The archetypal know-it-all postman - Cliff Clavin

Mike's Pith & Wind - Petty tyrannies
The Post Office gets a bad rap. Actually, it’s probably more that postal workers get a bad rap. Seinfeld’s Newman and Cheers’ Cliff Clavin (pic) are a couple of celebrated examples of postal workers with highly developed idiosyncrasies and some people seem to think they're typical. And then there are the documented cases of postal workers going nuts and massacring their fellow workers. I’ve generally found the local variety corresponds pretty much with what you expect in the service industry – and, for the most part, I hope I strike them the same way.
When I first arrived in Mt Waverley I did the usual check around for the closest amenities. The handiest Post Office turned out to be in Pinewood, a smallish shopping centre almost within walking distance. (I toyed with the notion of re-naming my own studio Pinewood Studios until it came to crediting it on the latest Breathing Space EP and I chickened out). Until now I’ve maintained the band’s postal address in Camberwell, but I was quite prepared to relocate to Pinewood, despite not being able to find one café in the locality which serves loose leaf tea. (I’ve been tipped off there maybe such a place in Syndal, just a few minutes further away, so I must check that out one day soon).
So, I was quite prepared to relocate my postal address to Pinewood, that was until I met my Post Office nemesis. She looks harmless enough. She’s an oval-faced, short-ish woman, possibly in her.. read more

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Dick's Toolbox - The Cat's Bar
My daughter had never heard of the term ‘Cat’s Bar’ (not to be confused with Kasbah) which indicates that they no longer exist in the civilised metropolitan world that she inhabits. For the unlikely few readers not matching the age of the writing Rudds the ‘Cat’s Bar was the Ladies Bar in a Licensed Premise otherwise known as a pub. The Ladies Bar was established to protect women, some of whom might have been ladies, from the licentiousness, heavy drinking and depravity of the saloon bar. The world of men swilling beer as quickly as possible before six o’clock saw them expelled to the sobering reality of the wider world.
Even in the soon-to-be Swinging Sixties saloon bars were often still operating on the law of the Wild West - but with earlier closing and no firearms unless close to the waterfront. You stood at the bar or at assorted outposts designed for slouching and the resting of containers and.. read more