In light of Tony Gorman’s (C8) arrival on the northern beaches from Scotland, David Gordon of Cranebrook finds himself taking the Caledonian connection further: “Scotsman James Clerk Maxwell's work eventually led to the four partial differential equations (known as Maxwell's equations) that unified light, magnetism and electricity. In the vector calculus that Maxwell used is the Laplacian function, which is read as ‘curl curl F’. Tony will be pleased to know his suburb is fully mathematical!”

Column 8’s recent Scottish flavour (brown sauce? – Granny) shows no let-up. David Brawn of Killara writes: “My wife and I went to the stadium at Homebush to watch the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Why was the British national anthem sung and why was it sung ahead of our own anthem?”

"The car park I use at Erina Fair has recently been resurfaced and the spaces that were allocated as 'Seniors Parking' had a stencil of a very old, stooped, man, leaning on a cane," says Sue Davis of Wamberal. "I found myself apologising for using the spaces in spite of the fact that I qualify as I figured that the poor old gentlemen needed them more than the relatively spry me. I am not sure what happened, maybe too many complaints, but the stencils have now been blacked out. I am anxiously waiting for the next instalment." Isn't Banksy in town?

"If a thing is trivial or insignificant, it is often referred to as Mickey Mouse. What has Mickey done to have his name tarnished like this?" asks an animated Graham Russell of Clovelly.

Reports of the 19-hour non-stop Qantas flight from New York to Sydney reminded Kenneth Caldwell of Baulkham Hills of an even longer haul: “Three-quarters of a century ago, a small number of Qantas passengers were enduring flights of over 24 hours non-stop between Sri Lanka and Perth. They received certificates entitled ‘Secret Order of the Double Sunrise’.”