Happy birthday, your majesty

A few things from today’s Sunday Tasmanian focused my attention this morning. Firstly, the account of Jay’s new venture Pigeon Hole on the site of the old Jean-Pascals in Goulburn St, explained how Jay has wallpapered the toilet wall with pages out of a 1955 edition of The Mercury. (The accompanying photo of Jay sitting, barelegged, on said toilet left little to the imagination!). The article tells how everyone who uses the loo is intrigued with the various snippets they read whilst enthroned there. One ad reported was an Ansett ad for the flying boat trips direct from Hobart to Sydney, priced at ₤16.

I need to reveal that Rita made this very trip a few times as a child, and let me reassure you that of all my childhood memories, this one still looms extremely large right up there, along with pirouetting in my ballet outfit on top of a carefully-placed path of 10 of Dad’s favourite LP’s on the cement floor of his (artist’s) studio, then wondering why the hell he was screaming at me to stop hopping delicately from one to the next!

That flying boat trip was the most marvelous experience, and funnily enough, I was just recalling it as I returned to Hobart on my Virgin flight last week. It was the early 1950’s. Remember seat belts hadn’t yet been invented. Remember in-flight entertainment hadn’t yet been invented. Remember flying still wasn’t a pastime for the masses, so no one in my sphere of activities (ie in Huonville) had travelled by plane, let alone flying boat.

The flying boats were moored on the Derwent off the Regatta grounds, in front of the cenotaph. You went to that little wharf on the waterfront in front of the Regatta Pavilion grandstand, and got into a little motorized rowing boat, and were ferried, along with your suitcase, out to the bobbing flying boat, and manfully handed up into the care and custody of the Air Hostess. It was a pretty dodgy exercise transferring from rowing boat to plane, whilst trying to retain your shoes, bag and dignity! Not for the faint-hearted at all! I shudder to think of how all the equity groups round today would cope with these MOST uncivilized OH&S non-addressing of so many issues! Hence it was great fun, and a real adventure for a young girl like Rita, and probably accounts for my huge lack of indifference for the status quo!

As we prepared to take off, and were skidding across the wave tops of the Derwent towards the bridge (which at that time was the old floating pontoon bridge), the portholes of the plane being sprayed with seawater, you’d swear to god that we’d hit the bridge but, no, miraculously this little machine would somehow grow wings and start to fly upwards, groaning, into the air! Because everyone’s ears would then start to pop, the Air Hostesses would hand round, on the most decorative silver platters, cellophane-wrapped Barley Sugar lollies for all to suck on takeoff and landing. This became MY proud job! I shyly asked a Hostess if I could hand the lollies round to all passengers, and was granted this wish – and hence I think that’s when my passion for waitressing, and the hospitality industry generally, was born.

If the laws about having to sit down in your seat (with seatbelt well and truly fastened, trays and seats in the upright position) at takeoff had been in force then, I wouldn’t have ended up where I am today!

The second thing I noticed was an advertisement for Glen Clyde House at Hamilton, and their upcoming Ozmas meals during July and August. Stephen asked last week if I knew of anywhere doing the Ozmas – well there’s one Stephen! They said it was 2 courses for $20. Mains of mixed roast meats with baked and steamed seasonal vegetables, then a choice of desserts.

Also an interesting article in the Kingborough supplement about a recipe book the Kingborough Council is producing called ‘Kingboroughs 100 Recipes’ to mark part of their Centenary celebrations. It encompasses many old and new recipes which cover the past 100 years of cooking in homes in the Kingborough municipality. Four local ladies have compiled the recipes and talked about the changes in eating over past 100 years.

To finish off with another snippet of news (not from The Mercury, but from Nellie) – Lansdowne Café has had a change of ownership, and has been taken over by Kurt, a staff member who has been there since they opened up anyway as second chef. He will be adding a Friday and Saturday nights trading to the mix, and see how that works. Apart from that, the changeover has passed pretty well unnoticed.