There's no need for a time machine to go back to the 1960s for great service without robots (C8), you need only go to Lord Howe Island. Bob Phillips of Cabarita writes: "I bought a watermelon off the back of a truck several kilometres from my lodge. The farmer asked me where I was staying. When I returned the watermelon was in the fridge. No extra charge levied. No keys and locks involved."

While watching the Treasurer's address to the National Press Club in the Great Hall at Parliament House in Canberra Nola Tucker of Kiama noted "the lavishly piled cake stands on every table and wondered what happened to the contents afterwards. Did the guests take home doggy bags or was the food distributed to the poor as an example of the government's newfound benevolence?" The giving of cake to the poor has been historically proven to supplicate the impoverished masses and avert a bloody revolution, so Granny is quietly hoping for the latter. She'll be the one sitting up the front with her knitting...

Spotted at Rockdale railway station by Brett Crowley of Caringbah was "a poster saying: 'Ticket inspectors are checking for tickets.' Has someone at CityRail not noticed the change to Opal Cards?"

You lot certainly know your bushranger lore! So many people wrote in about the naming of The Escort Way (C8), and every single one mentioned the robbery of the armed escort coach by Frank Gardiner's gang (which included that other notorious bushranger Ben Hall) in June 1862. John Rand of Belrose noted that The Escort Way is somewhat longer than mentioned by David Gordon, extending from "Forbes to Orange, via Cudal, based on the weekly escort in the 1860s of gold from Forbes via Orange through Hartley to Penrith where it was loaded onto a train to the Mint in the city."

Dorothy Balcomb of Orange, Honorary Historian of the Canowindra Historical Society, proudly adds that "in 1979 the Canowindra & District Historical Society initiated the re-naming of the Forbes-Orange Road to The Escort Way (C8)" and that the site of the hold-up is marked with signs and relevant information at a stop-off point on the road.

A community service announcement from Richard Murnane of Hornsby for readers who "haven't KonMaried their old GPS units" to alert them that "GPS Week Number Rollover happens this weekend, causing a Y2K-ish problem that could make old GPS units give incorrect position readings. The last time this occurred was 1024 weeks ago, in August 1999."

Column8@smh.com.au