7 APRIL 2007, Page 26

Aussie outrage

Sir: Charlotte Moore, reviewing Thomas Keneally’s The Widow and Her Hero (Books, 24 March), questions whether there is ‘a woman alive’ who, like Grace, notices the difference between rail gauges in NSW and Victoria. I can tell her that for years and years every traveller between NSW and Victoria was perfectly aware of the idiocy of the differing rail gauges, brought on by the pigheadedness of each state government. Everyone had to get off one train and on to another. The sound of gnashing teeth, cursing and sighing, etc., was very audible!

Lee Shrubb Sydney, Australia