Vaughan St is set to add a Umart next door to Kmart, with the former under construction and hiring across the region.
UMart is a computer and tech store which, from a cursory look through the blinds, looks like it’s a month or so off opening.
But it got Oddie thinking — can Shepparton capitalise on this? Do we get a Rmart and an Omart to have the full R U OK Mart suite along Vaughan St? We’re already half-way there.
Perhaps we’re thinking too small.
Could we move Shepparton’s Amart to Vaughan St? Does Baker’s Delight rebrand as Bmart? Coles, you’re now Cmart by popular demand.
Europa Cafe can be Emart, Finer Fruits can be Fmart — we’re practically there already.
This sounds like a Smart idea.
An unfortunate choice
Oddie recently had his heater die on him, which is merciless timing considering the cold snap which has descended on the eastern part of the country.
He managed to get the landlords to bring in a technician, who after hitting a few buttons on the remote, turning it off and then on again and then slapping it once or twice, pronounced it broken before wandering off saying it would need replacing.
Sherlock Holmes is yet to get back in touch about replacing said unit.
A few nights later, just as Oddie was sitting in bed with the not-too-cheap, power-guzzling, old-school plug-in oil wall heater going, pondering a career change into becoming an airconditioning technician so he can afford his own house and his own technicians, his light blew its bulb.
Ordinarily, Oddie would just pop down to the shop the next day to replace it, but this light is in-built in the fan. No beuno changing it himself.
So, come 5pm, Oddie has the enviable choice of being warm in the dark bedroom or cold in the admittedly well-lit living room.
Maybe Oddie will just pour a bath and keep topping it up until he wrinkles into a sultana.
20°C