Memories of the days when Hunter Street ran to Tyrrell House

This photo shows it well, along with Royal Newcastle Hospital and Newcastle Beach.

The photo also shows a row of shops at the top end of Hunter Street, near Tyrrell House.

"On the southern side of the road, closest to Newcastle Beach, were little pinball parlours and a little cafe on the corner," Ross said.

"I frequented there as a kid. Dad would take us there. They used to have little Greek-type cafes. Upstairs there was apparently a brothel or two."

"There was another coffee shop in old brown buildings that were on the park itself. I think they fronted Telford Street."

In his teens and early 20s, Ross would go there with friends in the 1970s.

He recalled that a takeaway called Shipmates and fish and chip shops were on the southern side of Hunter Street, while a hamburger shop was on the northern side.

"The craziest hamburger was called a Chuck Wagon," he said.

"It was a beef patty, lettuce, no tomato, maybe a bit of onion, potato chips [as in crisps] and gravy. It's a weird combination, but it was delicious.

"There was no cheese - that was a bit fancy. I still like gravy on my hamburger if I make them at home."

In the late 1960s, he and his mates were aged around 10 to 12.

"We'd go into town on the bus, have our coin tied in our hankies so we didn't lose it for the picture show," he said.

"It was about two bob on the bus and four bob for the pictures. You might have had six shillings and you were doing really well. You'd get a drink or ice cream or something."

Glen Fredericks, of Adamstown Heights, noted that Keith's Kitchen hadn't received a mention in Topics for a few days.

Glen has partly helped us rectify this.

"I Before E, except when your foreign neighbour Keith receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters. Weird," he said.

As Glen has dutifully shown, that famous saying "I before E except after C" is wrong.

Or, as Glen puts it: "I Before E except that Keith would disagree".

These from Elaine Richards, of Salt Ash: A farmer was milking his cow. He felt a fly go in his ear. He took no notice and kept on milking. The fly then appeared in the milk. It was a case of "in one ear and out the udder".

A man and wife were out walking.

A man came towards them and the wife said hello. The man returned the greeting but kept walking.

The husband said to his wife: "Who was that? He looked really really sad."

The wife replied: "He is a dentist. He always looks down in the mouth."

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