Robot Claw

While in Australia, an email from a cousin of mine revealed that she had found letters I had written her when we were kids! Even more surprisingly, she scanned and sent them to me. Here I share them with you: three letters I wrote between 1982 and 1984!

This first one is a postcard and was sent in 1982 (as dated by the bridge comment). The Sydney excursion was Bernard’s year 6 trip, which means I was in year 5 (which once again dates this to 1982). It has the feeling of something written by a child (I was 10) who was being forced to write to his cousins, since I seemed to have simply transcribed what I read in an encyclopedia!

But then we get to the bizarre non-sequitur last line: My hobbies are basketball and stamp collecting. Basketball?!? I don’t remember ever being interested in basketball, and certainly not to the extent I would describe it as a hobby. I once ever played the game at a stadium (for kids) but didn’t enjoy it and never returned. I don’t recall ever watching a game, or even owning a ball (much less throwing a ball at a hoop). What a puzzling inclusion!

The description of my confirmation and the issue date of the Aerogramme used dates the above to 1983. immediately it dives into long-forgotten memories: I participated in three acts of a school concert to celebrate a nunnery!?! I wonder what I did? And was I even in the bible dramatization? Surely I would have played Jesus? I wish I could go back and whisper in my ear to write a few more details in the letter 🙂

And while it’s good to know Bernard ‘likes’ high school, I’d love to know more about that excursion (ie. school trip) to Sydney. Could that have been the one at which PM broke his arm immediately after going out on an ice rink thus robbing our class – some of whom were still getting our skates on – of the chance for a fun afternoon of ice-skating?

Krull was released in August 1983 in Australia. I loved it then and I love it now. You’d have thought I may have mentioned as much in the letter, but perhaps it was enough to have said I saw it. Maybe I asked Dad if he thought I should write anything else but he didn’t hear me due to half-deafness (no, I don’t remember anything about that), so the end of the letter leaves us all hanging. I even blatantly say I can’t think of anything else to write! I suppose I had other things on my schedule that day 🙂

This last one is dated to December 1984, which means I was 12 and in my first year of high school. I’ve become a bit more sophisticated by now and have switched to cursive, which is a puzzle to me since I never liked using cursive and (as I recall) abandoned it as soon as possible. Perhaps in those days school was forcing us to use it, or perhaps I thought it may make the letter look a bit more posh?

In the very first paragraph I boast about skipping school (I was only 13!) and having a ‘good time’ in town (playing video games no doubt). I wonder who those two friends were? My guess is MMcN and MT, which were two of my partners-in-crime in those days.

I find it amusing that I knew what my Christmas gift was. We got cassette players (‘tape recorders‘) each and it was the first time we had our own, which lead to an explosion in us purchasing cassettes. Of all the Christmas gifts of my youth, that’s probably the one I remember most fondly.

I don’t remember the teacher I describe in the letter (apologies to Miss Mackenzie if she is reading this), but I do remember not enjoying any language classes in school. I don’t remember ever going to Luna Park but I fondly recall the trips to Nabiac (yes we did go again as described in this letter) including falling off a horse and getting stung by wasps!

I wish I’d written more about specific interests in this letter. What games I was playing and music I was listening to. Of course I remember (more or less) but it would have been fun to read my opinions at that age.

Martina mentioned that when the earliest of these letters would have been received by her she would have barely understood English, which means she probably had someone translate. And I imagine her responses to me were in German and translated by Dad. I didn’t keep any of them, or any of the other letters sent by other cousins. Back in those days the thought probably never would have occurred to me, but I imagine they’d like to read their own words 40 years later and enjoy them the same way I loved re-reading mine.