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From: mholmans@dircon.co.uk (Mike Holmans)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: [Review] Great Australian Urban Myths
Date: Fri, 21 Feb 1997 23:04:37 GMT

_Great Australian Urban Myths: Granny on the Roofrack and other tales of modern horror_, Graham Seal, Angus & Robertson, 1995, ISBN 0 207 18827 0.

This is quite a merry little volume. Seal teaches folklore at Curtin University in Western Australia, and this is a collection of ULs as told to him by Australians over the years. He clearly knows his Brunvand, and he annotates the tales with remarks about where else the tale has been seen, or bringing our any specific Australian aspects.

Most of the tales are very well-known to afuisti, although the locations are often changed, so that Arizona becomes Queensland, or Pittsburgh becomes Perth -----> *. There's not much wholly new material, but there's the odd Cool Detail. Barbara Mikkelson and I spent a rather fruitless couple of hours picking out ones which looked rather unfamiliar, reading out the beginning of the story in the hope that snopes wouldn't be able to complete the thing after hearing the first line, but to very little avail.

Nevertheless, there was *one* he hadn't heard, so to save you the trouble of trying to unearth a copy of this (I only found one copy despite visiting nearly every bookstore in Sydney), here it is:

The Airline Steward's Revenge

An Australian airline steward was working in First Class on a flight from South Africa to Sydney. A little way into the flight, he approached two of his passengers, a very wealthy and snooty elderly couple. "What would you like to drink, madam?" he asked.

There was no reply. Thinking that she might not have heard him, the steward asked again.

Once again she ignored him, but her husband leaned over and said "My wife doesn't speak to the 'help'. She would like a bottle of red."

The steward went off to get the wine, but as he walked away, the man called out "Boy, boy!"

"Yes sir, how can I help you?" asked the steward, returning.

"My wife was wondering about the situation with domestic help in Australia," said the man.

"Oh sir," the steward swiftly replied, "I'm sure madam will have no trouble at all finding a job."

Seal heard this from a union official in 1995, who went on to say that the steward had initially been sacked, but was later reinstated.

A lively read, and a worthwhile addition to the library.

Mike "'Don't be in such a hurry, Miss. The boat for Africa doesn't leave until next week' - The Professor's Joke" Holmans