This is a new chapter in the Blackheath Wonga romance, but first a brief recap. Last year our resident male Wonga fell in love with his own reflections in the shiny hubcaps of our house painter’s vintage VW van. It meant a long, lonely season, as he
Read more →Hello Peeps My elderly guardians Pauline, and Dr Bob went on a little ‘rest and recuperation trip’ to Sydney before lock-down, after a lot of building work at home in Blackheath. I believe it’s called a sojourn. I wasn’t allowed to stay home alone due to a
Read more →Hello, Editor Des here with a ‘sort of’ Christmas story. I’m really writing it to annoy my employer/guardian Pauline Conolly, because do you know what she gave me for my present? A plate that I’m supposed to paint. Good grief, I’m 22 not 12! And how am
Read more →Hello, Editor Des here. Well Pauline went to a champagne preview of a dedicated children’s section at the New South Wales State Library recently. This week she asked me if I wanted to go and see it. Well of course, woman! I should have been invited to
Read more →In the late 19th and early 20th century, Arnotts sought testimonials from people feeding their little ones on milk arrowroot biscuits. The possibility that an image of their child might be chosen to illustrate an advertisement was irresistible. The company was soon swamped by photos and letters
Read more →The Blue Mountains…a mystical, wild region where talk of a lurking panther, Big Foot, Drop Bears’ and the like have excited and terrified tourists for years. Are we locals just having fun at their expense? Below is a report from the Blue Mountains Gazette, March 23
Read more →KEEP YOUR TRAVEL PLANS TO YOURSELF! When my next door neighbour began to plan a once-in-a-lifetime world trip she asked if I had any advice. ‘Yes,’ I said firmly; ‘Don’t tell a soul you are going. Leave notes for friends and relatives to be posted once your
Read more →Christmas is a time for giving. Even Editor Des is aware of this and realized he really ought to buy something for his guardian, Pauline Conolly. But what exactly? She loves chocolate, but he wanted to get something a little more imaginative and appropriate. Hmm…… what might
Read more →Hello. It’s nearly Christmas and I have made my very own tree in the garden. I think I have done quite a good job. I pinch…sorry, borrowed the ornaments from Mother Nature. The tree is called Lycopodium, and the dinosaurs used to eat it! Well it has
Read more →BOTTLER OF AN IDEA MATE! The ubiquitous wine cask was invented by Mr Thomas Angrove, and patented in 1965. As you may know, Thomas was an Aussie; a wine maker from Renmark in South Australia. His original version was fairly rudimentary. It was simply a polyethylene bladder
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