The Velvet Forum

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... -australia

Robson bought a box “the size of a mini-fridge” and packed it with pillows, a suitcase, a book of Beatles songs and two bottles – one for water and one for urine. His friends then nailed it shut and booked Robson as cargo on a Qantas flight from Melbourne to London.

But their plan came unstuck. The flight was full, so Robson was transferred to a PanAm flight that instead took him to Los Angeles.

Big news story at the time by the sounds of it, and Lou supposedly wrote The Gift in the same period. Unlikely to be a coincidence, right?

Interesting, a South Wales connection too!

Mark wrote: ↑08 Apr 2021 09:45 Big news story at the time by the sounds of it, and Lou supposedly wrote The Gift in the same period. Unlikely to be a coincidence, right?

that's what I was thinking, but we don't know exactly when it was written...

This looks like the counterpart to the story I posted on the General Discussion page years ago.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145289

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31700049

Both stories feature crates, two bottles and being turned upside down. It's all a bit hard to believe.

Although with Lou's extensive knowledge of the world around him, he would have known about the practice of sending children by US parcel post in the 1910s. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-ne ... 180959372/

threechordwonder wrote: ↑08 Apr 2021 22:41 This looks like the counterpart to the story I posted on the General Discussion page years ago.

nothing is new
Haha!

simonm wrote: ↑09 Apr 2021 08:40 nothing is new

No, but it sure is weird ...