Now, he was a bit of an unlikely doer of good deeds, was Shintaro. The series was set in feudal Japan and Shintaro roamed the countryside dealing with all manner of evil types. We’re not sure if fast food was popular in feudal Japan, for Shintaro always looked as though he was carrying some excess beef. He also had one of those silly man buns about 50 years before they became popular.

However, he could swing a sword and throw star knives and he always won the day. Shintaro was one of the good guys.

There is a reason why we’re wandering down memory lane today.

It’s all to do with Sudoku, as you would imagine.

We were enjoying a bit of quiet time during our recent sabbatical at magnificent Seal Rocks. Our new friend, The Happy Camper (THC) was busying herself working out what is known as a Samurai Sudoku. Why it was called a Samurai Sudoku wasn’t explained. Perhaps they were Shintaro fans as well.

THC said that seeing as we were doing nothing – ‘as usual,’ – we should have a crack at solving the Sudoku. 

“It’s easy,’’ she lied.

She then did her best to explain the intricacies of the mysterious Sudoku. She would have more success explaining it to Shintaro, and we’re not even 100 per cent sure he could speak English.

For anything remotely to do with mathematics is completely beyond this correspondent. About the only consistent thing about our school days was the way we regularly failed maths exams.

Why, we recall being congratulated by a teacher when we passed a year seven match test by two marks. It was an achievement, although we were in year 11 at the time.

Maths lessons seemed to drag on for an eternity. We developed the ability to look as though we were paying attention to what was going on while actually staring out the window. It’s a skill that still serves us well.

Those good at maths were always a bit dodgy as well, we observed. Most of them ended up getting jobs in accountancy, so enough said about that.

So needless to say, our introduction to Sudoku didn’t have a happy ending. THC tried valiantly, using sock puppets at one stage in an attempt to simplify the explanation. However, we just looked interested while actually staring out the window.

THC finally realised the task was beyond her.

“The Roosters are about to start playing. Maybe you should go and watch the game,’’ she suggested.

“Let me know if you need a hand working out the score.’’

In retrospect we think she may have been having a go at us there.