Having noticed that every house whose block runs north-south is advertised as either “north facing street frontage” or “north to rear gardens”, Kerry Kyriacou of Strathfield wonders if this is just a case of real estate agent spin or if there is “an ideal orientation for properties in Sydney? I trust one of your informed readers will enlighten me”.
As an avowed yellow peach-lover (C8), Margot McGregor of Balgowlah has discovered through years of trial and error how to distinguish between the slipstones and clingstones before you buy them. “The slipstones have a small point on their bottoms, whereas clingstones are smooth all over. This way has always worked for me.” If by some chance the peach still has some stem attached to it, Tony Livingstone-Thomas of Taipei suggests “flipping the remaining piece of stem attached to the peach, and if it comes away easily it is a slipstone. If difficult, it is a clingstone.”
“Perhaps the most logical response to Martin Bibby’s question (C8) is not what happens to the lightning rod but why would you pour sulphuric acid on it?” asks Warren Menteith of Nyatnyatan (Bali).
And here’s the answer to that. Given the shortage of lightning rods (C8) in his science classes, Phil Armour of Yass used to substitute plain old sugar. “We’d gather outside with safety goggles and lab coats to watch the smoking black tower of carbon rise out of the beaker like some monster from the deep.”
A few years ago Rosemary Shephard of Marsfield and her family hosted a graduate from Britain. “The kookaburras (C8) had been particularly vocal early one morning, and when our visitor came down for breakfast she declared, ‘I didn’t realise you had monkeys here!’”
