The 'small world' of a marvellous community

Flashback: First, we’ll go way back to spring 1989. The image shows the cover of a tape that a neat little combo put out in Sydney’s inner west. Drummer Ross Welch gave me the tape as part of a promotional package for his band, the Nevva-binta Memphis Mudsteppers. Slow to absorb all the details between writing a ‘hard’ yarn for the front page and getting down the club for the newsrooms’ traditional unloading after edition day deadline pressures, I asked Ross how the band got its name. "Mate, just think about it for a minute," he said. The response comes to mind every time I look for the musical treats that I have locked away on tape and vinyl. In spring 2001, Ross and I crossed paths again, after I followed up a meeting notice from the Classifieds in the Tweed Daily News. Here is a reprint of that column.

PEOPLE with all sorts of interests "beat their drum" through the Classifieds public notices.
So it was no surprise to see the Murwillumbah Musicians Club advertise its Tuesday night AGM (annual general meeting) at the Courthouse Hotel.
But it was a surprise to learn that the meeting elected drummer Ross Welch as president, not because of any doubts about his suitability for the job but rather at his change of address.
A tape of one of Ross’s bands, The Nevva-binta Memphis Mudsteppers, has been in my collection for 12 years since I wrote about it in Sydney’s inner-west in 1989.

AT the time Ross was working hard on getting a music festival going.
He later was the driving force behind jam sessions, workshops and community music at such venues as the Glebe markets.
Apart from organising, he also showed his versatility on music ranging from the Memphis/country blues of the Mudsteppers to jazz with the Swing Masters.
Our yarn on the phone on Wednesday night was the first in at least a decade.
As I write, my tape deck has the Mudsteppers playing Walk Right In, and it seems to reflect the mood of the AGM where Ross walked right in, sat right down and ended up with the top job.
In rare agreement between a guitarist and drummer, acting president Ray Catt was pleased Ross took the post.

RAY said he wanted to step down from the chair after taking a caretaker role during internal upheaval in the club a few months ago.
The vice-president’s role allows Ray to help Ross get in the groove.
Ross is the sort of player who uses a whole range of instruments outside the standard drum kit but is happy to be called drummer rather than percussionist.
He also is the type of bloke who can build on the solid base of fundraising for causes including the PNG tsunami aid appeal and the bushfire brigade, holding monthly jam nights at the Courthouse Hotel and displaying original compositions in special events twice a year.
Ray, like Ross a longterm professional muso, says he is always amazed at the depth of talent in the area.

"JUST so many people live up in the hills playing their music in their sheds," Ray says.
"There are just so many who are pretty good.’’
The "original music" concert, set tentatively for the Courthouse in November, will certainly be an apt project for Ross, who has a track record as a pretty original thinker.
Ross’s first task as president is to consolidate the clubs’ support base.
"I see my role as a facilitator and mediator and our guiding light will be a vision statement or purpose statement," he says.
"People will compose that collectively so it suits the individuals and sectional interest groups.
"Basically what we are going to do is open up the perspective of the club so it takes in all sorts of musical interests, with as much scope as we can give."

Go offline for reel good time

The sky is blue and the sun shines, so let’s take a break from the world of the spooks (reference, last post) and get out in the sparkling environment of Moreton Bay. Image from www.geocities.com/rumneyjenny/.

THE attention that John Gallon paid to detail during his decades as a carpenter reflects in the way he spends his leisure time aboard his fibreglass boat.
The unnamed 22ft (6.7m) boat has been a labour of love since health problems forced John to retire early.
Three years ago, he had a heart attack.
A "triple bypass" solved that problem but John now suffers shortness of breath that he tracks to two short stints at James Hardie Ltd's Newstead plant in the early 60s.
"The X-rays show spots on my lungs," he says. "It (the disease) was dormant for about 40 years.
"They had me tipping bags of asbestos into a hopper. I only worked there for two weeks in 1961 and about six weeks in 1964."
John later studied carpentry by correspondence while working as a jackaroo on western Queensland and New South Wales cattle properties.
After he returned to civilisation, he set up at Birkdale, where he built an 18ft (5.5m) fibreglass boat in his backyard.
Now aged 63 and of Capalaba, John has a bigger boat for which the stern frame he used all those years ago supplied the pattern.
He loves crabbing and fishing on Moreton Bay and recently advertised in our Classifieds for "a hand".
John received about a half dozen calls but was waiting this week for the right applicant.
"Everyone wants one-day trips on weekends but I prefer weekdays, staying out overnight," he says. "It takes the same amount of work and makes the trip worthwhile.
"I have a chemical toilet and an outdoor shower cubicle."
John usually makes a base on North Stradbroke.

THE Times' Garage Sales notices are hot as Redlanders execute their spring clean-ups.
The countdown to the pre-Christmas peak is now on in earnest. Victoria Point was the Redlands' 2005 garage sale capital for the most sales during its December blitz, but it may struggle to keep the title if the spring notices are any guide.
Just before this week's deadline, 2004 champion, Alexandra Hills, appeared to be a bullnose in front of Birkdale and Victoria Point. The 2005 runner-up, Cleveland, had a mysterious drop to the tail of the leaderboard.
(This column appreared in the Redland Times, Cleveland, Queensland, Australia)

From 1984 to 2006 and issues of control

Eric Arthur Blair (1903-1950), better known by the pen name George Orwell. Pic and details from wikipedia.
WRITERS who are brave enough to parade their thoughts on the public stage know that what is unsaid is often just as important as the facts and opinions that they find, construct and often embrace.
Imagine George Orwell, for instance, now sitting at the big typewriter and watching how the literary world has delved so deeply into what made the writer tick that the things he did not say are more important than others he articulated so well.
A tome in the local library about a hero of so many millions of readers soon felt my thumb and forefinger. It offered a comprehensive analysis of Orwell, promising to make advances after other attempts.
The analyst unleashed brilliant power and academic discipline on gathering evidence of this and that, here and there. But this time my library loan quickly went back through the scanner, relieving me of the burden of having it anywhere in my gaze.

NOTHING can give a reader more satisfaction than snapping shut a book for whatever reason. The explosion of air between the pages may be a great reward in triumph at sharing a point of view as much as any disagreement with the contents.
This time, the spouse-waking wham sprang from something between sadness and disgust. There was anger too.
Why can’t the world be left to judge Orwell on the words he wrote rather those he didn’t?
Undoubtedly, it’s the same for many great artists and writers. Someone will always try to make a living from shuffling through the little details looking for things to comment on. Like a forensic pathologist picking through the innards of a corpse.
The sharp scalpel on Orwell was tantamount to a big brotherish payback that must rate among the greatest ironies of history.

A VOICE that is threatening simply by its dullness and dispassionate façade echoes through time:

You can’t keep any secrets from us now, George. We will know everything about your life. All your sufferings, all your failings. And we will parade your guts for everyone to have a peek, so they will know what makes you tick. If we can’t do it while you are alive, George, we will do it after you die. We won’t allow the world to enjoy your brilliance for its own sake. We can’t fault your writing, George, but we will carve you up and hang up the pieces. This is your reward for allowing us into your life.

NINETEEN-Eighty-Four came to mind because of a phone call from a man who featured in Classie Corner some years ago, simply because he had placed a classified ad in his local paper.
I called him after dinner one weeknight in autumn as I toiled that year to write as many as nine 400-word columns a week on top of a fulltime job on a daily paper.
The demanding regimen required me to dig deeply into my professional fortitude because journalism demands the same attention to every detail, whether for the front page or as a sandwich between the public notices and the personal column.
The "average" user of classified advertising is just as important to me as John Howard would be, if I were to stumble across the notice for his garage sale notice at the Lodge, as is expected at this stage on his retirement rather than on electoral defeat.

MY caller on September 22, 2006, had not seen my published report all those years ago. He had forgotten about my interview and his permission for publication. He tracked me down to ask how I had obtained the details.
"A few days ago an insurance company called me to advise that it was investigating my affairs because they found my name on an obscure website called Classie Corner," he said.
"I have had a look and everything is absolutely correct; it is about my life and it is all true.
"It could have come only from me but I honestly have no memory of talking to you.
"I wanted to find you to make sure you are a real person.
"The insurance company has made an appointment to come and see me.
"It doesn’t worry me because I have done nothing wrong and I have nothing to fear.
"They seem to think I could still be doing what the article said I was doing at the time but I’m not and it’s easy to prove that to them."

THE introduction to the post of the original column on this website clearly stated that it had come from my archives in a certain year.
Although I was pleased at the confirmation of my accuracy when working under pressure in the past, a nasty little barb was waiting on my return to the blog intro, which included a slight hiccup that did not affect the meaning of the text. But all that’s just detail.

A MENTION of your name on an obscure website in the conglomeration of avenues in this vast network is enough excuse for an official investigation into your affairs.
Many eyes must watch as fingers that itch for control punch your name into the search engines. It is as scary as anything Orwell dished up and probably with enough foreboding to turn many off the internet, or even against talking to journalists who call for whatever reason.
We can only hope that the balance comes through the freedom of expression and enrichment to our cultural lives and knowledge.
The exposure may be frightening so again I must thank the many hundreds who have shared with me their thoughts and dreams during my travels on the highways and byways of the marvellous community of classified advertising.

Decent people have trusted me with facts about their lives and I have always had in mind the code of ethics from the fraternity of journalists in the AJA.
Critics of the profession often reach for the baseball bat over the principle of journalists policing journalists but the code is embodied in the rules. Breaches are subject to disciplinary action.

FEAR of discipline, however, is not the reason journalists overwhelmingly stick to the code. Rather, they respect the principles of fairness and the public’s right to know.
Those principles now motivate me to reaffirm my mission to record things that would not be recorded.
I do this, not for the sake of feeding details in front of prying eyes but because it is my art and science to inform and entertain.
Like the subject of my column from the past, we must react with humour toward the risk of someone prospecting our soil and sifting for soft and sticky nuggets:
"I have done nothing wrong and I have nothing to fear."

THE prospectors may squeeze their grubby little fists on their prizes and bask in the perfume of their finds but sometimes it may be difficult for the innocent to prove their case and walk free from the spreading stench.

Kids hide in the backseat of 'uncool' car

The recent car stories stirred up the hit meter on the website. Classie Corner's archives include heaps of car stories. Here's another, this time from the Tweed Daily News in July 2001.


THE holiday is over but the sweet sound of a purring motor is still in my ears so for the next few weeks Classie Corner will look under the bonnet of a few deals in the motor market.
BLONDE jokes may have had their day but the mention of a Volvo still raises a smile or two.
"People can be a bit funny about it; they’ll just laugh; it’s strange," says Banora Point’s Christine Cross, who simply loves her 1982 Volvo.
"And my daughter doesn’t like it. She hides in the back seat when I take her to school."
The Cross family’s white Volvo replaces a yellow one of the same model they owned for about a year and recently sold through the Checkout Classifieds.
They received about 15 calls a week after advertising the car for $2990. The calls kept coming even though the car sold in the first week.
Christine is hooked on Volvos, of which she says: "They are the safest car in the world.
"They are so heavy and solid, not those little tincan ones. It’s really heavy metal.
"And they are very smooth on the road.
"But the four-cylinder motor doesn’t cost much to run."
Christine also says the common misconception that Volvo parts are hard to get dates from the pre-generic parts era.
"Parts are not a problem nowadays,’’ she says.
Forget any sneers, it certainly sounds like the Volvo is worth a few smiles.
Give Christine and her family a wave for me when you see them glide along Stonehaven Way.

MY wife hunted around for weeks for a new car before we went on holiday and eventually came up with a great EA Falcon from a dealer who gave a good deal on the trade. When she bought the car home I opened everything up to check for rust and noticed the boot struts had worn out but the lid still stayed up. I went to the front of the car and bounced on it to test the shockies and the boot slammed shut. White-faced wife nearly keeled over. Our six-year-old daughter had withdrawn her head from the boot just a few seconds earlier. Fair dinkum, the lid is so heavy and sharp it would have cut her in two. I publish this story as a warning to all vendors to take car of little details. I can understand how the blokes attached to the car yard could miss something like that. Imagine how you’d feel if you sold a car with that simple fault and wiped out someone’s child. We are just so lucky.

Don't talk about religion, politics or history

A drunk in a local club and this humble scribe almost came to blows over the gripping question of whether a journalist is also an historian.
The row started when the history-loving drunk addressed me, "You’re a journalist, so you are an historian, aren’t you?"
I said I couldn’t answer his question because others, the readers, would have to judge my contribution to history before I received such a title.
Journalists certainly recorded history and used facts from history all the time, but no, I wasn’t automatically an historian.
One would think this was a fairly neutral response but somehow it squeezed his bile duct.
He then addressed the group around the bar table, one by one.
"What do you reckon? A journo is an historian, or not?"
The drinkers sensed trouble brewing and fobbed him off. But he kept on the case.
"I reckon a journo who is not an historian is a pretty shithouse journo," the drunk said, a few times.
I took a deep breath and said, "You work in stainless steel but I don’t tell you how to run your job."
This enraged him further and he moved toward me, angrily, "How dare you pretend to tell me how to conduct myself? How dare you…"
Things like this happen in the twilight world of drunken camaraderie. My career in journalism means I have been there a few more times than most but I am now too old to get into this sort of blue, even though age doesn’t really matter when the wildcard comes up.
The history lover skulled his drink and, mumbling profanities, went to get another, undoubtedly to return refreshed for a round of another type.
I took the opportunity to say to the group, "I have had a hard week and I knew someone would rub me up the wrong way here tonight. I should not have come and I will now go home."
A couple of the drinkers said, "Don’t go." But I said it was best for everyone.
This confrontation came to mind as I wrote the following post for the Redland Times, Cleveland, Queensland, Australia.

Picture of Capalaba of decades past, courtesy of the Redland Shire Council website

THE word, "Redland", will draw many eyes when the Census figures come out.
The influx of residents has created hunger for an authoritative head count.
Whatever figure is official, Don Cazneau will compare it with the 6000 he says the shire had when he and wife Regina "stumbled across Capalaba" in 1959.
The couple from Sydney stopped at the BP garage.
"Old Jack Gannon was sitting out the front, whittling," Don says.
"He wanted to sell the garage for 300 quid. We had a cup of tea and I said, 'Would you take 100 quid a year?'
"I ended up paying 990 quid. I still have the deed.
"I remember standard BP petrol selling for three shillings a gallon. That's eight or nine cents a litre." Don says he and Regina sold the service station later in the 60s.
Now aged 76, Don loves talking about the Redlands " characters" of that era.
"Two brothers would spend all morning cutting down a cedar with an axe and bring the logs to Jack's sawmill behind the garage," Don says.
"They'd say, 'You'd better cut these up before the Forestry finds out'. Jack would pay them 10 quid, then they'd go to the Capalaba Hotel.
"In the next few hours there would be a dozen or 20 fights.
"It was a hick town. Only one in every 10 people wore shoes. There was no town plan. You could build where and when you liked.
"Many people put in posts, a few sheets of iron on top and hessian around the sides, and painted it white.
"One family lived in a tree house on Sawmill Road, which doesn't exist any more."
Don has always liked the name, Capalaba, which featured in the business names of a wrecking yard and towing service he set up, but the couple now lives at Alexandra Hills.
When a Victoria Point man advertised for a model train buff to help set up a track for his grandson, Don was one of three volunteers.
We started talking about trains but moved on to the days when the Council Chambers were in an old house, Cleveland had only one bitumen road and Don's towing service had the phone number 17.
All was less than half a century ago.
THANKS for joining me in the community of classified advertising.

While 9/11 is still a hot topic, here’s more detail on Anne Bain’s New York experience, following up my 9/8 post. Anne writes:

I arrived back in Australia on September 8, 2001, after visiting my daughter, Erin. At that stage it was my fourth visit to New York and because I am not good with heights, I had not ventured up the twin towers to catch what would have been a fabulous view of the "Big Apple".
Little did I realise on that last visit that I would never have the chance again.
On the morning of Sept 11, I was tucked up in bed. Still recovering from the flight, I had gone to bed earlier than usual.
When the towers went down they took with them the majority of New York’s telephone capabilities and Erin could not get through to us until 4.30am our time.
Her first words were "I am okay"; mine, "What is wrong?"
She said, "New York is being attacked, being bombed, just turn on the TV".
Believe me, these are not words a mother wants to hear from a daughter living thousands of kilometres away from home.
I think like every other person who saw the events on TV, I just sat there looking at something that was so surreal, just like watching a movie.
I went back to visit Erin again in January 02, 03 and twice in 04, the last time for her graduation from Queens College (picture by Faisal Zafar, courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/ ) in June.
Before we landed, the crew, all New Yorkers, sang "New York, New York". Talk about a tingle down your spine. It was the start of summer and people were everywhere.
In Manhattan, all the rubble from the twin towers had been removed and there was a definite feeling of rejuvenation.
New York is a wonderful city. It has a true heart and soul, and by June 2004 it was certainly getting back to its best – Broadway, Central Park, Madam Liberty, the Yankees!
I hope to go back soon and everyone should put New York on their list of, "100 places I must see".
Anne’s travel agency, Jetset Cleveland, refers inquiries to two web addresses, www.jetset.com.au/cleveland and www.bbtravel.com.au

Cultural currents run deep in 'the Classies'

OVER the many years since the two words "Classie Corner" first found their way into print, one question has "got up my nose" more than any other.
"Why the hell would a journalist want to write about classified advertising?"
The quick answer is, "The marvellous community has some great stories that can help us understand our world and ride some of its cultural currents, and I can record things that would not otherwise be recorded." The long answer is in the hundreds of columns I have written, thanks to the people who have shared with me their hopes and dreams.
Today’s post comes from the Grafton Daily Examiner in 2001. It’s a scan of the original proof because of the gap in my digital archives (as detailed in earlier posts).
This story is special to me because it shows perhaps better than anything else the fascinating stories behind the few words in a free classified.
This was a phone call about a $10 item. Was it worthwhile? You be the judge.
I must put the record straight on two things. The correct title is "Australian Seashores". I also have learned from Keith Davey’s interesting site (http://www.mesa.edu.au/friends/seashores/why_do_it.html) that the author, Professor WJ Dakin, was known by his second name, John, not his first, William.
Read the image file by clicking on it, then use the "expand" button which should pop up.

Jazz city keeps its beat

START spreading the news. That’s what the song says, so the Classie Corner commemoration of 9/11 starts a little early. I am trying to escape the world's continuing grief from terrorism by listening to the original screen soundtrack from New York, New York including Ralph Burns’ knockout arrangement of You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me. My aim is to play 'You Brought ...' on guitar properly within the next three days. Burns' version of the song really seems to say 'New York jazz'. Music and the world’s greatest jazz city was on my mind when I wrote the following column for my local paper, the Redland Times, a bright and modern paper that suits the front doorstep of its region. Australia’s newest economic star, south-east Queensland, may be a long way from New York (artwork courtesy of www.friendsacrossamerica.com/colorstatue.html) but even here, on the tranquil shores of shimmering Moreton Bay, we’re getting into a definitely metro mood.

A BRAZILIAN visitor to the southern bay islands recently gave a backhand compliment to one of his nation’s heroes, the late bossa nova guitar master Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim.
Jobim was the composer who introduced the world to latin jazz, with The Girl from Ipanema as possibly his biggest hit.
Jobim may be a talking point with any Brazilian guest at a neighbourhood barbecue but the visitor gave a sneer.
"Nowadays we call that style ‘airport music’," he said.
That’s probably why so many people like it. Forgetting the latin link, other tunes that fly me across the Pacific are George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Charlie Parker’s Scrapple from the Apple.
Both make me look for deals on New York travel.
Jetset Cleveland managing director Anne Bain has eight Big Apple stamps on her passport, compared with my "nil".
She had a good excuse for visiting New York after her daughter, Erin, received a sport scholarship for water polo at Queens College.
However, Middle Eastern modal lilts may be appropriate on the Brisbane Airport speakers tonight, when Mum farewells Erin on a new assignment.
"Erin graduated with a degree in media studies and is now a sports media/public relations consultant," Anne said.
"She is heading to Qatar to work on the Asian Games." The Qatari capital, Doha, will host the 15th Asian Games in December.
Anne is accustomed to evening drives back to her Gold Coast home. She has commuted to Cleveland since she and husband Greg bought Cleveland Travel in 2004.
The business, which joined the Jetset Travelworld Group (JTG) 10 months ago, has been recruiting a new consultant, its third, through our Classifieds.
By Wednesday, Anne had received five applications, all from women, with the deadline at close of business today (Friday).
Anne said further expansion, with another new position for a trainee, was likely within a year.
She was speaking from Sydney during JTG’s national cruising conference.
About to join an inspection party aboard a liner, Anne said cruising was the major growth sector in the travel industry but Jetset Cleveland’s business was still mainly air and land packages.
Its specialty destinations include the United States, Canada and New Zealand.
THANKS for joining me in the marvellous community of classified advertising. More stories on classiecorner.blogspot.com.

Still on the road

From the Classie Corner archives (picture courtesy http://www.ehholden.com.au):
COUNTRY people’s love for their cars is a hot topic after Classie Corner’s tale last week on a Jericho man with the EK Holden.
This week we’re still on Holdens but those whose hearts lie with other makes should wait before reporting me to the Press Council for unfairness and bias.
"FORD" is "a swear word" at Juanita and Adam Howells' Biloela home.
The couple, who married last October, love Holdens seemingly as much as they love each other.
With the love of Holdens comes a dislike for their market rival. But Juanita giggles when she says the "swear word" bit.
She giggles again when I tell her I’ve owned two EHs and an HD since a new EH was my family’s pride and joy, but have just bought a Ford.
The Howells have just sold a stunning EH Holden through a Checkout Classifieds "run it until you sell it" package.
An old EH fan like me shivers when Juanita talks about the fully restored interior and front buckets seats on the car they had for almost four years.
Adam and Juanita’s brother, Michael, worked for hours on the motor.
The buyer has the bonus of a yellaterra head and roller rockers. Then there are the mags and the tyres, which Juanita says were special because "you can’t get them anymore".
The couple knew a fair bit of history of the chariot. Juanita says another Biloela local, Glen Hobson, had already done most of the restoration before Adam and Michael went to work.
But as much as the Howells loved the EH, which is almost four decades old, it pales beside the couple’s new SS Holden Commodore VX.
The new car has "everything" – V8 motor, six-speed manual gearbox, 5.7litre motor.
The Commodore and EH must have looked great side by side at their home before they decided to sell the veteran.
Adam needed a ute for work at the Moura mine, about an hour’s drive.
He does 12 and a half hour shifts so Juanita gets the Commodore to herself most of the daytime.
Juanita says the "run it to you sell it" campaign started slowly after the EH went on the market for $9500.
However, the calls started coming when they dropped the price, and they then averaged about five a week.
Juanita says that although Biloela is just a 90-minute drive from Rockhampton many potential buyers baulked at making the trip.
"We did get a lot of calls, mainly people from Yeppoon, Rockhampton and Gladstone,’’ she says.
"One fellow from Gladstone came out when we advertised it for $7000 and said $5000.
"We said no way."
The couple dropped the advertised price further and eventually clinched a sale for $5000 anyway.
Juanita, 22, will long remember the lovely blue car that was old even when she was a baby.
But she has to admit the Commodore’s better.
THANKS for joining me to meet the great people in our marvellous community of classified advertising.
This column first appeared in the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin in August 2001.

Car lover's droolathon, part 2

Sorry if I’m puffing and panting right now. I have just been viewing car tail-light collections on the net. Back in the 60s, a psychologist – or whatever he was – made a great target for headline writers by saying the designers of the Ford Falcon, pictured above, had made the tail lights look like breasts to attract buyers. The report delivered my adolescent mates and me into headsplitting hysteria. We made a close inspection or two but still preferred our Man Magazines. The Classie Corner car lover’s droolathon continues, this time focusing on Ford for the sake of balance. Today’s post is from the Redland Times, August 25, 2006.
A DEEP division once ran through Australian society. It was so deep that arguments broke out in pubs and family gatherings.
The division, however, had nothing to do with politics, religion and the usual catalysts for a bit of push and shove with the kid from down the road.
In the 1950s and 60s, splits such as Left versus Right, Protestant versus Catholic and Public School versus Private were pussycats compared with Ford versus Holden.
Spirited interchanges between my dad and my uncle would erupt over the Christmas roast.
We were a Holden family; they were Ford.
Standard analyses aside, a CCFT (Classie Corner Flashback Test) has shown the state of the Ford-Holden debate in 2006.
Internet search engine, Google, gave 5,260,000 Australian references on "Ford" and 2,320,00 on "Holden".
Okay, the totals include different meanings of the two words but a recent edition of our Motor Vehicles Classifieds featured three pre-loved Fords for sale and no Holdens.
This research comes about because our Classifieds manager, Kylie Hogan, is married to a lifelong Ford enthusiast.
Kylie and husband Scott are often seen in the front seat of their Ford Explorer with Lincoln, 6, Mackenzie, 5, and Ford, 15 months, in the back.
Lincoln takes the name of a prestige vehicle. Mackenzie Valentine has the initials, "MVH", for motor vehicle hire.
[Kylie explains the initials this way but my research reveals they make the acronym for a Ford engine].
The glossary will increase after the couple's fourth child is delivered by caesarian in Redland Hospital on September 8.
Kylie says Scott is keen to name a boy, Cleveland, which is a Ford engine.
Mum believes Daytona, the site of the famous US international speedway, may suit a girl.
The spirited debate must be settled before the birth notice appears.
NOW for a little navel-gazing in our Classifieds department where three of the six sales consultants are pregnant:
Sally Smith, already the mother of Jackson, 6, and Cooper, 3, expects the birth of No 3 in September and Miriam Ackroyd is due to become a first-time mum in December.
The non-pregnant consultants - Julie Burton, Sharon Parkinson and Jackie Eggins - wonder who will be next.
"It's getting to the stage where we don't drink the water here," Julie said. "Something must be causing this."
Classie Corner has always said the Classifieds have everything a community needs, from maternity hospital onwards, but never thought it would be taken so seriously.

Love runs on four wheels

Back in the days a gallon of petrol cost just a few pennies, this distinctive tail light glared at Aussie motorists who happened to follow a certain model of Holden.
Today’s launch of a Classie Corner series on cars features the EK Special Sedan.
The picture comes from a devotee’s blog, Sheldon’s EK Holden Special, which shows the attention to detail in the car lover’s world.
Before you perve on Sheldon’s love life, here’s a Classie Corner EK edition which first appeared in the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin about five years ago.


RESIDENTS of Queensland's small country communities get to know each other pretty well.
They also get to know their cars.
After 40 years in Jericho, former shearer Henry Masters traces the history of his 1962 Holden EK Special sedan from the day George Cole drove it new from Longreach.
Henry can tell how, for the 25 years before he bought the car about 10 years ago, Kevin Ryan used it daily to "run about a mile and a half out to check on George's bores".
"And that's about all it done; it's got low mileage," says Blackall-born Henry, who hasn't worked for eight years since "my ticker caved in".
Henry advertised the EK for $1500 or "swap for 10-12ft caravan" because he and his wife Shirley want to do some travelling.
He must see his Brisbane doctor, "and when I get back we will leave".
Anyone seeking a swap has missed out. Henry bought a van in Rockhampton last weekend.
It will be a big trip for the couple who met at the football in Alfa and married 55 years ago.
Shirley was born and bred in Jericho "but she came to Blackall -- I think she was chasing me", Henry says.
Henry said he decided to move from Blackall after the 1956 shearers' strike and headed north to Innisfail but came back to Jericho in the 60s.
He looks forward to first stop at Dalby, or Jondaryan, "then I might get down to NSW to see Blayney. I have never been to Blayney''.
And Roma, where he went as a shearer, is also on the itinerary.
Henry says his sons Gavin ("call him Baldy"), driving trains at Mt Isa, and Daryl ("Spot") will be sad to see him sell the EK, which he had parked in a shed for a few years but then had to move outside.
Henry pulled out the seating when he planned to work on it and proudly announces it's still free from rust.

Name drops across cultures

Look closely at the hat this pretty girl holds beside beautiful Moreton Bay, the shimmering entry statement to the new force in the Australian economy, south-east Queensland.
The picture is just one of those family snaps, and certainly not a surfwear PR shot.
There’s no denying, a clothing item with the name, Billabong, certainly makes Aussie kids smile.
The magical nine letters seem to pop up everywhere, even in the marvellous community of classified advertising.
Today’s post is the penultimate Classie Corner "thank god winter’s nearly over" edition before we have a change of season, hopefully with a bit more humour in the column. So stay tuned, but in the meantime I hope you enjoy this story from yesterday's Redland Times.

TWO good reasons are behind Redlands mum Tina Sanders’ appeal for work she can do from home.
They are her daughter, Dakota, who will turn four in October, and son Jett, who is now a terribly demanding two-year-old.
The young pair, like all energetic youngsters, claim a big helping of Mum’s time and energy.
But while many women are keen for any type of work they can balance with the demands of motherhood, Tina, is specific in the call she made through our Classifieds.
Dakota and Jett must be among the best dressed tots in their home suburb of Thornlands.
Any child would be proud to tell their mates, "My Mum made this for me, she used to work for Billabong and Cobra Clothing."
Tina, who grew up in the Currumbin-Palm Beach-Elanora district, left school during her Year 11 to join surfwear company Billabong, where she worked for 10 years until the late 1990s.
"I was one of the last machinists to be retrenched when the company finally decided to get all its work done overseas," Tina said.
"I finished up at Billabong and a day or so later I started at Cobra, who used to supply Byrning Spears. I was there for two and a half years.
"Just about all the Australian clothing manufacturers eventually have taken their sewing work overseas.
"I have been out of the game for a while now and I want just regular plain sewing work, nothing fancy."
Tina alludes to quality in her advertising, which labels her as a qualified industrial sewing machinist.
She said she had not been particularly good at sewing during her school years.
"My sister-in-law worked at Billabong and was getting good money, so that’s what got me there at first," Tina said.
"I found that I liked the sewing after a lot of casual work in fruit barns, a deli and a newsagency, and other part-time jobs."
Tina moved to Brisbane in 2001 to be with her partner, Nigel, and settled at Thornlands more than two years ago.
Nigel works in the IT industry.
Tina’s precision sewing already features on the soft furnishings of Redlands firm Every’s Curtain Gallery but the machinist still can find more time for the skills she honed under the export-level quality controls.
"I have made a lot of things even flags and I am eager to keep learning," she said.
THANKS for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. Email: fourjays@bigpond.com.

Cultures mix in 'the Classies'

In the dead of winter on beautiful Moreton Bay in Queensland, Australia, I can sit in shorts and shirt as I write about the recent European summer heatwave. Today’s column appeared yesterday in the Redland Times, which serves the bay community. More than anything else it shows how classified advertising creates a marvellous community of people from many cultures and origins (picture from http://www.myswitzerland.com/).

THE four daughters of Sheldon couple Elsbeth and Daniel Bakker should develop mobile minds.
Authorities on learning have touted learning languages as a good way to get the brain working.
If this is the case, Abigail, Naomi, Joanna and Sarina can look forward to a bright future.
Abigail and Naomi were both born in a village near Lucerne, Switzerland, where the family lived for five years in the early 1990s.
The two elder girls – Abigail is about to turn 14 and Naomi is "almost 12" – delight in practising their Swiss-German language skills on their grandparents.
Elsbeth’s parents, Verena and Friedrich Streiff, have made regular visits "down under" over the past decade.
They enjoyed their most recent Aussie holiday this year, returning in April to their home near Zurich.
While the girls learn Swiss-German from Nan and Pop, the two seniors admit to learning from their grandchildren, Elsbeth says.
Verena takes regular English lessons in Switzerland , perhaps to improve her conversations with Joanna, 10, and Sarina, 8, who both were born in Australia and speak little Swiss-German.
Elsbeth, meanwhile, has launched through our "Tuition" column a home-based business teaching German.
A qualified primary school teacher, Elsbeth hopes the advertising will tap a perceived need for German tuition in the Redlands.
"Basically, it all started because school kids asked for tuition, so I thought, ‘Let’s see if there’s a demand’," she said.
"My girls attend Redlands College, which teaches German. I think it has been difficult for some students to find tutors close to home."
In the mid-80s, Swiss-born Elsbeth was travelling in Greece, when she met Tasmanian-born Daniel.
The couple married in Brisbane in 1986 and later settled in Switzerland.
Elsbeth can smile over recent reports of Europeans sweating through several weeks of temperatures in the mid 30s.
"That’s very hot for them and two to three weeks of it, that’s unusual," Elsbeth says.
"I would have liked to be there; I am fine with it (hot weather)."
Nevertheless, she can sympathise with her former village neighbours, who at the other extreme must suffer winter temperatures as low as minus eight.
But back to the issue of getting the brain working: Daniel works for an IT (information technology) company so computing languages may also be on the agenda in the Bakker household.
THANKS for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising.

Business taps demand reservoir

WATER is a hot topic so former software company section manager Ian Tragis is delighted to have found a marketing pipeline for his new water tank business.
Ian retired from the Brisbane technology scene about six years ago, weary of staring into a computer screen and keen to build up an outdoor business.
He and wife Sheryl set up Garden Magic to specialise in "soft" landscape gardening, which means working with plants and irrigation rather than concrete and paving.
Then the drought and south-east Queensland’s water supply crisis bit hard.
The couple diversified just a few months ago into "water storage solutions and drought proofing".
With the south-east Queensland water crisis in the news daily, Ian placed a notice in the Redland Times and Bayside Bulletin Trade Services Water Tanks column.
Redlanders rushed their phones to find out more from the Daisy Hill business.
Ian joked this week he was now a little weary of scooting around the Redlands to give quotes.
He had made three trips to Alexandra Hills, two to Wynnum West, two to Alexandra Hills, two to Capalaba and one each to Birkdale and Thorneside – all thanks to the Trade Services notice.
After returning home from McTaggart St, Capalaba, Ian said 5000-litre tanks were outselling the smaller tanks.
"A tap uses roughly 25 to 30 litres a minute, so a 3000-litre tank may give you only about 100 minutes of water use," he said.
"It doesn’t get far. Most people want a bit to splash around. But we are into managing the water through irrigation systems as well as supplying the tanks."
Ian’s brother, Stan, who is building a house on Russell Island, will need to place his tank order soon.
The tank specialist expects to get busier in months to come.
IT almost rained fridges after two mates who grew up in the Redlands moved back to Victoria Point to end their taste of the Gold Coast lifestyle.
The budget-conscious young women placed a Classified ad, "Wanted. Fridge in good condition, up to $100…"
The pair, who asked for their names to be withheld, bought a $50 Simpson bar fridge and may now advertise for new mobile phones after their batteries ran flat from a total of more than 40 fridge calls.
This column appeared yesterday in the Redland Times, based in Cleveland, Redland Shire, Queensland, Australia.

Pixels versus Paper

Thought for the day: ebay is the world’s biggest classified advertising system but many readers still find great security in using "the Classies they can hold" – those in their local paper.

Today’s post comes from yesterday’s Redland Times, a Rural Press title servicing a vibrant community on Moreton Bay, the shimmering entry statement to the new force in the Australian economy, south-east Queensland". The Times and its sister paper, the Bayside Bulletin, put their classified ads online at http://www.redland.yourguide.com.au/searchclas.asp.

A LOT of blokes get a bit edgy about admitting they acted according to the wishes of the person television barrister Rumpole once dubbed as "she who must be obeyed".
The average Aussie man who dares to reveal he has obeyed "the missus" is still likely to cop a ribbing from his mates.
Painter Tim Thompson, however, has no qualms about taking the advice of his fiancee, Deirdre Brennan, to upsize his Trade Services notice.
"I had good advice," Tim said. "Deirdre works in advertising. She told me I needed a bigger ad.
"I used to get three quotes a week; now I am doing about 10 a week, just off the one ad.
"It does the job, that's for sure."
Tim said he was now too busy to make a firm date for the wedding the couple has been planning since their engagement about two years ago.
And there are at least two other reasons for Tim and Deirdre to look for relaxation time at their Mount Cotton home.
Just 13 weeks ago, their first son, Cooper, was born. His sister, Emily, 2, really loves her little brother.
Tim was 20 and a former Shailer High student with a few years painting under his belt, rather, on his overalls, when he met Deirdre, a Chisholm old girl, about six years ago.
They first set up home at Alexandra Hills and bought at Mount Cotton about two years ago.
But back to Tim's Classified advertising campaign.
Deirdre gained some of her advertising nous from her work with a mail order business.
Tim's notice owes its success not only to the size of the ad but also to what it says.
A painter of nine years experience, Tim simply thought he should say something meaningful.
The feedback he has received clients over the years inspired some powerful words.His Trade Services notice makes five promises. They are, to: Beat any written quote; be on time, every time; treat furniture and fixtures with the utmost care and respect; leave your home spotless; and guarantee the highest quality work."People often say, 'I really love your ad'," he says.Now Tim also finds it difficult to walk the fairways and greens at the Redland Bay course, where he usually plays his social golf.
Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. More stories on classiecorner.blogspot.com.

Notes on guitars

ABOUT the worst experience in writing is putting an error into print. A whole lot of errors are made – rather, particular errors happen frequently – with the spelling of the Fender Squier guitar. I now know the correct spelling. My defence of my most recent mistake is that I asked someone I trusted would know more than me, and that person got it wrong. Writers and reporters get accustomed and toughened to taking the blame for other people’s mistakes that the writer has repeated without attribution. But wouldn’t it be so cruel to identity the culprit who confirmed "Squire" for me before I wrote the following column for today’s Redland Times? Critics will say, "He should have simply looked it up on the official website" (http://www.squierguitars.com/, the source of this picture) , or "He calls himself a journalist-come-guitarist and he didn’t even know that!". Oh well, I’ll just dust myself down, pick myself up and start all over again. For the guitar players the emphasis is on "pick".

THE sweet sounds of music have been common around a certain Sheldon property in the seven years since the Kelly clan moved in.
The Kellys like nothing better than to get together for a jam session. Cunnamulla-born Tom Kelly, who is now close to earning the title as "veteran" drummer, is proud to have programmed the beat genes into the best of rhythm machines.
All his three children – Renee, 15, Shane, 19, and Steven, 21 -- have become accustomed to presiding on a full set of skins when the family gets rocking 'n' rolling.
The drums and guitars have always been set up and ready to go but the jams have taken a new sound for the past year or so, since Renee started "dabbling" on guitar, mainly her dad’s Fender Squire.
"She gets a good tune out of it and she’s learning ‘tab’ as well as the chords we are teaching her," Tom said.
He said Renee, now a student at Cavendish Road High School, Coorparoo, had been a "premmy bub". She had been blind since her premature birth.
Tom said Renee had always loved music and it was great to see her progress on guitar.
The family is preparing to move to another home in the Redlands, so Tom made an inventory of the musical equipment with the aim of saving space.
The "go" list included a drum case that he made about 10 years ago and advertised for sale.
In the 1990s, Tom’s band, Crossroads, helped brighten up the nightlife in the central Queensland coalfields, where he had a day job with Australia Post at Moranbah.
Tom joined Australia Post in Chinchilla 29 years ago and now manages one of its sales departments from a city office, while his wife, Donna, works as a teachers aide at Mt Gravatt Primary School.
Tom has not played drums professionally for about 10 years but the case appears to illustrate his management and design skills.
"I built it to make transporting everything a bit easier," he said. "I welded a frame from box steel and used plywood for the casing. It is all painted matt black and fits into a seven by four trailer and folds out to a drum riser with a carpet floor."
Don’t bother to ask if the drums are for sale too.
THANKS for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. More stories on classiecorner.blogspot.com.

Wanted: Your story

Behind every phone number and email address in the marvellous community of classified advertising, a great story is waiting to be told.
The community of classified advertising has a maternity hospital (birth notices), a mortuary (funeral notices) and everything between.
If you have had a memorable purchase or sale – or a good or bad experience through the "classies" – you may now share it with the world on classiecorner.blogspot.com. This invitation includes people seeking to promote items and services currently available.
The free exposure may help gain sales but, remember, Classie Corner is more interested in hopes and dreams than dollars and cents. For instance, a musician who bought a fantastic instrument from classified advertising may use this opportunity to promote their talents.
Editorial judgments will include taste, suitability and legal issues. Write as much or little as you wish and send a jpeg (max. 200 kilobytes) but I will use only the material I consider suitable for whatever reason.
References on this website are coming up on Google and the other search engines.
It is quite interesting to have been one of the reported 85,000 people a day launching blogs in 2006 and see my special community surfacing out the greyness and becoming available in such an environment.
Thanks for joining me. Email: fourjays@bigpond.com

Last post centred just on innovation, now we are back on wood with this column from the Tweed Daily News in November 2001.
ONE of the biggest pests on the east coast could head back towards its overseas homeland.
If David Buckley has his way, the despised camphor laurel will leave the country by the container load.
David has been waging his private war against the camphor laurel through his timber slabbing business.
He now hopes to export his camphor slabs, which already find a ready market with local furniture makers.
The camphor laurel, introduced as a shade tree to Australian properties many decades ago, has been declared a major environmental enemy in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland.
David, based at Burringbar south of Murwillumbah, has specialised in slabbing camphor in the past few years since he bought a big portable mill.
The Lucas mill with a two-metre bar can has had lots of work as property owners have moved to eradicate the invasive camphor.
Slabs almost three metres wide and four metres long often roll off the mill with David Buckley Timber Slabbing operating in a wide area of the north coast and hinterland.
Canberra-born David, 25, moved to the north coast from Nelson Bay near Newcastle to go to the Southern Cross University.
He decided after two years the business and tourism degree was not for him but he says the skills have helped him in business, which sprang from his experience in landscaping and cabinet making.
David believes camphor slabs could find favour with British cabinet makers.
"I have had some contact with the industry in the past and I am sure the unique grain pattern of our camphor laurels would make it popular," he said.
"This eventually could involve a lot of mills."
Camphors have not been the only "victims" of David’s prized Lucas.
He says one of his most unusual jobs has been the slabbing of a 5000-year-old rosewood which had been found on the forest floor near Tenterfield.
The rosewood, a rainforest tree, grows just one millimetre a year, he says.
The client, who had salvaged the log sold the timber for a project in Parliament House in Canberra, David says.
"It was a massive tree," he says.
"It was a really special log that had the centre rotted out and had been down for possibly hundreds of years.
"I’ll probably never see anything like that again.
"My mill was the only one that could do the job and we took half a dozen slabs each side of the centre.
"They were two metres wide and three metres long."
For the past eight months David has been extra keen to finish work on time each day to get home to partner Joanne and their baby son, Jack.
Jack is growing up to associate the sweet smell of camphor with a dad who has a vision.

Innovators abound in the marvellous community of classified advertising. The wheel turns and the lightbulb shines for classifieds users in homes and business everywhere. This column (August 2001) comes from the New South Wales northern rivers region …

THE "gold rush" that a new industry brought to the north coast in the 1980s certainly made life interesting for Robert Tillman.
Grafton born and bred Robert worked as an accountant with a food wholesale company before he joined the tea tree oil industry in 1988.
Robert joined one of the industry’s pioneers, Australian Plantations Ptd Ltd, as company secretary and financial controller at its Wyrallah property, about 15km from Lismore.
"At the time there had been a real gold rush mentality," he says.
"There were stories of growers crops being stolen by thieves cutting them overnight."
The tea tree, however, had already taken up a chapter in Australian history. Captain Cook’s crew thought the melaleuca leaves looked like a good source of nutrition to combat scurvy.
So history records them as brewing some melaleuca tea. And the name "tea tree" stuck.
Robert says the history books did not record the English sailors’ verdict but he has tried such a brew and it’s quite nice.
The tea tree has been featuring in the Checkout Classifieds recently for another reason.
The company has given new push to a byproduct of its oil extraction process.
The organic matter that remains after the extraction of the 1% oil content has been used as garden mulch since about 1989 but this year marks the company’s first venture into retailing it.
Australian Plantations has long sold mountains of the former waste for on-sale to nurseries and landscape suppliers level but opened its own retail outlet, Melaleuca Garden Supplies, in January.
The new site gives the company a presence right in Lismore.
Robert says it has been just one step in increasing productivity in an industry that has been troubled by oversupply of oil, partly due to the collapse of certain big players.
The mulch is credited with a host of benefits including weed control, improvement in soil structure and water retention.
Its pH rating is 7.0 which is neutral, neither acidic or alkaline.
It also looks good – which gives an advantage over other commercial mulches.
When you get it, remember to treat it like gold but don’t mix this batch into a brew like Captain Cook’s men probably would have been brave enough to sip.