Column 8

Paul Hunt of Engadine is on the level when he says: "Anthony Healy provides a story about Loreto Kirribilli planning a five-storey development (C8). The school originally hoped for an extra level, but that's another storey."

"I can confirm John Whiteing's 'air movement devices' (C8), having spotted them in a number of IBM printer manuals back in the mid-1980s," says Richard Murnane of Hornsby. "IBM were notorious for such language, prompting this joke: Q: How many IBM engineers does it take to change a light bulb? A: 100 – Ten to do it, and 90 to write document number GC7500439-0001."

Paul Duncan of Leura writes: "A recent report claimed that a barista is better trained than a real estate agent. As it should be, one deals with a barista far more often than a real estate agent."

Fear not, Llieda Wild. Your vintage Morello Pitted Cherries (C8) are good to go. John Greenland of Woollahra "had to laugh at the coincidence. Am currently enjoying Italian Morello Cherries which are labelled 'Best by December 1988'." As for it being 'some kind of record' you're a touch behind Peter Lino of Lennox Head who says: "About 2000, I helped my elderly mother by cleaning out her cupboards. I came across a rusty tin of tomatoes, still intact and not bulging, with the price 1s/6d. They'd been there since before decimal currency." We see your point.

The latest household explosion (C8) takes place in the laundry. Maurice Collins of Wollongbar says: "My brother and I gave my mother a lot to worry about with our chemistry cupboard in the laundry but one evening after a huge explosion she raced in and found it was her ginger beer cupboard that had exploded."

In response to Dennis Dorwick and his sewer pipe tomatoes (C8), George Manojlovic of Mangerton thinks they would be "Gross Lisse, or, to use Cockney rhyming slang, Ox Heart." Joy Cooksey of Harrington asks: "Isn't the 'sewer pipe that leaked' (C8) in Canberra, not Sutherland?"

They walk among us, according to Jennifer Tidey of Mudgee, who writes: "I'm concerned about the epidemic sweeping our communities. Up and down supermarket aisles, on the footpath, at crossings and in cafes. People are suffering from disorientation, they are oblivious to their surroundings, they risk their lives by crossing roads without looking, they are vague and vacant, just staring at their hands as they move through life. It's called Mobile Phone Dementia or MPD for short."