Saturday, September 6, 2008

Cecil

Barrie's Dad, Cecil, was a tanner and Mark remembers being told of the time when a flashy salesman in a brand new white suit came to the tannery. He was being shown around the tannery - around the grounds there were big pits of tanning effluent which was a green colour but as dust etc settled on it it looked like dirt and the salesman just walked right into one of the pits.

Go cart

Roger remembered having so much fun in the double go cart that he decided to make one for his kids for Christmas. The problem was that he tried to make it the same size as he remembered as a kid and it turned out so big and heavy that the axle kept breaking.

Returning bottles

Mark, Helen and Marion used to collect old glass soft drink bottles - which at that time could b returned to the shop for cash. They put them in the double go cart and sent the little kids into the shop to get the 5 cent refund. The little kids had to go to the shop - but the big kids kept the money.

Icy poles

David used to buy icy poles from the supermarket, freeze them at home, then sell them to Roger who couldn't resist. He made enough money to keep himself in icy poles.

Prawn Crackers

Beth said Nathan was on treat for FHE one night and made it into treat and a show. He was making prawn crackers and heated up the oil, then when he finished he forgot to turn the stove ,off, but put the lid on the pot. When he remembered he carefully carried the pot to the patio, took the lid off and they all got to watch it burst into flames.

Poppins

Simone remembered their old cat by saying they had a cat called Poppins and 'sometimes she didn't bite me' - which says a lot about their relationship. Simone remembered Poppins sleeping in the middle of her bed and being too afraid to move her so Simone just lay on her side all night.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Sleeping

Robert said that when he was little he found it hard to sleep so he pulled his blanket and mattress all the way down the stairs into Monica and Simone's bedroom. David found him there and let him stay.

Monica said she and Simone would stay up late talking and they could hear Robert thumping down the stairs towing his mattress and blankets, followed by David and Beth calling out for him - then hiding under the pillows.

Young Mens

When Roger was in YM's the leaders would frequently just not show up - which left a group of YM unsupervised for a couple of hours. They found their own activities. One of which was to rock the roof of the Girl Guides Hut. It was a two story building across the road from some railway tracks. The YM found that they could throw the rocks clear across Samford Road, so they couldn't easily be spotted. It was a successful activity -the rocks were really heavy and the girl guides would come running out of the hut like ants.

Poppins

Robert remembered in his old house at Red Hill they had a cat called Poppins. Simone had to feed Poppins and Poppins would scratch her - but a white cat came to visit and they could pat that one.

Simone clarified - she remembered walking in the back door with Poppins following her. She didn't want Poppins inside so she picked up Poppins and threw her over the hedge - but Poppins kept coming back - so Simone kept throwing her over the hedge - maybe ten times before she got inside. Poppins used to chase Simone!

Lost

Peet remembers Tom telling him that when he was quite small Tom was watching him a shop and lost him. Since Peet's first word was 'no' Tom tricked by calling out 'Peet' in a voice like Roger's and Peet duly answered 'no' from under a shelf.

Dog

When Louisa was 2 years old got a day old chick which she called 'dog' because she wished it was a dog.

Parades

Grannis lived in a house which had a high fence and was opposite the old museum. Parades would go past the front of the house and people would sit on the fence to get a good view. Grannis tied a hat pin to a stick and would walk along on her side of the fence poking the people's bottoms with the hat pin.

One eyed pony

Grannis had a one eyed pony. She would practice jumping out of the tree onto its back. She was upset that she couldn't take it with her to boarding school.

Koala

When Grannis was a girl she had a baby koala that she kept in a sugar bag and fed with bread and milk and sugar - the koala would sit in the bowl when it was eating.

Grannis had a scooter which she rode to the shop to buy barley sugar in long ropes. The koala would eat the barley sugar by sitting on its bottom and holding it in its back legs.

During WW1 the soldiers had a camp near Grannis' house and she thinks one of them stole the koala. But she thinks the koala probably died because they wouldn't have been able to feed it properly. Her father would take the sulky out each day to collect gum leaves for the koala.

Lollies

When Anne was about 5 the girl across the road - Elaine - said that if Anne found some money she would take it to the shop and buy lollies. Since Anne knew where her father kept the cash box, she went and took 10 shillings and gave it to Elaine. Grannis came home to find all the neighbourhood kids eating Crumble Bars. When Grannis asked Anne where they came from Anne answered innocently that 'I just had to give Elaine money and she bought them.'

Rockets

In primary school David would run home along the train tracks, partly to save money and partly because if you missed the early train you had to wait a long time for the next train - it was tricky on the bridges but got easier when the line went electric. He would take the money he saved and buy 'rockets' and fire them at the cows. Had a friend - Greg Anthill - together they would tie lizards to the rockets and fire them into the air!

The Top Bunk

Marion remembers being really glad that she could finally sleep in the top bunk - it's was Marks bed but he had friends over and was sleeping in the tree house. Unfortunately Marion vomited in the bed overnight and was too scared to get out of bed - so she just turned the pillow over and went back to sleep. Sadly by morning the vomit had dried - some of it in Marion's hair which was sticking out and mangled. When Marks friend saw her they were disgusted - and said so - 'your sister is disgusting'. Mark was embarrassed and said Marion couldn't sleep in his bed ever again. But Anne just helped Marion to clean up the bed and her hair.

Guns

Roger was at the Dunhams with Mark Themor and Nathaniel Cahoon while the parents were out and found that- serendipitously - he had a plastic container of bullets. Christian Dunham found an old .22 rifle which didn't work but the boys used a bit of wire to get it going, aimed it into the air and shot. It worked - so feeling a bit excited by that success Christian remembered another gun they could try - this time an M1 semi-automatic carbine - with bullets! So this time they put some cardboard across the creek on the embankment and took 3 shots each. They were alarmed to see a man crawling up from the creek. Turned out to be a Baptist minister who was there with his Sunday School for a picnic. He yelled at the boy and threatened to get the police because they endangering the lives of his Sunday School class. Dee Dunham came back, heard the story and went down the creek to the minister and went mad at him for rousing at her children!

Dee rang the police and asked what would happen - nothing came of it - except that Mike Dunham came home and said 'so now you're gun smiths are you'. Roger thinks they only told them about the .22 and didn't actually 'fess up about the M1!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Grannis at Boarding School

There was a plum tree with fruit that the students had been forbidden to pick. In order to obey Grannis climbed out of the window, onto the tree and nibbled around the fruit, leaving the stalk hanging on the tree with the seed attached - so she didn't actually 'pick' the fruit.

Remembered by Anne.

Barrie's next door neighbour

Mark remembers Barrie telling about his next door neighbour as a child who would often yell in a funny high voice "Noorrmiee, go and get some toilet paper to wipe the baby's bottom.'