There was a line of wigs or hairpieces widely advertised in the media of the 1960s or 70s as “Sir’s Undetectable”. I am hoping that someone of my vintage, or thereabouts, can confirm (or otherwise) that I am spelling “Sir’s” correctly with the apostrophe after the “r”. These products were legendary in our family as “Sir’s detectable“!

Dr Google can only turn up a Yellow Pages advertisement for “Sir’s For Men Wigs & Hairpieces” in Baulkham Hills, Sydney, which assures us that this is “A Name You Have Relied On For Three Generations”. My curiosity being aroused, I turned to Trove, where I performed the following search . This only found results from advertising in the Canberra Times from 1980 onwards. These advertisers of this era were unsurprisingly unsure about whether to spell their product “Sir’s”, “Sirs” or even “Sirs’ “, resorting to all three spellings in the 19 ads retrieved. That apostrophe was indeed a pesky piece of punctuation! Is there a grammarian in the house?

There is indeed method behind all this tonsorial nostalgia. My last PSA result repeated the previous one, I think it was, as 0.01. Apparently this amounts to  being undetectable. (I had been hoping for the “bagel score” of 0.0, but I guess the .01 part is a courtesy amount, rather as people refer to retired military or politicians by a courtesy title.) Anyway, I remain happily in remission. The last chemotherapy session went well, as all the previous ones had. Only one to go, on Boxing Day! (I will be seeing the good Dr P on Christmas Eve to get the go-ahead for this final infusion.)

I am still enjoying punting the little Toyota around. The previous weekend I had the chance to stretch its legs a bit on a run down to Cranbourne. This was the first time I had had it on a freeway. It felt very stable and solid, and there was no problem keeping up with the other traffic. It isn’t the best car for an interstate cruiser, being a bit noisy on coarse-chip road surfaces. But it was definitely fun. I think what is enjoyable about it is not just the attributes of the car itself, but the fact that I bought such a wildly unsuitable and midlife-crisis advertising vehicle in so insouciant a fashion!

Still, I am trying to make it as practical as possible. I had the full size spare wheel fitted and the steering wheel re-covered at the dealer’s (these things having being folded into the purchase agreement). I also had a sunvisor and the reversing camera replaced, both under warranty. It remains a delightful car in being easy to manoeuvre around shopping centre carparks, small enough to fit in most car spaces, and very sporty in which to whip around corners. I am also getting the hang of various features like the ability to retract the side mirrors at the press of a button.

On one of these shopping expeditions, I left it in a brand-new supermarket carpark, and returned to find dark red fluid leaking from underneath its nose (or so I thought). On checking the service record, I found that the last service had occurred about nine months ago. This being, oddly, the service interval for this vehicle, I took it to my local garage for a workshop once-over. They replaced all the fluids, and declared that no leaks could be found. The previous owner having been pretty spotty with the servicing, I know it has been brought up to where it should be.