Category: My Diary

Yesterday, Tiki received a telex message which stated that her parents had decided to bypass Fiji and, therefore, would be flying directly home from San Francisco, with their arrival in Sydney now scheduled for twenty-five past six this morning. Having learned of this fact, I had busily set to and mowed their extensive lawns and generally tidied the grounds until after the street lights came on.

We awoke to the alarm at 5.00 a.m., but in my stupor I pushed down upon the knob that is the top of the aerial on my transistor radio and momentarily could not fathom why the alarm continued to ring. It was an icy six degrees Celsius when Tiki drove to the airport, arriving at twenty-five minutes to seven.

Qantas’s flight, QF4, from San Francisco had landed early, at six o’clock, a fact we had already been made aware of by listening to 2KY. We waited for the pair to emerge from customs and while singer, Kamahl, did, the couple we were waiting to greet, did not. Finally, at eight o’clock, I approached a counter that belonged to the airline and was informed that not only had they not been booked to fly on this morning’s flight, their names were not present on the manifest for tomorrow’s either!

This afternoon, on this extremely cold day, Tiki expressed to me that the telex had not been worded clearly and that her parents were not actually departing from San Francisco until today and, therefore, should now arrive in Sydney at twenty-five past six on Sunday morning.

At seven o’clock, much of this evening’s edition of “Willesee” is devoted to an interview conducted with Sir Zelman Cowen. Sir Zelman, who is of the Jewish faith, is Australia’s new Governor-General. The series, “Doctor At Sea”, follows and, at eight o’clock, tonight’s serving of another British comedy, “Mother Makes Five” ensues. We watched about half of the film, “The Great Waltz”. It centres upon the younger of the two Austrian composers who each bore the name of Johann Strauss. Horst Buchholz, Nigel Patrick and Rossano Brazzi are listed amongst the film’s cast.

Today marks that on which a punter must have a minimum of fifty cents in order to place a bet with the N.S.W. T.A.B. The twenty-five cent win and place unit is no more!

An electrical sandwich toaster bearing the trademark of the company, Breville, cost us thirty-four dollars and ninety-five cents at Nock and Kirby’s store, in Miranda Fair. I paid sixteen dollars for a size nine-and-a-half pair of Bata ‘Strides’ shoes, at Myer.

The late actor and comedian, Freddie Prinz, is a guest on the series, “Cher”, which screens between noon and one o’clock, on Channel Seven. Last January, he shot himself at the age of just twenty-two.

The temperature in Sydney reached a maximum of nineteen degrees Celsius. This is three degrees above the seasonal average for the middle of winter. In these conditions, the Balmain ‘Tigers’ defeated the Penrith ‘Panthers’ by twenty-five points to fifteen.

We observed, from half past six, the documentary, “The Family Who Lives With Elephants”. It is narrated by the actor, David Niven. “Baa Baa Black Sheep” follows, an hour later, and prior to us retiring for the night, we are watching the last half of this evening’s edition of “4 Corners”, which is comparing policing in Australia with that in England and the United States. This perennial, investigative series has been screened weekly, on the ABC’s Channel Two, since the programme’s inception in 1961.

We awoke to the 5.00 a.m. alarm for the second time in three days. QF4, with Tiki’s parents on board, landed at six o’clock, but we did not arrive until twenty past the hour. The songstress, Renee Geyer, had already passed through customs and although she wandered around aimlessly for quite some time no one arrived to meet her, at least not whilst we were there. The last I saw of her, she was using a public telephone.

Once I had received the opportunity, I ventured into our backyard and began to pull up some of the mass of Wandering Jew that has enveloped its rear. In doing so I found a number of objects. These included an old golf ball, a number of plastic practice balls and even a plastic ice-cream container filled with cooked prawns, which were almost unbearably on the nose.

However, the most startling discovery was undoubtedly that of the two pig’s trotters which were contained inside a brown paper bag. Not knowing what to expect, when I opened it an involuntary chill ran down my spine for, at first glance, I thought for an instant that I’d unearthed some human remains.

Miss Trinidad and Tobago has been crowned Miss Universe, in Santo Domingo, ahead of Miss Austria and Miss Scotland.

Eastern Suburbs defeated Manly-Warringah by twelve points to nil, this afternoon. The latter, therefore, sits in fifth position in the competition.

This morning is delightfully sunny. “Mum” bought us a medium-sized Westinghouse refrigerator at a cost to her of four hundred and twenty-five dollars.

Tiki’s parents are trying to ease our initial costs, associated with the purchase of a home, as much as they possibly can. It had been our desire to use the money, that we had assiduously saved, to travel around the world before settling down. Her father had always regarded our decision to firstly travel and then think about investing in a home of our own, to be an imprudent one.

Nevertheless, our more immediate future had been determined not by us nor Tiki’s father, but by the present government of Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, when, after three years of disastrous government under Labor’s Gough Whitlam, it chose to devalue the Australian dollar by seventeen and a half per cent. Thereby, effectively devaluing our savings by this same amount, were we to have followed our dream and travelled overseas.

I was hanging my clothes into a section of our new wardrobe when I noticed that their weight had somewhat bent the bar provided. Upon attempting to straighten it, the bar — and, of course, the clothes — collapsed, leaving a sizeable scratch down one side of the new structure. Fortunately, the new Westinghouse fridge had been delivered, at 10.30 a.m., and Tiki had remained in a loving mood. This meant that I was told that I was “hopeless” in a considerably more light-hearted manner than would otherwise have been the case.

At 7.00 p.m., on Channel Seven’s “Willesee”, there is a report on the disappearance of the anti-drugs campaigner, Donald Mackay, from his home town of Griffith, in south-western New South Wales. Blood stains were found beside his tiny panel van in the car park of a local hotel and grave fears are held for his safety.

Programmes from “Happy Days” and “Laverne And Shirley” follow, on Channel Nine, from half past seven and eight o’clock respectively. Jet lag has caught up with Tiki’s father and he is sound asleep. We left to spend our first night in our own house, only to discover that the archaic electric water heater, which is located on the bathroom wall, does not work.

Today marks eight years since man first walked upon the Moon. It is a gloriously sunny winter’s day. Just as it was eight years ago.

Tiki drove me to Caringbah to buy two barbecued chickens, and thence to her parents’ where I showered downstairs. I packed boxes of belongings into the ‘Galant’ while Tiki prepared a savoury chicken dish for dinner. We consumed it in front of “A Current Affair”, which can be viewed from seven o’clock on Channel Nine.

The film, “The Sound Of Music”, with Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews, is on television, in Sydney, from half past seven. I remember viewing it at a cinema in 1966, a year after the film was produced. And speaking of Sydney! Its Eastern Suburbs club was leading Brisbane’s Valleys club by seventeen points to two at half-time in tonight’s fixture of rugby league’s Amco Cup.

We awoke at half past six to another gloriously sunny morning. I was compelled to shave with the use of lukewarm water from the unwashed saucepan that had been used to cook our porridge.

Australia, in possibly its best performance ever, defeated the English club, Arsenal, by three goals to one, at the Sports Ground in Sydney last night.

“Dad” left work at half past two to temporarily fix our old electric water heaters in the bathroom and kitchen. However, he greeted us with the news that the stove — an old Parnall — was irreparable. It omitted sparks and smoke when he poked around at it with an insulated screwdriver. Tiki, therefore, used my late mother’s Hotpoint vertical grill to cook the veal chops, which we had bought for dinner. The appliance must be seven or eight years old and still works perfectly well.

Roger Climpson read the news on Channel Seven from half past six and, after “Willesee”, we watched the risque “Naked Vicar Show”. It features Noeline Brown, Kevin Golsby and Ross Higgins. Tonight’s episode included skits on movie buff, Bill Collins, as well as the Leyland Brothers. The series can be somewhat crude in parts with the seemingly unnecessary use of words such as “bullshit”.

Another episode of the perennial Australian serial, “Number 96”, screens from half past eight on Channel Ten. It can feature women baring their breasts from time to time and also contain some fairly kinky themes. No doubt, such antics have contributed to its longevity.

We watched the film, “Dead Man On The Run”, from 1974. It stars Peter “Whiplash”/”Court Martial”/”Mission Impossible” Graves, who, in real life, is the brother of James “Gunsmoke” Arness.

It is most unpleasant sitting upon our outdoor toilet in the dead of winter. I particularly feel for Tiki who, of course, has to withstand this more often than I.

 

It was an uncomfortable seven degrees Celsius when I showered and the water tended to be either too warm or too cold. Tiki rang me at work to say that her parents had decided to buy both her elder sister and her a new washing machine. She said that her father did not want to spend more than two hundred and fifty dollars and had his eyes set on a twin-tub washer by Hoover. I stated that I thought the fully automatic Simpson ‘Minimatic’ would be a better proposition, but was told not to get the “sulks”.

The day achieved an above average maximum temperature of twenty-one degrees Celsius and I continued to overheat in my skivvy and jumper as I drove to the store, Reids, on Taren Point Road to look at a stove that had been selected by “Mum” and “Dad”. Its price had been reduced by ten dollars, from two hundred and nineteen. Tiki, nevertheless, opted for a Chef ‘Executive’ with a price tag of two hundred and forty-nine, which somewhat displeased her parents.

Then it was our turn to look at washing machines. Once again we went against their wishes by showing our preference for the Simpson ‘Minimatic’, in spite of the fact its cost exceeded “Dad’s” stipulated limit by forty-nine dollars. By this time it was too late for us to actually purchase our selections and we, therefore, have to return tomorrow morning at half past eight.

Tiki and I purchased a Chef ‘Executive’ stove for two hundred and forty dollars. “Mum” and “Dad” on the other hand bought two Simpson ‘Minimatic’ washing machines before generously donating one to us.

He and I carried our heavy washing machine into the house, with my hands, which were gloved against the cold, almost losing their grip at one stage. The new stove followed, securely encased inside its crate of aluminium. Tiki soon discovered that we had been supplied with one that bears a door of black ‘glass’. Such a stove, she claimed, would have cost us more than fifty dollars extra!

We moved the old Parnall out to the backyard. Its element only worked on ‘high’ and the door to its oven had refused to stay closed. Its weight felt considerably greater than its new counterpart and the abruptness of its bottom edge made it feel as if it was going to sever my now gloveless fingers.

“Dad” and Tiki were down on their hands and knees scrubbing the tiles and lino with Ajax after I had scraped away the thick, oozy sludge that had lain beneath the old stove. He connected the new stove in half an hour, but not before “Mum” had burst into laughter when Tiki ungratefully remarked, “Is that all there is to it?”

I angrily retorted, “What do you mean… He’s bursting his gut down here!” And so he was! Faced with a somewhat lengthy struggle to successfully connect the wire that would earth the machine.

“Dad” left for work and the pair of us took “Mum” up to Miranda Fair, in the Chrysler ‘Galant’, at 11.00 a.m. At Nock and Kirby we bought eight handles for the doors of the kitchen cupboards, at a cost of eighty-five cents each. A Sabco toilet brush cost two dollars and ninety-five cents. “Mum” bought a hair dryer by Braun, which came with a styling wand in the shape of a stick. Its price of purchase was twenty-nine dollars.

Parramatta defeated Randwick by eighteen points to three on Channel Two’s live coverage of rugby union on this gloriously sunny afternoon. “Jeopardy” and “It’s Academic” appeared on Channel Seven in the hour from five o’clock. Channel Two’s edited replay of this afternoon’s game of rugby league followed from six. The Western Suburbs ‘Magpies’ defeated Canterbury-Bankstown by seventeen points to ten, thereby denting that side’s hopes of being one of the five teams that will then contest the duel for the premiership. Canterbury’s loss keeps Manly’s ambitions alive.

Fees at St. Andrew’s Cathedral School, in town, will be approximately six hundred dollars for a pupil in First Form. This, I have been reliably informed, is in spite of many of its classes having thirty-five students in them.

“Dad” and I removed most of the leaves from his above-ground swimming pool. Unfortunately, he fell heavily when stepping from the pool’s edge on to the nearby sandstone wall, severely grazing his thigh. He placed the blame for the accident on his bifocal glasses.

The pair of us travelled to our house where “Dad”, with my assistance, finalised the installation of the Simpson ‘Minimatic’ washing machine; affixed eight handles, in total, to the doors of the cupboards in the kitchen, and, after lunch, sawed the bottoms off the three doors that had previously been removed in order that we could have the carpet laid.

“Ask The Leyland Brothers”, from half past five, included a visit to Wave Rock, which is near Hyden in Western Australia, prior to transporting the viewer to the Flinders Ranges, in South Australia.

Tiki is two up on me as she has been to both Wave Rock and the Flinders Ranges. She spent five months travelling around Australia with her family in a caravan, in 1973. The nine weeks’ bus tour, in the year prior to that, took me to neither.

“Seven’s Big League”, from half past six, covers the match between the St. George ‘Dragons’ and the Balmain ‘Tigers’. The former triumphs, albeit narrowly, by twenty-one points to seventeen. At Brookvale Oval, this afternoon, in another game from this weekend’s round, Manly-Warringah accounted for Cronulla-Sutherland by twelve points to eight, having led by ten to five at half-time. Manly remains in fifth position on the ladder in spite of its victory.

Tonight’s programme in the series, “The Bionic Woman”, has Jaime Sommers, played by Lindsay Wagner, situated in the capital of country and western music, Nashville, Tennessee. We left Channel Ten at half past eight to view the film, “Machine Gun McCain”, on Channel Seven. Produced in Italy, in 1969, it stars John Cassavetes, Peter “Columbo” Falk and the Swedish actress, Britt Ekland. We found it to be a major disappointment.