More Roamerisms from the 1980s
■ Jean Pardoe was on sentry duty at the West Highland Museum. She sold two tickets to an elderly couple. Off they went to enjoy the delights. A quarter of an hour later the man came down the stair and out into the sunshine. After a couple of minutes a man came in, brandishing an admission ticket, and walked straight past Jean’s desk and up the stairs. ‘Funny, thought Jean, ‘there’s something a bit different about that bloke.’ So off she went, up the stairs to take a look at him. And Jean finished up getting ticket money off the man who, it transpired, was an identical twin of the ‘party of the first part’. Jean had noted there was a subtle difference and caught them at it. So the museum was 50 pence better off and a potential minor con trick was foiled. Full marks to Jean for her powers of observation and tenacity.
■ How are you getting on with the phones, then, now that Fort subscribers have three score and ten in front of their four figure numbers? Go on, admit it, you nearly always forget to dial 70 first when you’re making a local call!