Many years ago I was managing the Dynamic Auto Accessories in Braddon ACT, when a motorcycle parked out the front of the shop. A youthful oriental gentleman dismounted and walked into the shop removing his helmet.

He walked to the counter and asked, “You have Elbowgrease?” His accent was rather broad so I asked him in a slightly confused voice…

“I’m sorry, what did you want?”

“You have elbowgrease?”

“I’m really sorry, but I don’t understand!’

“I need clean tank on motorcyle, is dirty, I ask at Repco how I clean motorcycle tank, he say use elbowgrease. But he no have elbowgrease, so he say I come here, you have elbowgrease?”

“Ahhh Elbow Grease!”

He nodded. “Yes, elbowgrease, your have elbowgrease?”

I shook my head and said, “No, we don’t have any elbow grease, you should try the Shell Petrol Station on the corner.” and I pointed down the street.

He thanked me, climbed onto his bike and rode towards the aforementioned corner servo, I often wonder how far he went….

Good to see your caring side came out Cliff lol :)

lived in braddon, selwyn st i think it was. left when i was ten. haven’t thought about that place for years. were you born in the ACT cliff?

I moved there with my parents in 1975, left there last year to live on the Gold Coast…. to play golf…. LOL

why did it take you so long? :-). my nanna lives in narabundah, she’s 95 and still plays golf.

cheers sb

hmm I tried a couple of times, but I had a wife…. and she had a family she couldn’t leave no matter how much money we wasted trying…. now I’m single it’s just me and the kids, and life is great….

Is canberra all that bad… ?

of course compared to the GC you dont say….
btw whats the moral of that story ?

Is Canberra all that bad? No, but then I lived most of my 33yrs in Queanbeyan…

Sorry Kyc, but apart from some very good friends and spring/autumn you can keep it, summer is too hot, winter is effing ridiculous….

the people are in general nice, but the culture is just horrid, and political to say the least….

I miss Queanbeyan Golf Club and my friends, Mum and my sister are still there, so I miss them, but today is 27 or 28 here, I’m working in a Golf Shop and following my dream for the first time in my life…

Getting work in Canberra was and still is a joke, you either put up with the APS, which I did for 12 years, or you sell shit…. which I did for another collection of many years, there ain’t no in between…. I hate it….

by APS u mean Aus Public Service
n not Aus Photographic Society
or Aus Psychological Society ?

u got a point in the weather

I have been here 2 years and still an Infant compared to you…

I guess being the Capital, the politics or the feeling of government is hard to miss….here

Compared to Sydney (being the Ultimate) is far from going nuts on the roads

Gold Coast is a different kettle of fish, the Ambience the culture n all…it’s a beach / sea thing….helps bring the blood pressure to a manageable level
which Canberra is SORELY missing

yep, haven’t been this relaxed in nearly 40 years, my sister came for a visit not long ago and she agreed. The people up here are newbies, so many have moved here from somewhere else they just accept everything that happens… and go on. Canberra is a big country town, gauranteed when I go back to visit I’ll bump into someone the first day and get all the gossip, not that I want it…. but I’ll hear it anyway.

I do miss the roads, they’re wonderful in Canberra, not as good as they were twenty years ago, but still very good…

yeah, APS, Australian Pubic Service…. (sic) disgusting place (mostly)

good on you Big Man…you sound happier now…

ahh yeah, you have no idea, home is where the heart is, and really my heart is still a bit in Canberra, my best mate just had Cancer surgery and I wasn’t there, my mum is probably not going to be around much longer so my kids won’t see her as much as they should, but there is a LOT of history for me there, too much…. two wives, many girlfriends and some really horrendous people that just don’t like me very much and make no bones about it, and I have always just lived life, not a nasty person, just a fun guy but like I said a country town… and gossip…. hate it.