Job titles are still arriving (Col8 this past week). Roderick van Gelder of Hunters Hill says, “In the performing arts there is the celebrated ‘black box relocation officer’ job title for members of the crew that load and unload the trucks usually filled with many black boxes of equipment.”
More from the public service. John Keating of Manly remembers, “In the 1960s I worked in the old Department of the Attorney-General and of Justice in Macquarie Street. At one stage my position was ‘miscellaneous clerk’, which meant I was given any task that others argued was not part of their statement of duties, including interviewing disgruntled members of the public coming into the department demanding ‘Justice’.”
Going one better than yesterday’s ‘useful’, Steve Hulbert of West Kempsey says that when he started in the pay office at Kempsey Hospital many decades ago, one of the staff members had the title of ‘general useful’. It struck him as a wonderfully positive job title.
Astonishingly, people are still talking about Oio (Col8 last week). Betsy Richens of Greystanes asks, “Did anyone else hear the song sung by the guards marching in the witch’s castle in The Wizard of Oz when they read Oio? O-i-o, oh-oh …”
Robyn Hansen of Pennant Hills remarks that “the hamlet of Oio reminded me of my doctor’s car number plate. It was O1O – he was an eye specialist.”
Then, the definition of remote towns gets technical again. Michael McFadyen of Kareela thinks, “It could be the distance from another town or city. It could be the one closest to the centre of Australia. Another could be the one that is most remote from the ocean. This last one is claimed by Eromanga in far western Queensland – also home to the hotel that is the most remote in Australia, using the same definition.” You live and learn with Col8.
More news on the origami front (Col8 yesterday). To be accurate (and Col8 is ever in pursuit of the accurate, as you know), Peter Merrotsy of Port Kennedy in WA tells us that “Stuart Garland’s rocket-science origami relies on the Miura fold, invented by the Japanese astrophysicist Koryo Miura (born 1930). If ever you are having trouble refolding an unfolded map, you should obtain a map with a Miura fold.”
For those who prefer rear vision to forward, Bob Roobottom of Taree has just checked his emails and found one saying his 2023 horoscope is ready. He says he can hardly wait until next year to find out what 2024 has in store for him.
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