A tale from across the ditch from Marshall Johnson of St Ives: "In New Zealand, while negotiating a precipitous pass, the tour bus driver announced: 'If you become uneasy on this section of road, close your eyes. I always do'."

"Last Friday I attended Grandparents' Day at my granddaughter’s Catholic school and was informed by the priest that the date coincided with the feast day of Mary’s parents, Anne and Joachim. I was saddened by the realisation that poor Jesus had only one set of grandparents," contemplates Murray Hutton of Mount Colah.

The tributes last week for Margaret Fulton were many, and this offering from Piroska Walsh of Double Bay is typical: "When I separated from my husband many years ago, the only thing he asked for was my Margaret Fulton Cookbook."

Sticking with food, specifically meat substitutes (C8), Della Strathen of Bowral writes: "When I was in primary school I had a friend who was a Seventh Day Adventist. I liked her nutmeat sandwich and she preferred my roast beef sandwich, so we used to swap. Didn't tell mother!"

"Is there something in the water up there at Harrington?" asks Stephen Ramshaw of Turramurra. "On Thursday we had a C8 contribution from Genevieve Godwin, then on Friday another entry from regular Joy Cooksey. Very busy on the keyboard."