As I sit here in the wee hours of the morning thinking about things I need to do or haven't been done I find myself floating off to a different time. We all miss parts of our past lives and as I get older I find myself thinking about these times more often then before.
My earliest memories are a mixed bunch. And there are so many of them. I have the times my brother and myself played on our Grandparent's farm overseas, always finding interesting things amongst the tall grass and trees. An old beat up car was our favourite. We didn't have cubby houses in those days. It was just us, a few sticks and stones and an empty car we pretended to drive.
Sometimes we would climb out the window and wait for the horse and cart to come along filled with watermelon. My grandfather would approach the cart pick out the melon and it would be cut up all while sitting under the window sill which was just above the footpath. Then we had the days with me running thru cornfields and not coming home till nightfall. Spending time in European snow was another one. I still to this day when visiting, jump into the snow and roll around much to everyone's amusement. In Australia we went up in the mountains to enjoy the snow. Mt.Buller being our favourite!
I do have a memento from the time I picked up a bell that belonged to a goat and then had to run for my life when the Goat decided to chase me. I was 7 and I still have this bell as a keepsake. Its one of the only things I have left that hasn't broken or been accidentally thrown out.
I also had my first taste of alcohol as a teenager. It was Kruskovac a sweet pear liquer. It was very sweet but deadly and I had lots of it....and lots of it came back up again. I have never had this again. To this day I'm not big on alcohol. I definitely didn't inherit the Balkan, Baltic or Australian love of drinking. I also loved the food. (That I did inherit) This was the time when no one even thought about diets nor did we know what that was. We ate all the wonderful specialties including the tasty stews, creamy, decadent desserts oh and the fresh doughnuts, my mouth waters just thinking about it.
My first experience with alcohol. Pear liqueur. Never again is all I'm going to say about this.
We were lucky to be able to experience a bit of the European lifestyle. Even if we did grow up in Australia!! We brought some of it with us along with everyone else who came here. I love it that we have the different varieties of food from many diverse cultures and we are so fortunate to be able to experience that. We had international days at my school. Everyone would bring food, photo's and dancing groups would show us their style and the music was fabulous.
You can't go without thinking about Summer in Australia. Back then it wasn't as hot as now. We would spend morning till afternoon on the beach then go across the road to the park and have an evening bbq. Sometimes it would just be fish and chips wrapped in a newspaper costing almost nothing. Chips were 20c back then for a bag!There would be parents and kids everywhere. Not to mention our annual holiday down the coast sleeping in tents and running thru the caravan park.
A special moment between father and daughter. One of our many trips to the beach. A beautiful time.
Photo taken in 1981 Williamstown Beach Victoria.
I especially remember weekends with my parents. Actually weeknights too. We went everywhere with them. No babysitters in sight and my dad would always take us out while my mum worked on Saturday and Sundays. We would start with either are hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs with sausages and onion mixed in or it would be piping hot Vienna White bread with butter and jam. We drank coffee but only a light amount in warm milk and we loved it. We visited museums, parks, the city, rode on trams, ate chocolate out in front of Parliament house. We went to dances, had endless fun parties and visits during the week and they had time for all of this on top of their hard laborious jobs. They embraced all that was on offer and they gave us the best memories of that time.
My dad took photo's of all our outings and gatherings. We have so many albums full of a life lived. The photo's I have on here are all his work. I am grateful as he has left me so many snapshots of our adventures.
My brother and I visiting the many parks in Melbourne where we grew up. We never spent our days indoors. My father captured this moment perfectly. The carefree nature of our childhood.
This was taken at Footscray Park. Behind us is the Maribyrnong River and behind that in the distance is the Flemington Racecourse where The Melbourne Cup is held every year. My dad always made us pose for photos and we always complained.
I have to laugh I spent quite a bit of my childhood in the 70s and 80s. The fashion we had back then borders on horrendous and insane. First we had flares, crochet tops and everything was tight at the waist, flared at the bottom and brown in colour mostly! Then came the bubble gum jeans and leg warmers on top. Fluorescent T-Shirts and socks, bangles and netting on top of your clothes. Sniff and scratch shirts became popular and Choose Life T-shirts from the band Wham which stirred up controversy in its own right. We had those big wide belts and puffy skirts and who could forget shoulder pads and bright make up that stood out for kilometres.
And let's not talk about hairstyle's...ok well let's talk about hairstyles. The gravity on some of our hair do's in the 80's would even defy space. The amount of hairspray, mousse, gel and whatever else kept hair up was astounding. I honestly don't know how any of us have hair left. ( Well some of us don't ). And then there was the perm. I had 3 of them and boy did I think I looked good. I wasn't the only one with the perm. The boys were loving their curly mullets. It was a sign of masculinity back then. haha.
But besides all that is laughable some of the best music came from the 70's and 80's. I remember rocking to Foreigner, Kiss, Whitesnake, AC/DC, Mondo Rock, INXS, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springstein, Twisted Sister, Pet shop boys and then you had Wham, Adam Ant, Billy Idol, Boy George, Belinda Carlisle, Pat Benetar, Cindy Lauper, Madonna, Brian Ferry, Michael Jackson, Cool and the Gang, Lionel Ritchie, Chaka Khan, MC Hammer, and many many more. It will take up another page to write them all down. Let me not forget break dancing. Every child wanted to master it and you would find kids everywhere practicing. We had the teenage angst movies, Breakfast Club, St.Elmos Fire, 16 Candles, There was Police Academy and Flashdance, Footloose and who could forget Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing. I remember Night clubs were called Discos, we had no mobile phone's so I wonder how we ever organized to go out and meet up. None of us used the internet or the computer, there was no social media and to ask someone out you had to get a home phone number and call. Most of the time your father would answer and that would be the end of that. haha.
80's female pop star Cindy Lauper. Real name: Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper. Famous for songs such as: Girls just wanna have fun and Time after time.
One of my favourties INXS. Great Australian Rock Band. Cannot wait for the mini series about their lives. Never Tear Us Apart and Original Sin are just two of their hits.
Every teenagers favourite highschool movie about detention. I could watch this over and over and never tire of it. Some very funny moments. Detention was never like this at my school.
I sometimes wish for those times. Everything seemed easier and more romantic. Every generation will most likely say the same thing about their time as kids and teenagers. But I think these days the world of Information Technology has taken a bit of the mystery out and bombarded us with too many images of things that are really confusing and not appealing. Too many choices and not enough imagination.
I worry for my children. They will have to be extra careful with what they put out there and what they do with photos, videos and anything else that can be bought, sold and used to embarrass and bully. We live in a time very different to our own childhood and of our parents beforehand. The teachings of those times are outdated. Some things like discipline have had to be streamlined. No more whipping from parents. Its illegal. You have to learn to adapt and help your children cruise through this world with as much guidance, support and love as you can. You can hold onto a few things like respect and teaching your children to be kind human beings.
I will in time take my children overseas and hopefully they will experience a little of what I did in those days. If not eating watermelon outside then maybe having an ice cream from the man selling them on the bike or rolling around in snow and having a white Christmas. Who knows they may even have their own goat chase them and bring home a keepsake.
But whatever the experience they have I hope they can look back fondly as I do and have no regrets about days gone by. Life is to be enjoyed and memories are to be made. Material things are temporary but when you leave this world you take your past and present with you. The future you give to your children and those that are left behind.
Your legacy is your memories.
The only real treasure is in your head. Memories are better than diamonds and nobody can steal them from you”
― Rodman Philbrick, The Last Book in the Universe
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