Photo Gallery

At the beginning of 1982 I was living with Andrew at 44 O'Connell Street, Newtown. It was a year, I am reminded in reviewing the photos, of great excitement and change.

We did our shopping at Birkenhead Point, at that time a new and apparently thriving shopping centre. (It is now very down-at-heel... one of those overcapitalised centres that never managed to attract the volume of people to justify its existence.) At the left you see your humble and hairy author with Andrew, at a very pleasant coffee shop, soaking up the sun. Andrew wasn't that serious... it was probably early on a Saturday morning.

That February saw Tony C marry Alexis. Bad call. We understand that he is much happier these days, but more frequent emails would be appreciated!

This year saw some pretty serious play... with slotcars, first a small set, then the Scalextric whopper with Richard Lesze. Also with trains, as we will get to soon.
Here you see Lou and Dave playing with the first set, a combination of two $20 sets. Within the year, Eric and I would have added electronic controllers and magnets (toy version of the inverse-wing and skirt technology that allowed the Brits to capture a Grand Prix using only a naturally-aspirated 3L V8 against the vastly superior and now banned turbos of Renault) to a Scalextric set. The same set is currently in the garage, awaiting Meri getting bigger... Richard, where are you? You still have a half share in that set. (Richard Lesze is lost in the folds of time... email to Tandem bounced.)
Last year, incidentally, we bought an A$99 set for Kay's nephew James, and it came with magnaskirts so powerful the cars could hang upside-down while stationary on a loop-the-loop (of which there are two in that one set alone)! We should have patented, Eric!

Nick was driving a lovely old Triumph... it had a door lock problem outside Carolyne's place... ah, we were not bothered by such stuff then. (Remember my Honda S600 or the old Fiat 600? I still like the idea of unusual cars.) No competition for our Saabs these days, eh Nick? I should not say that, I am a Mercedes man not a Saab man these days.

I liked to entertain. That April, 44 O'Connell Street had a Silent Party: no talking allowed. The walls were covered with writable paper, some prewritten. Behind the photo of me, the guest list appeared. Actually, the wording of the invitation meant that you could talk, but only if you were not overheard. Hence the picture of Eric below using his vacuum hose to good effect, and the makeshift cone of silence....

Gregor was silent that night, as well.

Bad times too... I collected an oil slick returning from Normanhurst one Saturday morning, where The Crescent comes around the bay in Annandale. Years later, I saw the ABC film crew shooting a scene of a "bad accident" for "Police Rescue", right in the same spot.

The car was a mess, but, over a few months, I fixed it. Carolyne told me later that she did not think I'd ever finish. I beat and repainted panels, welded the manifolds back together (the inlet manifold was torn in half), straightened the gearbox, etc., etc.
Here you see the car parked outside 44, in a state of partial repair. We had at that time some apallingly plebian neighbours. Real pink slippers and rollers-in-the-hair people... remember them Andrew? They didn't like us, and they did not like or understand the car fixing. Actually, I think they did not like people who owned cars.

Lissa and David got married that year.

That event remains one of the best nuptual celebrations on record; a very tasteful gathering at the registry office, buckets of champagne and presents at their house, then a drive (I recall swapping cars with David, he driving Carolyne and I Lissa) to Madame Defarge's restaurant in Paddington, reserved for the occasion. Carolyne probably recalls the drive....

During that year I was also constructing a train set, in a room at Carolyne's place in Normanhurst. I guess I never had the space or the money before. I made up for lost time. Richard Lesze was into toys too.

Toys of a different kind. I discovered that an electrostencil machine produced a master that could as easily be a screen for printing a T-shirt as a piece of paper. The old machine (valve!) in one of the labs at University, now long-disused because of the ubiquitous photocopier, was put to good use. I would mix the paint, then put the T-shirt on an ironing board, and press the paint through the stencil onto the cloth with fingers. The pictures show me mixing up the paint (also by hand), and Andrew and my Jacob Bronowski T-shirt on the board.

Here are two examples. My favourite, Excalibur, and the Osiris one we made when Osiris started up. These two photographs were taken more recently, but the shirts are original!

Parties, parties, parties.
Here Lou and Carolyne and I were on our way to a party... I am sorry I do not remember it... it must have been a killer!

This photograph is taken in the small park opposite 44, late in one of our dinner parties. It must have been a killer do, by the look of us.

So was the one during which this photo was taken, by the look of it, Andrew.

Party pryotechnics, back when cracker night was still a going concern, albeit without bungers. Where is the fun in that, I ask you, when you cannot blow anything up?

That year saw a trip to the Hunter Valley. Here you see my good self with a gorgeous Carolyne. The scenery looks remarkably like what I see every day here in Santa Rosa, classic wine country views. I do like it here.

Around about October 1982, I moved, to live with Carolyne. I recall her asking me rather than the other way around... she may correct me. We moved to Chatswood (a compromise between me wanting to live in the inner West, and she about Hornsby). I had bought a Fiat X19. We moved to a large house, 11 rooms including the cupboard-sized ones, as I recall, to fit Belinda and Martin, trains and slotcars, and to give us a lot of space. Carolyne was gorgeous and gregarious and great fun, the kids were pretty good kids, life was new and interesting. I thought then that everything was looking up.

I felt sad at leaving Andrew, but I did not realise how let down he felt. To his credit, I did not find out for a long time. I also did not really know what I was getting into, which is quite forgiveable. It was not to last, but it started as a high.

The garden in Chatswood had a gazebo. We decked it out with curtains, and as Summer approached we held brunch parties. Stephen was one of the many elegant guests. It was a hot Summer.

Of course, the cleaning up after a wild one could be messy. Ah, but what are children for, if not to work in the concrete salt mines? Keep up the good work, Belinda!

We even held the traditional Scott Summer Solstice Celebration, in the form of an Animal-House-Inspired Toga Party. (I liked the fact that everyone was forced into the mood.) Carolyne was, by the look of her here, not so keen on the camera!

Centewrian Wilton, tummy in, chest owt!

Dick came to that party, and played the part perfectly: Here he debates like a Senator with Eric of the Modern Brown Toga.

Citizen Roberts knew how to take his grapes.