Blast From A Past

Wow! What an interesting week! I thought last week’s bit of clean up would unearth some treasures or at least some hidden secrets… But no! I was clearly - Oh so clearly - wrong! All the hidden treasures and secrets are in the shed! And I had to wait until this week for them to surface!

For the uninitiated, the shed is Dad’s domain. You know, where he hides all his stuff… Or, at least, the stuff he thinks is important until the partner suddenly declares, “It’s clean up time!” Suddenly, Dad’s tactics kicked in – Must Hide That. One Last Look At It. And OH! My personal favourite – The Diversion Tactic – Look what I found! (Don't forget to be proud of the discovery)

My old Walkman turned up! Who even remembers the classic cassette tape Walkman? I thought we’d thrown that away years ago but dear Dad claimed it as his. When I challenged him on ownership though, he could not remember when and why he first received it. Not to sound too smug but I did! He also couldn’t remember how to open it but I did…

---Memory Begins --

It was my Christmas present the year my mom died (10 October 1990). We had gone away because a very dear family friend, Elaine, had decided that we should not be left to wallow in misery. And so, she invited us to Irene’s place for the holiday. (Irene was her daughter by marriage – long story and probably not for now)

I woke up on Christmas morning, not really expecting anything from Santa (or Father Christmas as we called him), but I do remember being more concerned about whether he had remembered my younger brother and sister. I have absolutely no idea what Santa gave them but I had my very own Walkman! Complete with a cassette and batteries that lasted about an hour. From what I was told, Elaine bought the Walkman and listened to it on her long drive to Irene’s. That explained the bonus cassette and almost flat batteries. To give her full credit, she HAD bought more batteries and let me keep the cassette tape, as “the beginning to my collection”.

-- Memory Ends--

Dad had used the Walkman on train trips to work and back – which explained the ownership claim – but when it stopped functioning, we bought him a Diskman for a birthday pressie. Now who remembers the Diskman? (It played CD’s instead of cassette tapes) Guess what else Dad found in the shed! The blasted Diskman too! Again – I thought it was long gone!

We decided to test both and, unfortunately, the Walkman still does not work. The Diskman does though, so I guess I’m stuck with that one for another few years.

We let the boys have a go at inserting cassette tapes and CD’s just for the experience and Foal’s response was, “Oh! That’s from the olden days!”

I can’t wait until his kids say that to him about DVD’s, MP3’s and IPODS.

PS Today’s state election (QLD) – Cub was the only one interested enough to come with me to vote. Obviously he can't vote yet but I can. I let him put my Ballot Paper in the box and he was so proud!