So it is that everyone in Goulburn, or even the whole world, should wish him All The Best And Many More for his 86th birthday today. (As Jockey was endowed with famously mellow vocal chords, we can leave it to him to croon “Happy Birthday”).

Jockey, who wasn’t a hoop, but a boxing butcher, has lived in the same spic ‘n’ span Auburn Street house for 61 years. The nearby public rose garden is named for his beloved wife Phyllis, who passed away three years ago. But how he came by that house, and also his first car, back then is not as well-known as Jockey.

For it was all thanks to a greyhound called Snow Renard that he raced in 1950-51. Snowy didn’t like tight tracks – but it didn’t stop him winning a string of races.

“He bought my house and my first car, a new Vauxhall Velox, which was imported and more upmarket than a Holden. The house cost 2100 quid, and the car 990 quid.”

I, too, confess to at one stage racing a few greyhounds with the legendary conditioner, the late Joe Power. But the only joint it got me was the dog-house . . .

Essential replacements

STREETLIGHTS burning in and nearby our short Goulburn residential street 24/7 for over a week caused neighbourhood koels, who like to sleep during the day, to rail about lack of zeds. (Boy, can those birds rail).

Miraculously, however, after inquiring of a leading light lady at Essential Energy why, the illuminations went off mid-arvo. She advises koels and others they’re replacing 2000 streetlights with more energy efficient globes, which need to be kept on during the day for installation and testing. Won’t cost us an extra zack, either. Which is, er, koo-el, eh?

Hitting a snag

HOW’D you go with last P & R’s quest to find the answer to “What is this thing?”

Congrats if you said it was an old implement on which to rest a rifle. That was the easy bit. Did you also know it was called a Snaggle, or Snag, Toothed Nell?

And even if you did, why so? Who was this lady with such horrible bicuspids that she gave her name to an object which some correspondents thought might be from a torture chamber, and which made her the butt (nice pun, eh?) of rifleshooters’ cruel jokes.

Not even Marshall Piggot, the Goulburn Sage, could answer this after giving the matter due consideration. So, her identity and occupation - if it’s fit to print – remain a mystery to be solved. Meanwhile, by popular demand, here’s another curly question for you.

What’s this thing in the picture (see picture to the right)?

Clue: a tiny mirror’s inside one of the finely crafted brass components. Blame John “Curly” Kofod, longtime Goulburn electrician, for coming by this strange object so many years ago that he can’t recall how, why or where. (Hey, this is a lot of harmless fun, don’t you reckon?).