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Greg Ray

Read more about the article There’s more to life than books, you know, but not much more . . .

There’s more to life than books, you know, but not much more . . .

When I heard Morissey sing those lines, "There's more to life than books you know, but not much more" (they are in The Smiths song Handsome Devil) I felt I might have found a motto for my life. Because I'm a fiend for books and always have been. When I visit somebody for the first time I can't help myself. My eyes are drawn almost against my will to their bookshelves, as if I can make some kind of assessment of their character by what I see there. I dream about browsing in bookshops. I read…

Continue ReadingThere’s more to life than books, you know, but not much more . . .
Read more about the article No girls, people with disabilities or sons of miners need apply: bad old days of banking in NSW
Hunter Street, Newcastle, in the 1920s. The Bank of Australasia is at the right-hand edge of the photo.

No girls, people with disabilities or sons of miners need apply: bad old days of banking in NSW

During World War 1, when the Newcastle branch of the Bank of Australasia was struggling to recruit the staff it needed to run its business, the organisation still couldn't see its way clear to hire girls, sons of miners or people with disabilities. Fascinating insights into the banking industry in Newcastle during the war years have emerged through some correspondence of William Miles Coverdale, the bank's Newcastle manager at the time. William Miles Coverdale Copies of the letters were kindly loaned by William Coverdale's granddaughter, Pam Parsons, who received them as a gift from a banking…

Continue ReadingNo girls, people with disabilities or sons of miners need apply: bad old days of banking in NSW
Read more about the article Demand a refund for faulty goods
These ones are probably fine, but you get the idea.

Demand a refund for faulty goods

IT broke the first time I tried to use it. Just a little screwdriver, which looked perfectly good in the giant Bunnings hardware barn. Except that when I went to undo a screw, the shaft of the tool turned uselessly in its handle.Ordinarily when something like this happens with an item that only costs a dollar or two I just throw it away and swear for a while. But this time I pictured the big chain's buyer, who probably picked this garbage up in a huge job lot for a few cents apiece, sticking it on…

Continue ReadingDemand a refund for faulty goods
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