Show cannot go on when lurgy strikes

GOOD morning. My apologies for no columns appearing on Tuesday and yesterday but I was waylaid with the ‘‘dreaded lurgy’’, which seemed to come from nowhere, as can be its habit. Someone told me ‘‘there’s a bit of it about’’. I do hope not.

Actually it occurred to me, after writing it, that I had no idea from whence the oftused phrase ‘‘dreaded lurgy’’ originates, so in case some readers are also wondering, I looked it up and, as I suspected, discovered it is a Goonism.

Or, to put it another way, it was invented by the wonderful BBC radio comedy team of Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Eric Sykes, whose crazy ramblings and offthewall, inspirational creativity were a weekly ‘‘must hear’’ during my high school days in the 1960s.

Several of my classmates were dedicated Goons fans and some could even rattle off parts of sketches, using the appropriate character voices, Neddie Seagoon, Eccles and Bluebottle being among the favourites.

But, as for the ‘‘dreaded lurgy’’, World Wide Words website (www.worldwidewords.org) says the phrase appeared in the seventh programme of the fifth series of The Goon Show, on November 9, 1954, with the ailment spelled as ‘‘lurgi’’.

While there are a few possible origins, the website says the Goons may have borrowed the term from something they had heard in the army as ‘‘lurgy’’ was a northern England adjective meaning ‘‘idle or lazy’’.

‘‘One can imagine Milligan and Sykes being tickled by the idea of an epidemic outbreak of idleness,’’ the site notes.

Idleness? Hmm. Perhaps in future, when laid low, I should refer to the offending malady as the ‘‘ying tong iddle I po’’, just to avoid any confusion!

Rubbish dumping

But, while I was lying on the couch feeling sorry for myself, Wash readers were still, thankfully, corresponding on various issues.

Bill and Lenni Allen, of Highcliff Rd, sent me today’s photo of a messy scene in their part of the world, with this explanation:

‘‘Hi Dave. The Pukehiki Recycling Centre is located on private land on Highcliff Rd, near Centre Rd, Dunedin. The unit was initiated by the local community for its own use, as there is no local refuse, or recycling collection. This recycling facility is now being abused by some members of the public on a regular basis (see the attached photo taken on Tuesday, March 21).

‘‘It appears that the abuse of the facility seems to be created by people who do not live in the local area as the amount of material dumped exceeds what would normally be produced by a small, local community. Some of the items left include TVs, garden waste, large plastic bags full of rubbish, bedding, clothing which cannot be recycled. Some of the items could be used by the local op shops. At present the DCC is removing this rubbish weekly, but this may not always be the case.

‘‘It seems that those misusing the facility consider their rubbish is not their responsibility. There are many large cardboard boxes that are thrown around the bins with no attempt to fold them so that they fit in the bins. The recycling units display information as to the type of material suitable for recycling and also state that the bins are for local residents’ use.’’

I rang Bill yesterday for an update and he tells me there is a meeting scheduled up his way next week with the city council, which will address this matter.

Read all about it!

Readers may recall we have written a few times before about the troublesome intersection of Market and Tedder Sts in St Kilda.

Well, the DCC advised The Wash yesterday that work will start on changing ‘‘traffic priority’’ there next Monday.

You can read all about the various closures and disruptions in our news story on page 4 today.