Sunday Stealing: Personal History

Another dull Saturday night at home - though at least I'm getting a bit of knitting done. And I went out last night, so at least I've been out this weekend. 

I'm not sure how I feel about answering all of these really personal questions, but I'll give it a crack. 

Questions, as always, have been provided by Bev at Sunday Stealing. 

1.  What would you like people to know about your mother?

Things about my mother: (Who reads this so I have to be nice)

• She lives in a place called Myponga
• Currently, she's in great health for an 81-year-old - she even goes to the gym. 
• She's not too bad with computers
• She loves cats as much as I do
• She makes the best roast lamb ever
• She has a bit of a lead foot - well she used to
• She used to be a theatre sister - and was a nurse for nearly 40 years.
• She and my step-dad built a straw bale cottage and ran a Bed and Breakfast for a couple of years
• Her house is busier than Paddington Station
• She drinks far more than I do - but most people do that - and not to excess. 
• She's got a lot shorter as she has got older
• She's left-handed for writing, but does most other things with her right-hand. My grandfather was supposed to be left-handed but it was beaten out of him. Not so strangely, I'm ambidextrous - I can only use scissors with my left hand. 

2.  What would you like people to know about your father?

• My father died 25 years ago
• He was 55` when he died
• He was a fast runner and nearly made the state squad for football, until a medical found he had a heart murmur. 
• He loved Bond films
• e.e. cummings' poem Nobody loses all the time always reminds me of him

3.  What was your childhood bedroom like?

I had the sleepout - an enclosed verandah - so it was about 22 feet long by six feet wide. It was painted white. It had a door to the rest of the house and it was a thoroughfare from the main house into the laundry and toilet. The house had major extensions done after I went to university, but I never had a real designated bedroom in that house after I left. 

4.  What was your favorite activity as a child?

Reading, writing, talking to the animals and playing my flute when I was older. 

5.  What was high school like for you?

Bloody awful - but wasn't that the case for most people? I was the fat, weird, brainy kid. Not much has changed, but I celebrate my weirdness. I like being a bit odd. 

6.  Write about your cousins.

I have fifteen of them. Ten on Mum's side, five on Dad's side. The ones on Mum's side are all older than me, the ones on Dad's side are all younger than me. I'm in contact with a lot of them. From what I know, most of them are good people even if we are very different in our religious and political views. As a family, we don't fight. 

7.  What was your favorite food as a child?

Mum's roast lamb. I was also fond of sausages in onion gravy and spaghetti bolognese. 

8.  What was your most memorable birthday?

I had a wonderful 50th birthday. I was in Bali. I got woken by an earth tremor (after a reasonably significant earthquake the night before) and I got my lunch stolen by a monkey. It was fun. 

9.  What world events were significant to you as a child?

I remember when Gough Whitlam was sacked by the Attorney General and my parents yelling at the telly. And Cyclone Tracey freaked me out.

10. What did a typical day look like as a child?

As a kid in the country, I used to get up, feed the calves, have a shower, and then go to the front gate to get on the bus to go to school - the bus picked us up and dropped us off every day. At night, repeat the calf feeding, then chores, dinner, telly and bed. Pretty normal really. 

11. Write about your grandparents.

I knew all of them as a child. My paternal grandfather was very brusque and smoked two packs of cigarettes a day. He died when I was eight. My paternal grandmother had a heart of gold but she lived a very sad life - and you could feel that in the house. I adored my maternal grandfather, who was born in 1899 and worked for the post office all of his life. He was your atypical grandfather. And my maternal grandmother lived until 104 - and she was hysterical in her own way. My cousins tell me that I was one of her favourites because I gave as good as she gave out. She taught me to knit and crochet and I use a lot of her recipes when I bake. 

12. Did you move as a child?

Once. From the city to the country when I was eight. A lot of me wished we stayed in town. 

13. Who taught you to drive?

My father, but I've been driving since I was about ten. I learned to drive on a tractor. 

14. Which job has been your favorite?

Strangely, I liked working at a telecommunications company around 2007-2010. Great people, good fun and I ran the beer club for a while. How can you not be happy when you run a beer club?

15. What was the best part of your 30s?

Probably getting therapy and sorting myself out at last. Though I started my thirties in London. I liked living in London. 

Today's song: