True-blue Aussie Letterbox Sends A Patriotic Message
Illawarra Mercury
Saturday November 25, 2000
With the Centenary of Federation celebrations just around the corner, this eye-catching letterbox (pictured) should get the stamp of approval from all true-blue Aussies.
It was spotted outside a antique store in Bomaderry by photographer David Tease, whose temptation to buy the letterbox was tempered with the reality of not being able to fit it in his car.
Whoever does buy it will really be able to tell people their address is Australia!
There have been a number of Illawarra residents reporting to us sightings of strange-looking objects hovering in our skies in the past few weeks.
Our celestial-watching informants all sounded a little embarrassed and went to great lengths to convince us they were not potty.
They need not have been concerned - Wollongong Science Centre and Planetarium boss Glen Moore has provided the most likely explanation.
It seems at this time of year the planet Venus becomes a very bright object, usually seen low on the horizon to the south-east.
Mr Moore said the centre also has had its fair share of callers.
Venus does appear to move with the Earth's rotation and does appear to change colour because of refracting light.
The planet has been responsible for sparking one or two of Australia's biggest UFO cases where experienced airline pilots have reported seeing spaceships.
And Mr Moore has warned that Jupiter will soon appear brighter than normal in our skies to the north-east.
A certain Wollongong tradesman got that terrible sinking feeling when, after a big night on the town, he returned to the city next morning to pick up the family car where he had parked it, only to find it gone.
The vehicle was subsequently reported stolen and an insurance claim lodged while our man spent days fruitlessly scouring the known car dumping spots along the escarpment.
A week after the incident, one of the tradesman's mates spotted the car parked about 1km from where it was supposedly stolen.
That horrible sinking feeling returned, but now it was for all the wrong reasons as the tradesman vaguely remembered moving his car to a safer spot during his night out.
We are assured this is a true story.
A Qantas airliner took off from Sydney airport. After it reached a comfortable cruising altitude, the captain made an announcement over the intercom: ``Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.
``Welcome to Flight QF3 from Sydney to Honolulu. The weather ahead is good and we should have a smooth and uneventful flight. Now sit back, relax and - Oh, s...!
Silence followed.
Then after a few seconds, the captain came back on the intercom and said: ``Ladies and gentlemen, I am so sorry if I frightened you earlier, but while I was talking to you, one of the flight attendants brought me a cup of hot coffee and spilled it in my lap."
He chuckled and said: ``You should see the front of my pants!"
A passenger in economy yelled loudly: ``That's nothing. You should see the back of mine!"
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© 2000 Illawarra Mercury