DRAIN CONFIRMED: TWO THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY DOLLARS, PVC, NORTH-EAST, AND THE FESTIVAL GETS SERIOUS

Trevor Nance's written quote is now a contract, and the sentence being passed around — from diagram to contract in eight days — tells you more about how this festival is moving than any press release Deb Forsythe has not issued.

Deb Forsythe is said to have accepted the contract without visible drama, which for those familiar with her working method is itself a form of enthusiasm.

What the Gazette will add, because apparently no-one else intends to: Dr Priya Sharma spoke at Tuesday's planning session and raised a secondary overflow marker — a flag or stake at the east wall. "She said it's for triage on the day" is the quote in circulation. There are two readings. One is that Priya is not merely attending these sessions. The other — she said she's not a plumber and then told them what to do — is, frankly, not unfriendly, and may be the more accurate of the two.

The fourteenth of August is the date this drain has to be ready for. Everything about the speed of the last eight days suggests someone has understood that.

KEITH ORCHARD, STEVE-O MITCHELL, AND THE FORMAL WEIGHT OF ONE WORD

The word is role.

Keith Orchard told Steve 'Steve-o' Mitchell this week that the corridor position is his for the season run-in, and the word he used was role. Not position. Not experiment. Role. Players who were at Wednesday training are noting this distinction with the seriousness it apparently deserves among people who follow Keith's word choices professionally.

Steve-o then went to Goodnight Creek on Saturday and kicked two from the corridor in an 11.9 to 7.6 win. Keith said smart game, Steve-o after the final siren.

He used his name.

For readers who don't follow Keith Orchard's post-game vocabulary closely: he used his name. This sentence is apparently doing significant work in certain conversations and the Gazette is prepared to let it do that work without further elaboration, because over-explaining a thing like this is how you kill it.

RAY CONNELLY: A LETTER WITH NO RETURN ADDRESS AND A JACKET POCKET

Ray Connelly came into the store Friday for wire joiners. He left with a parcel and a letter.

The letter had a Queensland postmark and no return address. He put it in his jacket without looking at it. This detail — the not-looking — is being noted by at least one person who was present, and reported to the Gazette by at least one other, which is how information moves in Redgum Hollow when it involves Ray Connelly.

The Gazette published, in Edition 27, the matter of a second Cairns address. The Gazette has also noted, across several editions, that Ray Connelly does not explain himself and that this has become, in some quarters, more interesting than an explanation would be.

A Queensland postmark, no return address, put away without reading. This is not the behaviour of a man who is surprised. That is the working theory. The Gazette accepts it may be wrong, and will accept that with its usual ceremony when the time comes.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

From Lorraine Apps, re: the store

Marge, for the record, I said nothing about the letter. I handed it over as I hand everything over. People who were standing near the counter are welcome to their own observations. People are always standing near the counter.
— L. Apps

From Neil Patten, re: the rolls

Just want it noted that Cheryl has always been an early riser and I don't know why that's anyone's business. She likes a good roll. So does everyone else apparently.
— Neil Patten

From an unsigned correspondent, re: the football

Keith said his name. Some of us have been waiting three years for Keith to say his name like that. Thank you for printing it.
— (name supplied, withheld on request)

AROUND THE DISTRICT

Fifty-eight through the Royal Hotel Saturday. Away game. Macca has it in the book.

Spring is here by the calendar. The district is dry enough that nobody is celebrating.

Cheryl Patten got the last roll Monday. Ten-oh-five. Tash has made no comment and none is expected.

Bruce Patterson is fine.