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Canberra Today 14°/17° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Canberra Confidential / When Girls won’t be Girls’

Spotted in a Civic carpark.

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AN inner-south snout tipped CC off about a question of grammar in signage at the grammar school dedicated to girls in Deakin.

A photographic wander around its large campus revealed three signs secured into walls that say: “Canberra Girls Grammar School” and only one that looks, on first blush, the more grammatically correct saying “Canberra Girls’ Grammar School”.

How can this be, principal Anne Coutts was asked on the “CityNews Sunday Roast” program on 2CC?

In a charming hour of profile, the erudite head of school said the sign with the apostrophe was an old sign.

So the newer three are grammatically incorrect?

Not so, said Anne. There had been some debate and it had been decided that as the school didn’t actually belong to the girls (nor the parents paying for it), the need for a possessive apostrophe didn’t apply.

Radio killed the hospitality star

“FROM our two-day visit to Canberra, it was clear that the whole place had rapidly evolved in recent years. Often maligned for a lack of soul and unfairly aligned with its main industry, Federal politics, the city is, nonetheless, worthy of its place as our national capital and well worth a visit – especially if you haven’t been for five years or more.”

Well, this sounded a very promising nation-wide post from Sydney-based Peter Saxon, co-owner and editor of radioinfo.com.au (“a site for broadcast professionals,” it says).

He and his wife were “irresistibly” here for the Tom Roberts exhibition.

“Having previously stayed at the magnificent Hyatt, this time we decided to try something new. We opted for Hotel Hotel.

“The room came equipped with a fully functioning, internet connected, iPad.

“The iPad’s home page, which is the first thing I see as I approach the bedhead, gives me the time, temperature, forecast, an alarm AND, of course, a radio. And because it’s an online setup, I can pick up stations from Cairo to Calais, Karachi to Kathmandu, but not Canberra.

“When I touch Australia in the location menu all I get is a selection of four community stations and the syndicated program, ‘My Generation’, on loop. No 2CA or 2CC. No Hit104.7 or Mix106.3. Not an ABC station to be found on the technological marvel that is the Hotel Hotel iPad.

“Outraged that such a basic human right as access to live and local radio could be denied to guests of Hotel Hotel, I went down to the front desk to express my displeasure in person.

“Despite our great expectations, by the time we returned to the room that evening, nothing had changed. Next morning as we were checking out, I complained again about the lack of radio in the room – and even more so the lack of enthusiasm for doing something about it. Not good enough for a five-star hotel, Hotel Hotel.”

Handbags and gladrags

EVERY customer to fashion retailer Zara would seem to be a suspected shoplifter. The international fashion chain’s store at Canberra Centre apparently now X-rays women’s handbags going into and out of the change room. “What an outrageous intrusion into personal privacy”, harrumphed one of our retail snouts, miffed and resolved to never return.

IMG_1207One man went to shovel…

GOING mowing? Might be best to take a shovel if this warning sign spotted on Alexandrina Drive, Yarralumla, recently is any guide. Little wonder they can’t keep up during the grass-growing season, too much grass to shovel!

Spotted in a Civic carpark.
Spotted in a Civic carpark.

 

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