Classic prank and ‘sano man’
ONE of the classic pranks of the time that David Reid of Richmond remembers was carried out by a man 10 years older than him, Bob Silk.
“He was a bit of a character. He had a telephone magneto he would hook up to the tin fence at the Blue Danube dance hall on March Street [Richmond nursing home now].
“At interval time many of the men would go around the corner and relieve themselves against the tin fence. Bob would be on the other side and crank up the magneto. Many young men would go back inside with their trousers wet after getting an electric shock.”
He also recalls the ‘sano man’. “Everyone had an outside dunny. Once or twice a week the sano man would come and change the toilet pan. Now and then there would be a leaking pan. You would ring Mr Ossie Richardson who would come around with a clean replacement pan in the back of his new Dodge Phoenix sedan.
“He used to say ‘poo paid for my car, poo can ride in it’. Many times over the years the sano man dropped a pan in our yard, but always did a good job cleaning the mess up.”
Everyone would help each other too. “In Hawkesbury flood times dad would put his boat in the flood waters at Moxey’s (Francis Street) and we would visit the stranded farmers and take supplies to those who preferred to stay and keep an eye on things.”
