Back down memory lane today. Firstly we dropped around to an old school mate of Fraser’s, not close, but familiar name and good friends of Liv and Mark who we are staying with. The chap and his wife, Ray and Cinzia, are off on a two month holiday to Europe in May and June and included in this trip is a week on the canals. So Liv and Mark lined us up with them so we could share with them our experiences. That little chat took over two hours.
We then drove over to the suburb of O’Connor and went looking for Fraser’s family home at 212 Dryandra Street. In its time, the house was very out there – very much something from the Jetsons era. It was predominantly a rectangle with floor to ceiling glass along the long walls and supporting walls on each end. Definitely 60’s style. They lived in the house for 18 years with the three kids growing up in it. It was sold to an architect who has now lived in it for 25 years. Whilst snooping around he came out and invited us to have a look inside.
The most surprising facet about the place was realising just how small it was. Of course Fraser remembers it through the eyes of a youngster growing up. They had made a few wall modifications but otherwise it was in its original condition………same kitchen and bathrooms!!!! Need we say any more regarding the inside.
We drove passed Frasers old Lyneham Primary School where for two years they had to be bussed to a neighbouring school because some kids has decided to torch it back in the 1970’s. One does wonder where those little arsonists are now.
It was then off to see Fraser’s old Scout Leader, Graeme. Graeme is blind and is an amazing man. He has been over to Canada a few times to the “Ski for Light” programme that is held up in K country near us. He is a downhill, cross country skier along with a keen bike rider. He introduced us to a very good mate of his in Calgary called Pete and his wife Nadine. In the past, we have coerced these two to come Canal boating with us back in 2016, which they throughly enjoyed. Can’t wait to go on another cruise with these guys as they made great lock slaves!
It was the first day back at Scouts after the summer break and the energy level was at top gear. There are 36 registered kids in this particular scout group which is very good indeed. Twenty odd kids turned up for tonight. Graeme has been running the group for forty years and in that time he has seen a lot of kids go through.
We hung around for a while watching them play a very invigorated ball game inside the hall and after nearly getting blended into the wall a few times we decided it wise to extricate ourselves from being targets. Great day of memories for Fraser.
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