BIRTHDAY BEAR LOVES HIS NEW JOB

Our friend George celebrated his birthday recently. 

 At Mary's house, Birthday Bear was all dressed and ready to go to The Fishmonger's Restaurant to surprise George. Bear had his truck driver's uniform on, his clip board, and parcels for delivery as well as a truck to drive. Bear was very excited about being a truck driver, 

George worked for 30 Years for the transport company, 'Toll'. He drove huge B Double Trucks. 

 Bear was already on the table at the restaurant looking very important when we arrived..

 He was very happy with his work boots.

 He was even more thrilled when Bill shared his wine with him and George offered him some chips.

Mary did a great job of dressing Birthday Bear for George. 

For readers not familiar with our Birthday Bear tradition click here:Birthday Bear

MAN CAVE MAKEOVER

Twenty-five years ago, when our kids had left school, TOH (The Other Half) took the plunge and started his own air conditioning business. To avoid high overheads he worked from home. We had an office built under the house next to the garage. So our highset house now became a two storey house. After he retired, his office became his man cave, where he pursued his hobbies and what ever men do in their caves other than make a mess.
I was astounded at how much junk one man can collect and store in his cave when we decided to  clean it out and turn it into a classroom for U3A, as well as a new clean tidy cave for him. TOH has taken on teaching "Movie Making" to oldies in U3A.(University of the Third Age.) He taught  one course at the local library in term one and many students wanted to do more and other members wanted to do the course but the room at the library was taken over by another group. So we decided to do it at home, which is better because using his own gear is much better and faster.
However, this meant a clean out of the cave. Secretly I was very excited. The rest of the story is in pictures:

The man cave as it was. Looking from the garage door.

Looking towards the garage door. The office has its own entry on the left, so clients didn't have to go into the house.

As luck would have it, our interior designer daughter was in Brisbane for a week doing a job for her Sydney company. So when she got home from work we gave her another job of designing a man cave which can be turned into a classroom once a week. She's brilliant. First thing she said was, "Everything has to go and start afresh." Father looked shocked at first but realised daughter knows best. I was very pleased.

TOH starts emptying two filing cabinets which held 25 years worth of files, a lot of sensitive stuff he shredded. 

 First up we bought new lights as the old fleuro tubes were rusted into the fittings. We bought the new LED lights, which don't use much electricity. We had to employ a licensed electrician even though TOH was once an electrician, he didn't have an up to date license, and the warranty would not be valid.

They are nifty lights that only have chips and no bulbs.

They work well too.

"C'mon you can't shred forever! Lets start sorting this stuff. What to you need and what can we toss?"

 Finally I get him organised. Boxes for junk and boxes for stuff you want to keep. 

 The junk mounts up. We stack it in the garage where my car used to live. The stuff to keep is on the other side of the car. 

 I hired my Gardener/Handyman to remove the furniture and rubbish and take it to the dump. He's under the built in desk unscrewing it from the wall.

 Handyman and helper fill a truck and trailer with all the furniture and junk. Can you believe how much junk one man can collect?

 TOH sadly watches his twenty five years of beloved office disappear to the dump.

Now what?????

(Stay tuned for the makeover)

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY "Make it Happen" (2015 theme)

I know we usually think of women on this day, who have made a significant contribution to their community or the world. However, I think of the women who mean the most to me: My late mother and my two daughters. Like most women they have made a small contribution to society.

My mum, Florrie was the daughter of a mine manager and the second youngest of 8 siblings. When she finished school in Yorkshire at Thorn's House, she went to London to study nursing in 1930. She made friends with a girl called Charlie. They had lots of fun together and often went on country walks. My mum was very fashion conscious and wore up to date clothes all her life. (I never got those genes, unfortunately). In those days it was frowned upon for women to wear slacks/pants. It was thought vulgar.

"Following the war, in the 1920s, women exposed their arms and legs, flattened their chests, bobbed their hair to look boyish, and got the vote; but pants remained taboo, except in the realm of sports.
When diva film star Marlene Dietrich appeared in slacks with flared bottoms in her United States debut film Morocco in 1930, she signalled the emergence of women's pants from sportswear to high fashion. Wearing them both in films and private life, she popularized the pants look." (from the internet)

Mum saw Marlene in the movies and decided to wear pants but there were none in the shops. So she and Charlie bought mens pants and wore them on one of their walks. Naturally, it caused a stir, as this had been thought a vulgar thing to do. However, a newspaper photographer thought it would make a good story. So he photographed them and the caption was:

 "First Women to Wear Pants in London."

Charlie in front and my mum behind crossing a bridge.

So in her way she helped pave the way for it to be acceptable for women to wear pants. "She made it Happen"

My eldest daughter, Carol-Ann is an interior designer and has designed the inside of many commercial buildings around the world. One of her most exciting jobs was to design the Google offices in London, Dublin and Munich. She also enjoyed doing the BBC Worldwide in London and the ASB Bank in New Zealand. Many people are enjoying comfortable workspaces thanks to her. She "Made it Happen"

My youngest daughter, Sonya is a production manager for theatre. She has also worked in different countries. She enjoyed working at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Sydney Opera House and now at University of California Theatre department. She has helped people enjoy theatre and taught students how to produce shows. Sonya also juggles being a good mum with her career. Not easy! She "Made it Happen"

Sonya left and Carol-Ann right

I am proud of the women in my family just like I am proud of all the women in the world who are achievers and "Make it Happen" and to those who are continuing to strive for equality.

BARISTA BEAR

It was Bill's Birthday a few weeks ago but due to the cyclone we had to postpone the Birthday Bear celebration. So yesterday our Birthday Bear Group went to the Chatswood Hills Tavern for lunch. They do a great tender steak for lunch at a very reasonable price.
When we arrived Birthday Bear was already standing on the table ready to greet Bill for his birthday. I burst out laughing when I saw him because he was so appropriately dressed for Bill.
Anyone who knows Bill, they know that it doesn't matter where he is or what he's doing but come 10:30 am and he is looking for a coffee.
It doesn't matter if we are walking in the city, walking in the forest, walking along the beach , travelling overseas or on a road trip, come 10:30 and we desperately have to find a coffee shop before we can continue.
So now Barista Bear is on hand to make him a coffee anytime he likes. His T-Shirt says,

"However you look at it. Its coffee time!"

 Bear had his own little coffee machine and clocks to remind him when its time for coffee. He also had a cap from a train company in New Zealand. Bill collects caps and loves trains. Bear had also brought some books  by Dick Francis, one of Bill's favourite authors. I think Bill is going to enjoy having Bear at home with us for a while until its time to celebrate the next birthday.

 Ann was the clever clogs, who thought of dressing bear like this. She has experienced Bill's moaning if he can't have a coffee at 10:30am.

We always have fun at our Birthday Bear celebrations.

If you haven't read about our Birthday Bear tradition read it here on Birthday Bear's own blog.

PLAYING GROWN UPS

After we were married in May 1969, Bill found us a brand new apartment to rent, we actually had to wait until the building was finished. It was in Korobosea, a suburb of Port Moresby in P/NG. It was in a lovely position high up on a hill and close to the school where I worked.

The view from our front door and car park. We were very excited on moving in day and looked forward to playing grown ups in our very own brand new apartment. Luckily, the company Bill worked for paid the rent. We only had to pay for food, petrol and the 'haus boi'.

The 'haus boi' came every morning before we left for work and he would wash the car. After we went to work he would wash the dishes from the night before, wash the clothes and towels, clean the house and iron the clothes. When we came home all was clean and washed. It was a wonderful luxury. 

At work, Bill supervised and taught the local workers how to build a switchboard for an air-conditioning unit for a government building.

The apartment was three stories high.

The living room was on the ground floor. There was no TV or computers then. We used to read, listen to music and play games. Note the state of the art record player and tape recorder.

From the living room there were stairs going up to a mezzanine level to the kitchen. The apartment wasn't air conditioned so as you can see we didn't wear a lot of clothes. Bill wearing his lap lap.

 I wondered what was on the little sticker in the corner. I zoomed in and was a little surprised. It says "This way to the orgy." The picture on the floor is waiting to be hung.

Playing grown ups in the kitchen.

From the kitchen the stairs switch back to above the living room to the bedroom and ensuite. Like the kitchen there were no internal walls. It was open plan and quite modern for the times.

Sometimes we would go to the new public swimming pool to cool off. This day we were child minding for very good friends of ours, Joan and Norm. I taught with Joan and went on a holiday with her around Papua/New Guinea. We are still friends today and having lunch with them tomorrow.

Another day we were invited to watch the parliament sitting in the House of Assembly. In 1964 the first parliament was elected to self govern the Australian Territory of Papua/New Guinea. The Australians were teaching the 'Nationals' how to govern their country democratically. In 1975 the people of P/NG were given independence and started the National Parliament of P/NG. In 1984 they moved into a beautiful new building and this one has been demolished.

My brother worked in the House of Assembly as the Deputy Clerk of the house until 1975. (Circled in red)

My brother, David, 1969

THE MARRIAGE MIX UP

It was 1969, after a whirlwind romance, I was soon to be married to a Swiss boy. We were living in Papua/New Guinea and we had to decide where to get married. Switzerland, Australia or P/NG. We thought it would be unfair to my parents if we got married in Switzerland and unfair to Bill's parents if we got married in Australia. In those days air travel to the other side of the world was very expensive. So we thought getting married in P/NG would avoid that problem. Neither set of parents would be able to afford to come and although being sad for all of us at least it was fair. (Now being a parent myself, I think that was a pretty harsh decision. )

 So we pushed on with the marriage arrangements. We had our photos taken to be used on the invitation cards.

 Bill was friendly with a Swiss artist in P/NG and he offered to draw a cartoon of us being cooked by the natives. Inside the card we wrote the invitation in both English and German. We sent them to family and friends in all three countries. But as expected only those living in P/NG could attend. However, my brother was living on the other side of P/NG way up in Kavieng on New Ireland and he couldn't get away from work so he wasn't able to come. He sent me a letter saying he was sorry that he wouldn't be there, but for a wedding present he would pay for Mum and Dad to fly from Sydney.

Mum and Dad at Port Moresby airport.

Wow! That was exciting news but I was worried about how Bill's parents would feel about being left out. Nevertheless, Bill assured his parents that we would go to Switzerland to visit them. That was something for me to look forward to. Bill nor I had met our prospective parents in law. So it was going to be bad luck if either of our parents disapproved. Anyway, we continued on with plans. We weren't religious so we decided against a church wedding and we made enquiries about where we could have a civil marriage ceremony. We were told that the District Officer could marry us in the District Office. The trouble was we had to be married in office hours, so we made an appointment for 5:00pm on a Friday afternoon in the school holidays on 10 May. We told our friends not to worry about coming to the ceremony if they were working but to make sure they came to the reception later in the evening. We had booked out the whole of the "Purple Parrot" restaurant with over 60 guests. Some of our friends said they would like to come to the marriage ceremony too.

At four o'clock Bill climbed into a suit and tie which was very hot to wear in the tropics. I was luckier because mini dresses were the fashion. I was daring, and with the help of a dressmaker, designed a mini wedding dress. At least it was cool. We drove to the District Office with my parents. We met Willy, who was going to be a witness together with my Dad. The District Officer was nervous because this was his first marriage ceremony. We told him not to worry because it was our first one too. We all had a good laugh and waited a few more minutes to see if any of our friends would arrive. The clock ticked on and no one came so we had to get on with the ceremony. It was short and sweet. Our hearts were fluttering and we were very happy. We wondered why no friends arrived but thought they must have had to work and we would see them later at the reception.
After the ceremony, the plan was to stop by my friend, Kerrie's house, for a few drinks before going onto the reception.

It so happened that we had to pass the Registry Office on the way to Kerrie's house. Outside the Registry Office was a small crowd of our friends all waving at us to hurry up. Bill hit the brakes.  We heard them calling out, "Hurry up! You are very late for the marriage ceremony." Bill laughed and said, "But we are already married. What are you doing here?" "We're here to see you get married." One of Bill's friends had told everyone we were getting married at the Registry Office instead of the District Office. Oooops what a mix up!

Someone had a camera and took a few shots of us anyway, in the street instead of in the office. Oh well, Cest la vie. Anyway we all apologised and had a good laugh and then we went to Kerrie's house for drinks and nibblies.

I can't believe how silly it was of me not to organise someone to take decent photos, especially as I was keen on photography even then.

We did hire a "Professional Photographer"??? for the reception but none of the photos, were any good. This is the best of the worst photos I have ever seen of a wedding reception. But nothing could stop us feeling happy.

 One of Bill's Swiss friends secretly made a phone call to Bill's parents while we were at the table.  Bill was thrilled to be able to talk to them. I couldn't because I couldn't speak Swiss German.

We had a great party with our friends and all the mix up was forgotten.

We had decided to postpone our honeymoon until the next year when we would have saved enough money to go on holiday to Switzerland. Well that was the plan ....

The next morning we took my parents to the airport and loaded them onto a small plane to take them over the other side of P/NG to Kavieng to visit my brother, David,  his wife, Ann, and their little grandson, Michael. I think my parents were fairly pleased with my choice for a husband. It must have been hard for them to try and get to know him in a few days. Bill had only just learnt to speak English and he was very confused when my Dad asked him, "What do you do for a crust?" I had to translate the slang. "What do you do for a job?"

Flying TAA in 1969. That airline doesn't exist anymore.