LOUIS BURKE | Culture | CONTACT
Grandkids gather round, because family matriarch Brian ‘Pop’ Toovey is about to perfectly light a match on the first go.
At 78 years of age, Toovey remembers a time when most commercial matches were given away for free by businesses and could be lit off almost any surface, having previously lit a match off his teeth in his smoking days.
Now a grandfather of eight, Toovey has put the ciggies to rest but still gets a huge kick out of lighting the candles on his grandchildren’s birthday cakes using the extra long matchsticks he purchased especially.
“Easy now,” stated Toovey as he struck a match with a triumphant crack that brought a new fire into this world.
“There she goes.”
Expert analysis of Toovey’s ‘First Time, Everytime’ technique claims it is the old man’s aggression that causes such a fiery hiss from his matches as he strikes them to the safety strip, the match held like a pencil rather than a match to minimise the chance of the match breaking.
“Most people fuss around and break quite a few before giving up and looking for a lighter,” stated match enthusiast Piers Gold.
“But he’s been lighting Red Heads since before they made the durable kind he uses. Far out, he even still has a few of those old ones Dick Smith made called Dick Heads which he keeps for a laugh.”
