My dear wife, better known as Old Mate, can at times become confused and, just a few weeks ago, probably had a gold-medal performance at getting people mixed up.
But firstly, I will give you a previous example – one from the late ’80s (yep, that’s right: it has been going on a while).
We had been talking about the actor who took over the role of James Bond, Timothy Dalton, who did two movies in the franchise in ’87 and ’89.
Somewhere in between the two hitting the screen, Old Mate says to me how talented he was, and asks how he could become such a good actor while still playing in one of the world’s biggest bands.
Slightly bewildered, I asked her what she was on about and she said, “The Who, you idiot. He is lead singer of The Who.”
I replied with who the idiot was: The Who singer was Roger Daltrey not Timothy Dalton.
This ended in much laughter.
There have been a few gaffes in between but her podium effort the other week is a stand-out.
Old Mate watches TV in one room with headphones on and me in the other: a perfect arrangement.
She pipes up while watching Nine News and says, “How good is it that Effie from TV series Acropolis Now is doing the finance section after all those years of being a comedian?”
Now, I couldn’t hear the TV but I had a look and asked if she was sure – she said yes.
That was three weeks ago.
So, for that time, I believed that’s who it was: a comedian from the late ’80s, now a finance expert.
A few days ago, I walked past and mentioned that Effie was pretty good for her age, as she had to be about 60 considering when that show was on TV.
I went out to get my phone to Google it but heard hysterical laughter from the lounge room.
Old Mate was crying with laughter, telling me: “Her name is Effie Zahos and I got her confused with Mary Coustas who played Effie in the TV show – she is 60.”
The sad part is, I had convinced myself it was a really tidy-looking 60-year-old comedian up there on the screen giving financial advice.
Gold medal to Old Mate for sure, but it sort of clarifies where we are both heading.
Bloody hell.
Ashley Robinson is chairman of Sunshine Coast Falcons and Sunshine Coast Thunder Netball and a lifetime Sunshine Coast resident.
