Cousin C, whose nickname is Smiley, rang me out of the blue the other week. I don’t often hear from him. “How are you?” his warm voice with its unmistakably Aussie accent was mellow on the phone. “All the better for hearing from you,” I said enthusiastically. “Gee, that’s nice!” he replied. “Yep,” I said, “I read it in a book.” It is not only Smiley’s voice which has mellowed over the years. He is getting a bit soft in his senior years. He was ringing to organise a family get