A reader writes: "I thought that living in Cockle Bay we would have a nice family friendly environment, so yesterday I was shocked when we went down to the beach ... the Hillbillies moved in overnight! Imagine explaining this scene to a 5 and 7-year-old who desperately wants rabbits as pets."
On the chin
Scar stories #1: Tony has a long scar on his chin that he got when trying to bath the kittens as a 3-year-old. "I tripped and my chin landed on the edge of an old ringer washing machine. I applaud the forethought of the doctor who took special care sewing up the injury (extra stitches) to ensure that I would not have problems shaving later in life."
Sheet ...
Scar stories #2: Garry has a scar across his right eyebrow that has been there for over 50 years. "Working as an apprentice carpenter, my task was to push sheets of iron ahead of me up a ladder until the top end was high enough for someone on the roof to reach. The man I was working with (or was that against?), regularly used to let a sheet of iron slip back, as if he had lost his grip of it, then laugh at me as I ducked. But I soon grew wise and stopped playing his game. Problem was that one day he yelled, 'look out' and I ignored him, only to be hit above the eye by a sheet of iron he had lost control of. An inch lower and I would not now have an eye."
Knives are sharp
Scar stories #3: "I have one old, one new, both having to do with my chronic inability to take knives seriously. The first (40 years ago) was when I was doing soap carving in the office at mum and dad's shop with ... a Stanley knife! A slice up the length of my left hand behind my thumb, which opened up so clean and then bled awfully - but at least there was no infection; the soap took care of that! The second was two weeks ago, my chef's knife fell off the barbecue and stabbed into the top of my left big toe - right in front of the nail and right through making a small exit wound on the bottom of the fleshy bit. Lots of claret and a sleepless night as the toe reminded me how careful I should be around knives."
Tree-mendous
Scar stories #4: "Fingers schmingers", declares this reader. "Climbing a tree at school when I was 7 years old - it had been raining the night before and I lost my grip and slipped on to the sharp edge of a broken-off branch. I managed a diagonal gash from above my right hip to just below my left shoulder. The miserable teachers wouldn't let me go home either; I had to hold my T-shirt away from my chest in class all afternoon so I wouldn't get blood all over it."