C8), the only way I can accept it as foodstuff is rubbing a smear onto pork chops before (charcoal) barbecuing them,” declares Gerhard Engleitner of Hurstville. Alan Robertson of Campbell (ACT) claims “a teaspoon added to a casserole adds better umami than Worcestershire sauce”.
Column8@smh.com.au
No attachments, please. Include
name, suburb and daytime phone