Colourful characters fondly remembered

A friend said to me one day that all the colourful characters of Woy Woy are gone.

Gone perhaps, but fondly remembered.

There was a lady who lived in Waratah St, who dressed in rainbow coloured tops and full length skirts to go to town.

She looked like a Hollywood style gypsy or an extra from an operetta.

She certainly stood out from the drab clothing of the time.

A little scrounger from Victoria St was another character.

He would always give us, in the post office, a few homilies and white powder, which he carried in a small cloth bag.

Someone asked him about the white powder.

He said: "To keep away the elephants."

"But there's no elephants in Woy Woy," we said.

"It's working then," he said.

Three ladies used to visit the post office and they were great talkers.

They were Ms Milligan, (Spike's mum), who used to regale us with funny stories about Spike and India, Ms Campbell, who ran a shell and rock museum in Blackwall Rd. and Ms Arnoldus who ran a general store (still standing) in Railway St.

Ms Arnoldus would not sell you milk or bread unless you bought something else.

She was paranoid and believed everyone was spying on her, including the PMG (now Telstra).

When the three came into the Post Office everyone cleared out except one postal clerk who kept them calm by agreeing to everything they said.

"That's right," he would say, "That's right".

Email, 29 Aug 2016

Keith Whitfield, Woy Woy