KEY POINTS:
Mt Albert Grammar School archivist Brian Murphy received returned mail for the school from 1966.(above) "The letter inside is an offer of a place at the school for 1967. The boy did not arrive. He may be sitting at home waiting for the letter, with a school uniform that is now too small."
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While tidying up old files a reader came across an information sheet issued to her when she gave birth to her son at North Shore Hospital 32 years ago. Given how new mothers are now shunted out of hospital within hours, post-natal care in 1974 sounds positively nurturing. The sheet outlines a daily supervised shower for five days, a mothercraft course providing instruction on nappy-changing and bathing and details how you are served your meals in bed for the first few days.
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An Australian woman living in Dublin is planning her dream wedding in her home town of Hobart. She chose an Irish recycled paper for the invitations. When the matching envelope arrived in Australia , the invitation had been confiscated. The enclosed letter from Quarantine said it was "recycled paper embossed with dried plant material" and "likely to introduce exotic pests or diseases into Australia". Enclosed was a poor photocopy of the invitation. (Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
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A senior manager at Air New Zealand bet his 30-year-old moustache against the company's Movember enthusiasts raising $5000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Well over 50 mos have been grown at Air New Zealand House and so far they've raised more than $7500. So today, after presenting the funds to the PCF, there will be a public shaving of Barry's mo in celebration of the end of Movember.
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The Rittenbergs from Missouri planned to shoot family movies with a new video camera. They may have to settle for a pasta dinner instead. The couple paid about US$1600 for a video recorder but when they opened the box, they found a jar of Classico pasta sauce, which weighs about the same as the missing camera. When the couple tried to return it, they were told the box had been sealed, so the swap couldn't have happened at the store. The company said it had had no other complaints about pasta sauce being discovered in place of cameras.