This is remarkable, if true, and who are we to doubt the word of a Column 8 reader? Anyway, it's simply too weird to have been invented. Read on … "After touring Sicily last month and gaining free entry to all tourist attractions by showing our driver's licences (entry is free to anyone over 65 from the EU - Australians rank with EU members there for some reason), we tried the same thing at the Pompeii ruins near Naples," writes Tony Debnam, of Roseville. "We were refused. When we objected, we were advised by the supervisor that free entry is available to seniors from South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria only, and definitely not from NSW. Can any of your readers tell us: why the discrimination in Pompeii?"

Hugh Jorgen, of Sydney, writes in defence of men in suits on baking hot days (Column 8, Saturday): "When a gentleman selects a suit made of pure wool, and accompanies his ensemble with a pure cotton shirt, the outside temperature is of no consequence; those persons who wear shirts and other items of apparel made from synthetic fibres are the persons who end up looking like the proverbial beetroot. Would I trust a man in a suit, tie and so on in the hot weather? If said gentleman is wearing a quality wool suit then the answer would be an unqualified 'yes'."

More on surnames (Column 8, for a few days now), from Julia Archer, of Dural, who moves from the cardinal to the colourful. "Even more interesting than the Wests and Norths outnumbering the Easts and Souths, is the fact that there are many White, Black, Green and Browns, but very few Red, Yellow, or Blues. Why?"

"Every day at precisely 6.30am and 2.30pm our cat scratches at the back door to be let in for breakfast and dinner," writes Alan Millar, a scientist at the Royal Botanic Gardens. "The entire household sets their watches by the cat. Sunday, the first day of daylight savings, the cat scratches the back door at exactly 6.30am and again at 2.30pm. Twenty-first century technology gets tricked, but not the cat." How odd.

Here's the best deal on pasta we've ever seen. Marco Polo Cafe in Annandale is offering, for just $10.50, a spaghetti bolognese, with "beef minced, tomato sauce, onion, carrot and salary".

"Kerry Thomas of Goulburn has a misunderstanding of GPS," writes Pete Axelrod, of Bardon, Queensland (Column 8, Monday). "The signals don't bounce like radar. Instead the receiver in your car listens to at least four of the 24 satellites which send a highly accurate time signal and their position in orbit. The receiver compares the time it receives the signals from each satellite and from that information computes its location. The satellites don't care how many receivers are listening."

They will occasionally show mercy at Sydney Airport, says Lyal Collins, of Tugan, Queensland, who in the past few days heard the announcement "This is a further final boarding call for flight … "

Column8@smh.com.au(no attachments please).Phone 9282 2207 fax 9282 2772. (include name, suburb, daytime phone)