Wednesday, October 15, 2008

I can smile at the old days, I was beautiful then...

So there I was, tucked safely up in bed. Nice and early as it's a big day tomorrow: Canberra Times article (hopefully), CMAG floor talk.

And I'm thinking about life back when I got my first dolls house...

... The next door neighbours who were actually distant relatives, and the after school cocoas I had there...

... The woman across the road who knitted aran jumpers for money... Angela I think her name was...

... The big storm of 1976 and all the vintage cars in the shed at the top of the street that got smooshed...

... Walking to school so I could spend the 6 cents bus fare on a popsicle...

... Getting a (most probably illegal) dub to the local pool with Helen-next-door on her motorcycle...

... And sliding down the bank in my swimsuit and getting in trouble with my Mum for getting big holes in it (suit, not bank)...

... But being so happy with the hand-me-down brown skirt with big white buttons Helen gave me...

... Buying Misty magazine every week at the shop down by Blenheim Road Roundabout...

The same shop where I'm sure I bought wool to knit outfits for Daisy and Barbie. Which I sold at three more shops in the area. Was it really the same shop?

Other memories flood my mind. Blenheim Road Roundabout shops... The Fish and Chip Shop with the woman who had numbers tatooed on her arm...

(Was this why I had an infatuation with the Jewish Holocaust or did I remember her because of the infatuation? In my memory, Yes. But I was only Eleven....)

Heading the other way from home, the shortcut I took through the empty lot to the dairy and the shock I felt when someone dared to build a house and a fence there!

The two children's libraries I belonged too: at Church Corner and in Hei Hei. Oh - and the shop at Hei Hei shops that sold softdrink in large glass bottles for about the cost of your bus fare to school. And they would keep the unfinished bottle for you to return for after school....

Of course, the area isn't covered by Google Maps Street View. I'm so spoilt being in Australia. I mean, I can't even find proof that there was/ is a pool in the area. Let alone a Fish and Chip shop. Or a shop that might have sold wool and comics at the same time.

And I'm scared to go back because I know it will all have changed beyond recognition....

3 comments :

Anonymous said...

Sorry to miss the floor talk. Hopefully you won't be telling them anything I don't know. Yes you probably will because there are more chapters to your story. Have a good time. HW

createacraft said...

yes..you were beautiful.. and you are beautiful now..
and yes the past is better than when we were living it..
we have a capacity of not remembering things driving us crazy.. when we think about our past in general.. in flashbacks.. it may be different =)
and yes.. don't go back .. changes depress the psychology..
and no =P.. I didn't understand the post before that one.. =)...

Cherry ・ チェリー ・ 체리  said...

Yeh but you do have cool memories :) I think they stil have the heihei shops but not sure if they sell drinks like they used to...
Still remember you mentioning the Jewish fish and chip person lol.