TAKE A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

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Richie

Richie

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Relive here what you did growing up, the happy, sad and in between times. The events that helped shape your character and your life.
 
In the early sixties in Ireland my old Dad made a sturdy but basic snow sled for my brother and myself when we were little boys. Our house backed onto a Links Golf course that sloped a long way down to a beach and the Irish sea.

It was a very heavy snow fall that winter with deep drifts. The snow covered everything all over the golf course.

Starting from the top we sleighed all the way down to near the bottom and it was exhilarating, a fond memory for my brother and me. Eventually stopping I saw some of the bunkers were deep in snow and thought it was lucky we didn't end up in one.
 
I came into this world in a small hospital near the isolated hamlet of Engadine some 40km south from the centre of Sydney. I recall my early childhood being a contented one with my mother, father and older brother. We lived in a garage on our property while our 2 b/r fibro house was being built. In fact we were one the first to build in our street which tho still unpaved, made a great place to play cricket or footy or ride on our home made billy carts. My father was a school teacher and my mother was, well my mother was always at home looking after me until I went to kindergarten at the local school. My world came tumbling down when a few months short of my seventh birthday my father suddenly died from Diabetes complications and I and my brother were sent away to boarding school where I was to start a dark chapter in my book of life.
 
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Grier said:
In the early sixties in Ireland my old Dad made a sturdy but basic snow sled for my brother and myself when we were little boys. Our house backed onto a Links Golf course that sloped a long way down to a beach and the Irish sea.

It was a very heavy snow fall that winter with deep drifts. The snow covered everything all over the golf course.

Starting from the top we sleighed all the way down to near the bottom and it was exhilarating, a fond memory for my brother and me. Eventually stopping I saw some of the bunkers were deep in snow and thought it was lucky we didn't end up in one.
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Brilliant Terry many thanks for starting the thread. Sounded like fun snow sledding. I and mates made sleds from discarded pieces of wood and would slide down whatever hill we could find near our home. Later when a bit older we'd do same on the sand hills of Cronulla ( an iconic southern Sydney beach).
 
Richie said:
I came into this world in a small hospital near the isolated hamlet of Engadine some 40km south from the centre of Sydney. I recall my early childhood being a contented one with my mother, father and older brother. We lived in a garage on our property which backed onto a wooded reserve, while our small fibro house was being built. One of the first houses in the street, which tho still unpaved, made a great place to play cricket or footy or ride on our home made billy carts. My father was a school teacher and my mother was, well my mother was always at home looking after me until I went to kindergarten at the local school. My world came tumbling down when a few months short of my seventh birthday my father suddenly died from Diabetes complications and I and my brother were sent away to boarding school where I was to start a dark chapter in my book of life.
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So sorry to hear of your father's early passing Craig, especially from Diabetes. My mother had it too back in those days when it was managed poorly by the medical profession. My Mum lost both her legs under her knees due to it and died too early at 66 with complications.
Thanks for sharing your memory.
 
Well, I wrote my memories four years ago which included a first detailed history of our ancestors going back to the late 19th cent. I learnt that I'm more Prussian than I'd thought which may explain why I have always felt like one and was more interested in Prussia than in Saxon history. So I'll add some photos but will delete them after you've seen them. Must be careful not to write too much. :)

My mother gave birth to twins ten years after my older brother had been born in a dusty bunker with appalling hygienic conditions and the bunker being shaken by bombs falling down, said my mother. I was the third son. What made the deepest impression on me up to the age of 10 was the fact that people kept dying around me which I tried to come to terms with. Within those ten years I lost all my grandparents, my father, and my older brother who died in a motorbike crash taking his girlfriend with him. Today I wish I'd know what all my grandparents died from but at the time that wasn't really detected.
I've always adored my mum but despised my father who was a drunkard. I remember being ashamed when I had to buy his quantum of beer (ten 0.33 bottles of beer for the weekend). He'd bring a bottle of hard liquor himself. I don't know what he drank during the week. I also felt embarrassed when my class mates were seeing me home after school and my father opened the door obviously half-drunk and sometimes with his trousers wet. There were the usual dramas at home but he did not abuse nor beat us or our mother.
My father had owned an apartment building but sold it to have more money to spend on booze. He used up the whole sum just for himself. When he died early aged 63 he left his wife and two kids aged 12 behind. My mother struggled hard to make ends meet but we remained poor by comparison. Yet she made sure my twin brother and I could live our lives for which she gave us crucial advice nudging us in the right direction.
His death had two effects: for our mum the best part of her life began and my brother and me had learned a lesson: to make sure not to follow in his footsteps by being careful about alcohol.

What did leave a wound in the course of time was the death of my other brother and his fiancee. It made me aware of how quickly life can be over and it probably made me more cautious than people without that experience. Never drove a motorbike. We had to promise that to our mother.

All in all, I seemed to have had a certain resilience that protected me against any lasting negative effects and that was chiefly for three reasons: my supporting mother, my twin brother, and later my circle of friends in and outside my tennis club. My brother says he would have loved to lean on a father whereas I didn't miss one at all.



Posing for the first day at school in our backyard. Our house as it looks today. Our flat was the four windows in the middle from the left.
 
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looker-on said:
Well, I wrote my memories four years ago which included a first detailed history of our ancestors going back to the late 19th cent. I learnt that I'm more Prussian than I'd thought which may explain why I have always felt like one and was more interested in Prussia than in Saxon history. So I'll add some photos but will delete them after you've seen them. Must be careful not to write too much. :)

My mother gave birth to twins ten years after my older brother had been born in a dusty bunker with appalling hygienic conditions and the bunker being shaken by bombs falling down, said my mother. I was the third son. What made the deepest impression on me up to the age of 10 was the fact that people kept dying around me which I tried to come to terms with. Within those ten years I lost all my grandparents, my father, and my older brother who died in a motorbike crash taking his girlfriend with him. Today I wish I'd know what all my grandparents died from but at the time that wasn't really detected.
I've always adored my mum but despised my father who was a drunkard. I remember being ashamed when I had to buy his quantum of beer (ten 0.33 bottles of beer for the weekend). He'd bring a bottle of hard liquor himself. I don't know what he drank during the week. I also felt embarrassed when my class mates were seeing me home after school and my father opened the door obviously half-drunk and sometimes with his trousers wet. There were the usual dramas at home but he did not abuse nor beat us or our mother.
My father had owned an apartment building but sold it to have more money to spend on booze. He used up the whole sum just for himself. When he died early aged 63 he left his wife and two kids aged 12 behind. My mother struggled hard to make ends meet but we remained poor by comparison. Yet she made sure my twin brother and I could live our lives for which she gave us crucial advice nudging us in the right direction.
His death had two effects: for our mum the best part of her life began and my brother and me had learned a lesson: to make sure not to follow in his footsteps by being careful about alcohol.

What did leave a wound in the course of time was the death of my other brother and his fiancee. It made me aware of how quickly life can be over and it probably made me more cautious than people without that experience. Never drove a motorbike. We had to promise that to our mother.

All in all, I seemed to have had a certain resilience that protected me against any lasting negative effects and that was chiefly for three reasons: my supporting mother, my twin brother, and later my circle of friends in and outside my tennis club. My brother says he would have loved to lean on a father whereas I didn't miss one at all.



Posing for the first day at school in our backyard. Our house as it looks today. Our flat the four windows
Click to expand...
I have seen those pics before on another thread Thomas. 🤗 A man hug mate.
 
Where did you guys go to school. I went here (see below) for all but two years of my school life, a Mason-run boarding school where the discipline was strict, entertainment little more than a monthly film and family visits only if you had stayed clear of any serious misdemenors. To be brutally honest it was more of a reform school that belonged in another century, but after being left alone my mother had no choice as she was given a large cut in fees because my father had been a Mason. I never found it easy to forgive my mother for taking the easy way out as this place was to be my only permanent home for the next nine long and desperately lonely years.
 

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Richie said:
I have seen those pics before on another thread Thomas. 🤗 A man hug mate.
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Of course you have, Craig because you are priviledged and we've known each other for quite some time.
BTW, I had trouble with the image hoster and will never log in there again since I picked up malware :mad: which is why I couldn't finish my post and these two images will stay there for good.🙄
Have you had any such trouble recently?
 
Richie said:
Where did you guys go to school. I went here (see below) for all but two years of my school life, a Mason-run boarding school where the discipline was strict, entertainment little more than a monthly film and family visits only if you had stayed clear of any serious misdemenors. To be brutally honest it was more of a reform school that belonged in another century, but after being left alone my mother had no choice as she was given a large cut in fees because my father had been a Mason. I never found it easy to forgive my mother for taking the easy way out as this place was to be my only permanent home for the next nine long and desperately lonely years.
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Will tell you.
 
looker-on said:
Well, I wrote my memories four years ago which included a first detailed history of our ancestors going back to the late 19th cent. I learnt that I'm more Prussian than I'd thought which may explain why I have always felt like one and was more interested in Prussia than in Saxon history. So I'll add some photos but will delete them after you've seen them. Must be careful not to write too much. :)

My mother gave birth to twins ten years after my older brother had been born in a dusty bunker with appalling hygienic conditions and the bunker being shaken by bombs falling down, said my mother. I was the third son. What made the deepest impression on me up to the age of 10 was the fact that people kept dying around me which I tried to come to terms with. Within those ten years I lost all my grandparents, my father, and my older brother who died in a motorbike crash taking his girlfriend with him. Today I wish I'd know what all my grandparents died from but at the time that wasn't really detected.
I've always adored my mum but despised my father who was a drunkard. I remember being ashamed when I had to buy his quantum of beer (ten 0.33 bottles of beer for the weekend). He'd bring a bottle of hard liquor himself. I don't know what he drank during the week. I also felt embarrassed when my class mates were seeing me home after school and my father opened the door obviously half-drunk and sometimes with his trousers wet. There were the usual dramas at home but he did not abuse nor beat us or our mother.
My father had owned an apartment building but sold it to have more money to spend on booze. He used up the whole sum just for himself. When he died early aged 63 he left his wife and two kids aged 12 behind. My mother struggled hard to make ends meet but we remained poor by comparison. Yet she made sure my twin brother and I could live our lives for which she gave us crucial advice nudging us in the right direction.
His death had two effects: for our mum the best part of her life began and my brother and me had learned a lesson: to make sure not to follow in his footsteps by being careful about alcohol.

What did leave a wound in the course of time was the death of my other brother and his fiancee. It made me aware of how quickly life can be over and it probably made me more cautious than people without that experience. Never drove a motorbike. We had to promise that to our mother.

All in all, I seemed to have had a certain resilience that protected me against any lasting negative effects and that was chiefly for three reasons: my supporting mother, my twin brother, and later my circle of friends in and outside my tennis club. My brother says he would have loved to lean on a father whereas I didn't miss one at all.



Posing for the first day at school in our backyard. Our house as it looks today. Our flat was the four windows in the middle from the left.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing so Thomas.
Our life's hardships teach us valuable lessons indeed.
The picture of you and your twin is priceless.
 
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I went to two Irish Primary Schools, one Public, one Catholic run by two Nuns. One gentle, the other very strict with a long leather belt I once got 6 lashes for not remembering a homework prayer. However, she had a deep intellect and shared it. A great teacher too. Her diverse thoughts about God got me intrigued, her knowledge of Theology.... She taught us some basic Latin and volunteered me as a new Alter boy with smock and white gown my parents had to buy, and willingly did so proud of their little youngest son Mum hoped would join the Priesthood.
My parents ran the pub down the road and loved the two nuns keeping in touch with them for decades, even from Australia.
 
Richie said:
Where did you guys go to school. I went here (see below) for all but two years of my school life, a Mason-run boarding school where the discipline was strict, entertainment little more than a monthly film and family visits only if you had stayed clear of any serious misdemenors. To be brutally honest it was more of a reform school that belonged in another century, but after being left alone with no means of support my mother had no choice but to accept a large reduction in school fees because my father had been a Mason. I never found it easy to forgive my mother for taking the easy way out as this place was to be my only permanent home for the next nine long and desperately lonely years.
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So sad, Craig. Nine years at that age are bound to leave some marks. I may have said earlier that I'd never have thought that children could also have had a difficult childhood in the West. Only now the whole dimension of what children had to endure in West GER down to outright abuse is being uncovered. With hindsight it seems ridiculous that people in the West were ostensibly appalled at the fact that kids in the kindergarten were trained to go on the potty at the same time.
 
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