Saturday 16 August 2014

Is that a SHARK ALARM??!!

The great thing about living in the Blue Mountains was that we had no sharks. No Great Whites hunting the powerful Nepean River, no Bull Sharks preying the muddy bed of Delarion, no Tiger Sharks stalking Jelly Bean Pool. There was nothing else man eating menacing our waters for that matter. We could sunbathe on the sand banks of Glenbrook Creek without fear that some giant salt water crocodile would sneak up on us, drag us under the water, thrash us about until we drowned, then wedge us into his underwater lair until we softened up enough to be torn apart and guzzled up (like in the Northern Territory, West Australia and Queensland). We could lollygag freely around our therapeutic bodies of aqua, knowing that the most deadliest jelly fish in the world was never going to wrap its three meter long venomous tentacles around us to squeeze the life out of our hearts with its neurotoxins ( also like in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland). And we were most unlikely to ever bump into the iridescent mantle of a lethal blue ringed octopus because they didn't live in the Blue Mountains either, which is a good thing because no anti venom exists. 

The worst we had to worry about was being nipped on the toes by a yabbie, or feel the dreaded tug on the ties of our bikini bottoms as mischievous boys tried to pull them down. We did have three of the top ten deadliest snakes in the world though: the Eastern Brown Snake, the Tiger Snake and the Death Adder, as well as Red Bellied Black Snakes, Copperheads and a whole host of friendly slitherers, like the Brown and Green Tree Snakes, the Golden Crown and Diamond Pythons.  snake was snake when you were a kid in the bush. Be they the deadliest or totally harmless, snakes were to steer well clear of because unless they had a blatant bright red belly or were obviously very lime green and hanging from a tree wearing a happy smiley face, they were too hard for us kids to identify. We were never afraid of snakes however, not until this summer in 1975, when Steven Spielberg's Jaws hit our theaters, because even though we didn't have sharks, we had snakes, and our snakes loved our water holes as much as we did. From this summer on, our muddy murky waters that never looked muddy and murky before, suddenly harboured terrifying possibilities, and snakes became the threatening scary monster that lurked below. To me anyway.....


We were the teenage generation that experienced the historic multi award winning Jaws, the first film to be released simultaneously nationwide in Australia. It was a groundbreaking film because it used a life size and like mechanical shark, and real 
underwater footage shot from the perspective of a shark’s eye. Jaws preyed on our 
innermost primordial fear of being eaten alive which was repeatedly triggered by the 
iconic theme music, daaaaaaaaaaaaaa na, daaaaaaaaaaaaa na, daana, daana dundundundundudndundun.... and a 'killer' plot about a big bad Great White who loved the taste of people, but when his true design was discovered - which was to eat as many people he could sink his razor sharp teeth into whenever he felt like it, including into juicy innocent children - Jaws set out to personally take revenge on all those who threatened to get in his way. Glued together with nail biting editing, so much fear was infused into humans the world over, that the Great White Shark and all species of its kind would never be safe again.

The big fish of our oceans from the poles to the tropics have been reduced to just 10% of what they were in the 1950's when industrial fishing set forth on the high seas like giant vacuum cleaners sucking up everything possibly edible in it’s path. So when Spielberg’s Jaws arrived, the plundering of our oceans to the point of collapse was already well advanced. Running low on prized large fish, industry turned to shark. Jaws helped to make it ‘okay’ to plunder shark species of all kinds without debate or rational management because shark fishermen and hunters became heroes. They were saving us all from being digested by these terrifying beasts of the deep while we are recreating in their environments.
Sharks are unprotected and fished indiscriminately for teeth, trophies, food, fun, and fins which, contrary to primitive belief, do not enhance the Asian male libido just as rhino horns have been scientifically proven to have zero 
affect on the same Asian male appendage. The shark fin trade for tasteless Chinese ‘status symbol’ soup is shockingly wasteful and immoral. Fishermen capture live 
sharks, hack their fins off, and then dump the fin-less creature back into the sea to die from suffocation or predators. The fishing industry also captures and kills young sharks before they reproduce, severely impacting future populations. It takes many years for a shark to be ready to give birth and they produce few offspring compared to other fish species because they are the ocean’s top order predator – there can’t be too many of them in ratio to what they eat. Something like 100 million sharks are killed by commercial and recreational fishing every year. Logically, humans can’t keep killing 100 million sharks a year if they only produce a few babies every now and then. China and Japan use up most of the world’s sharks having reduced some species to between 70% and 90%, and they resist all attempts by the  Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to set sustainable limits on shark catch. These are countries that do maths - they make sophisticated things and send satellites into space. But they can’t seem to add up when it comes to sharks stocks. In 2010, a US and Palau proposal that would have required countries to strictly regulate trade in several species of scalloped hammerhead, ocean white-tip and spiny dogfish sharks was not adopted by CITES because Japan and China lobbied so relentlessly against, that the required two third majority vote in favour, was not achieved. Europeans eat shark too, while we Australians love our ‘flake’ fish 'n'chips, and prefer shark nets and shark baiting around our beaches to avoid being  the 1.2 person fatally attacked by a shark every year in Australia. As one of the top order predators (after humans) sharks keep the ocean’s food chain in balance. The food chain is a series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food. Take one link out and the chain is broken. The system that has taken millennia to evolve unravels.




I hadn't started studying biology at school yet, so I didn't know what a food chain was when Jaws came out, or that what had happened to all our koalas in the mountains, was also about to happen to the world's sharks. I didn't know what a shark alarm was either, coming from the mountains and not having ever heard one before. This summer amidst the nationwide screening of Jaws, a shark alarm is sounded while I am swimming at Manly Beach. I wasn't swimming between the flags and close to shore either. I was the furthest person out to sea - even ahead of the surfers. That I was so far out to sea when a shark alarm went off sums up pretty much what the rest of my life would look like - always at the right place at the wrong time, or the wrong place at the right time, or any place where something would happen that only Murphy could have conjured up. Although I suspect my serendipity for surviving adventure and misadventure began when I was being bumped up, down, and around my mother’s womb as she and my father trekked overland through pre revolutionary Iran to India, and almost terminated me ( Dad swore it was true, Mum 
denies it).

Australia's annual school holiday break occurs in summer just like in the northern hemisphere, except that our two month break takes in Christmas and the New Year, unlike in Europe where one can enjoy two months off, uninterrupted by mandatory cultural/religious/commercial celebrations. We venerated summer about as desperately as northern Europeans do because at last we might get a month or so of warm enough weather to swim in. We could wear our summer uniforms to school without a cardigan, and we could sit on the stairs of the school quadrangle, sun-bake our legs and tan real fast (skin cancer or aging didn't exist in our world then). Come December 1, we were off to the pool or to the water holes, even though we were supposed to be at school. Flexible parents gave their children a note to go swimming which was well deserved having endured icy windy mountain weather for eleven months of the year, and if they didn't, we forged their signature and wagged school anyway. When school broke we gave each other Christmas cards and little presents, and went our own way for the next two months, usually to the coast. Even though we bathed in the natural beauty of our magnificent mountains like Snugglepots and Cuddle Pies, the beach beckoned in summer. At times we would climb as high as we could and gaze wistfully east towards Sydney. On a clear day, you could swear you could see the sea. It was so palpably near, yet so far out of our reach, because we were too young to get there on our own. It was something we wanted and couldn't have until Christmas, like a present.

Manly Beach
Luckily, most of my Australian relatives on my Dutch side lived on Sydney's north shore, on or near the beach, so we would visit them during the holidays. This paragraph is especially for my babies when they really want to know: Mum had three brothers in Sydney. Uncle John lived in 
Bondi. He never married nor had children. Uncle Gus and Aunty Teena lived in Newport: they had cousins Amanda, Melissa and Joshua. Uncle Willie and Aunty Georgie lived in Avoca with my cousins Jamie, Benjamin and Robert. My handsome uncles all had glamorous immaculate wives and beautiful homes, having done very well for themselves in their newly adopted land. Oma, my grandmother, had one sister living in Australia, Tante Marie, who migrated with her husband from post World War II Holland in 1950. Tante Marie lived in Bondi. She had three children: John, Michael, and Else whom we also referred to as our cousins. All of Mum's gorgeous sisters stayed back in Amsterdam and Enkhuisen, close to Oma and Opa. Aunty Gretje and Aunty Marthy never married or had children. Aunty Hany and Uncle Freek had cousins Monqiue, Ferry and Wendy. Mum had another brother Hans who lives in a villa in Alicante, in Spain. He had cousin Natalia. Australia wasn't the lucky country for all members of my mother’s family who migrated here though. Mum's favourite brother, Uncle Peter, had only been in Australia for a year when he was killed in a motorcycle accident on a rural highway in Makay, Queensland. The driver of a parked vehicle opened his roadside door just as Uncle Peter was motoring past, killing both of them instantly. I was named after my much loved, ill-fated uncle, whom I never knew.

Christmas in Australia

This Christmas Oma came to visit her sizable Diaspora (which included all the Dutch spouses and their friends and relatives which had moved here too. There are nearly 400,000 Dutch in Australia, either born in Holland or of ancestry). Christmas in Australia was a tad underwhelming for our Dutch relatives. There is no snow, it's not cold, and we have daylight savings. Christmas 
lights, street side carol harking and winter decorations don't feel the same when there's no snow, it’s not cold and it takes forever to get dark. We have BBQ's and salads outdoors and they eat elaborate rich winter soul food indoors with fires going and romantic ambient lighting. Christmas in Australia just isn't 'gezellig' (cosy) . We celebrate both the present giving and the religious side of Christmas on the 25th of December.  In Holland, like quite a number of European countries as well as Christian Lebanon and Palestine, they celebrate Saint Nicholas Day on December 6. Saint Nicholas, otherwise known as Nikolas the Wonderworkerwas a 4th-century Christian saint and the Greek Bishop of Myra in Lycia, who had a talent for miracles and a reputation for putting coins in peoples shoes who left them out for him to donate to. Santa Claus was modelled on Saint Nicholas, who the Dutch called Sinterklaas

As it goes, Sinterklaas arrives by boat at a different port every year in Holland from his home in Madrid, Spain (he is no is no dummy. Why live in the freezing North Pole when you can live in warm sunny Madrid).  Sinterklaas looks more like the Pope in his bishop's robes with a flowing red cape, a mitre and a crosier in hand.  He doesn’t have elves to help him either, he has a black faced servant called Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) who is these days subject to some anti
racism contention since he only appeared in the Saint Nicholas tradition in 1850 at the height of the Atlantic Slave Trade, and is depicted as a Blackamoor dressed in colourful renaissance regalia, a curly wig, red lipstick and earrings. His defenders ( the majority of the Dutch population who love their Saint Nicholas Day tradition and don’t  associate him with slavery or racism) say he is dark because he is a Spaniard or an Italian chimney sweep whose skin is blackened from climbing up and down sooty chimneystacks - which is how I remembered him as a child. Zwarte Piet keeps a file on all children which he hands to
Sinterklass for judgment come December 6. Naughty children do not get presents; they get a lump of coal. Or much worse, they are kidnapped by the Blackamoor/chimney sweep/Spaniard who throws them over his shoulder into a burlap sack and thrashes them with a roe made of birch twigs as they wriggle and writhe all the way to Spain where they are locked up with the elderly Mr 'Wonderworker' 
for a whole year to be disciplined. Mmmm. It seems to me this bit of the whole Sinterklass tradition needs some revision.

As for the good children, on the night of ‘Sinterklaasavond' or 'Pakjesavond' (present evening, which is often on the eve of the 6th) a friend, neighbour or relative will bang loudly at the front door. Children will run and open it to find a sack of presents waiting for them. The Dutch are practical people.  Sinterklaas gets around on horseback - much more believable than being pulled through the sky by flying reindeer. Even kids know reindeer can't fly. However, being Nokalas the Wonderworker, he and horse could amazingly balance on roofs with a 4:12 pitch designed for snow to fall of them, without sliding off themselves. Zwarte Piet climbs down chimneys to collect carrots and hay children leave for Sinterklaas’s horses in their wooden clogs, and drops off lollies in exchange. Super fit and lean as he is, he then Spiderman’s his way back up the chimney. Since this is quite exhausting, Piet is allowed to climb through windows if he wants to, and clearly he must taking the elevator these days to deliver to high rise apartments. True to the Dutch reputation for cultural innovation, Zwarte Piet can also be a woman. Sinterklaas now has dozens of  Swartze Pieten travelling with him because Dutch folk like my great grandmother who had 19 children, grew their 
population so fast that Sinterklaas couldn’t keep up with all the children being born and 
spread out across the land, without enlisting help. Lucky for Sinterklaas, Holland is a small country.

Me running way from Swarte Pete 
In our family, we were privileged to a home visit from Sinterklass. First Zwarte Piet would enter the living room throwing kruidnoten, strooigoed and pepernoten, all over our intensely disinfected living room floor which we children scrambled to pick up. These special Sinterklaas biscuits full of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom and anise were small and round and baked hard as rocks so they didn't crumble everywhere. Then in strides Sinterklaas (usually a disguised uncle) whose lap we promptly sat on to argue our case for presents, not knowing that Swartze Piet had already documented our every action since last year.


Like the Dutch, we are also very practical in Australia when it comes to helping Santa get his job done at Christmas. When he arrives in Australia he is promptly handed 6 incredibly rare albino Kangaroos to get around on (Six White Boomers). They are so rare we struggle to find six of them. Kangaroos are adapted to our vast land and harsh temperatures and can leap faster and further than flying reindeer can, even if reindeer can’t fly. We also insist that Santa change into some sensible clothing like a bond singlet and a pair of board shorts (red of course) and slop on some broad spectrum +60 SPF sunscreen, so he doesn't get sun burnt or collapse of heat exhaustion
before he has delivered all his presents. We keep our chimneys to a minimum, although we don’t yet to allow him to climb through the window to reach our Christmas trees as doing so will probably set the security alarms off and be met with a piece of four by two, or the police, so Santa somehow osmotically makes it to the Christmas tree through the walls ( or is let in through the backdoor by Mum and Dad). Just as there are calls for Black Peter to paint his face in rainbow colours, soon we Aussies will have Santa on The Biggest Loser, and be replacing his elves with our very own fitness ‘Wonderworker', Michelle Bridges, to get him back into shape during his trek around OZ, otherwise he might get Diabetes Type 2, or have a heart attack, or a stroke, the way he is eating ( or drinking beer).

The Globalisation of Santa hasn't eradicated Saint Nicholas Day, it has just put pressure on parents to spend twice on presents. The Dutch call the fat guy in a red jump suit that visits other cultures on the 25th of December, Kerrisman ( Christmas Man). He comes from Lapland in Finland, not the North Pole. Christmas Day is a much quieter day in Holland, as it is for Dutch Australians who observe this tradition here, being characterised by attending a late afternoon church service followed by a special family meal, and children’s story telling. 



Oma used to read me her favorite Hans Christian Anderson tale. This story affected me so deeply as a child that a lump is chocking my throat and tears are swelling my eyes as I recall it. It is about a little girl who was my age when Oma would read to me. Her lazy abusive father made her sell matches in the snow, barefooted 
and without a scarf around her head to keep her warm. She can’t go home until she sells them all or her father will beat her up. As hypothermia begins to set in she tries to keep herself warm by lighting the matchsticks. As she lights one matchstick at a time she has visions: of a warm oven, a fat roasting Christmas duck, a beautiful Christmas tree full of lights, and her loving caring late grandmother. Then she sees a shooting star whereupon she remembers that her grandmother told her that meant someone will die during the night. Wanting to keep the vision of her grandmother alive she lights all the matches in one go and begs her grandmother to take her with her to where she knows she will be safe and happy, whereupon her grandmother lifts her in her loving arms and carries her to the place where 'God' resides . All the while, as she is obviously dying, scrougy adults are walking past refusing to buy her matches, so she could go home, be warm and live. This story shocked my young soul. I couldn't believe how evil some adults could be to children, even to their own child. I wanted to save the Little Match Girl and take her to Australia with me where its nice and HOT and where we have electricity, so she wouldn't have to freeze to death ever again (except in the Blue Mountains for 11 months of the year - but we had a heater).




Back in Australia at Christmas time, Oma would send us a box of Dutch goodies for Saint Nicholas Day which was always an exciting event. She packed it with Delfs Blue ceramics, Dutch biscuits and sweets, logs of marzipan, and a Sinterklaas made from Speculaas. We didn't get one this year because this year Oma is visiting us from Holland. As my mother was the only one in her family to marry an 'alien', our Christmas was a hybrid of the two traditions. We stuck to roasts, soul food, 'gezellig'  lighting and Dutch Sinterklass songs, but on the 25th of December, not the 6th, and it was the Kerrisman, not Sinterklaas who delivered our presents. We also had a family tradition at Christmas, even when our relatives came over. We spent alternate Christmas with my parent’s closest friends in French Forrest, and vice verse, a friendship cemented when the couples were sinfully sharing a flat together in London. This Christmas we go French’s Forrest.  


Australia in December 1975

Last month the Governor General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, dismissed the democratically elected Labor Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, in what was the biggest political outrage in Australian history. A double dissolution of parliament was ordered by the Governor General and a general election was held this month. It was won by the Coalition of Malcolm Frazer's Liberal Party and Doug Anthony's National Country Party. The Coalition would stay in power for the next 8 years, on top of the previous 23 years of Coalition rule experienced by Australia, bar the brief Labor interlude from 1972-1975. That's a long time to be ruled by conservatives.
On a  lighter note, it's the end of the year. The top selling Australian singles for the year were:
  1. Summer Love – Sherbet
  2. Horror Movie/Carlton – Skyhooks
  3. Newcastle Song – Bob Hudson
  4. Bony Moronie – Hush
  5. My Little Angel – William Shakespeare
  6. You’re My World – Daryl Braithwaite
  7. Ego Is Not A Dirty Word – Skyhooks
  8. All My Friends Are Getting Married – Skyhooks
  9. Yesterday’s Hero – John Paul Young
  10. If You Love Me- Olivia Newton-John

     VIDEO: Horror Movie. Skyhooks



The top international singles were – 

1. Fox on the Run - The Sweet
2. January – Pilot
3. Mamma Mia - ABBA.
4. Summer Love – Sherbet
5. Horror Movie – Skyhooks
6. Love Will Keep Us Together- Captain and Tennille
7. Please Mr. Postman- The Carpenters
8. The Newcastle Song - Bob Hudson
9. Before the Next Teardrop Falls - Freddy Fender
1   10. Bony Moronie – Hush
11. Paloma Blanca - George Baker Selection
12. Bye Bye Baby- Bay City Rollers
13. I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do" – ABBA
14. My Little Angel - William Shakespeare
15. Down Down - Status Quo
16. Black Superman - Johnny Wakelin
17. The Last Farewell - Roger Whittaker
18. You're My World - Daryl Braithwaite
19. Ego is not a Dirty Word – Skyhooks
20. I Can Help- Billy Swan
21. When Will I See You Again - The Three Degrees
22. All My Friends Are Getting Married- Skyhooks
23. Roll Over Lay Down - Status Quo
24. Sailing - Rod Stewart
25. Never Can Say Goodbye- Gloria Gaynor


                                                        Video: The Disco Age is dawning. Never Can Say Goodbye- Gloria Gaynor


The World in December 1975 - The African Holocaust



Last month the south west African country of Angola became independent, but only after a protracted 13 year Colonial War against its coloniser Portugal, which refused to let go, even though it promised the UN it would. Like the fate of so many former colonies that possess vast resource wealth however, Angola was quickly re colonised by opposing cold war powers who, for the next 23 years, were to fight for control of Angola's diamonds, oil, gold, copper, forests, and wildlife. The factions first warring for independence, and now warring for control once they achieved it, were  the People's Movement 
for the Liberation of Angola,
Training go F.L.N.L.A soldiers in former Zaire
(MPLA) supported by Cuba and the USSR, and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FLNA) and the rebels, of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), both supported by the USA, South Africa and the Democratic Republic  of Congo (formerly Zaire).  The eruption of Angola's Civil War this month in 1975 lead to a mass exodus of 300,000 Portuguese colonists who made up the near totality of Angola's skilled workforce. The war claimed millions of lives, produced many refugees,
destroyed agricultural production, decimated wildlife and left Angola splattered with land mines. Angola is anchored below the Democratic Republic  of Congo, with Namibia flanking its south, Zambia on its East, and the Atlantic Ocean being its western border.


Portuguese troops on patrol in Angola
In the 16th century, the Portuguese named this country that is twice the size of France, the Kingdom of Angola ( Reino de Angola) because it was a significant African Realm made up of the Kingdom of Kongo (established by the Bantu who are thought to have come from the Sudan and present day Cameroon), the Kingdom of Matamba, and the Kingdom of Mbuna. Angola's sad claim to fame is that it contributed a large part of its population to the Atlantic Slave Trade, used to build the European empires of the 17th-19th centuries. This is because it was Portugal that started the slave trade, with Portuguese colonies accounting for 38.5% of slave destinations. The rest went to the colonies of Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and to the United States. Africans from the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola accounted for 39.4% of the trade. While England's first slaves were 'indentured', by the 17th century, slaves 'belonged' to their owners as did the children of slaves, and they were bought and sold just like anything else one owned. Around 12 million Africans, most of them from West Africa, were shipped across the Atlantic ( more than half during the 18th century) during which 1.2 – 2.4 million Africans died. This is why some scholars call it the African Holocaust

While the slave traders were met with resistance, some tribal leaders cooperated. Tribal leaders deliberately went to war and raided other tribes for the purpose of capturing people to sell as slaves. At the 2001 World Congress Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, African nations demanded an apology for slavery from all the slave trading countries. Fearing this would lead to compensation claims, the main slave trading nations refused to. In 2009 the US Senate apologised for the inhunanity of slavery. Tony Blair partially apologised, and France made January 30 a National Day of Remembrance for Slavery. UNESCO set August 23 as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. Nigeria and Uganda have issued calls for traditional African rulers to acknowledge for their role in facilitating the trade. In 1998 Yoweri Museveni, the president of Uganda, told an audience including Bill Clinton: "African chiefs were the ones waging war on each other and capturing their own people and selling them. If anyone should apologise it should be the African chiefs. We still have those traitors here even today." The Presidents of Benin and Ghana have apologised for their countries involvement.

Cabinda - the Kuwait of Africa
There is a corner in Angola that has a big chunk of the oil and they don't want to share it with the rest of the country, so Cabinda is still at war against the national government.
Cabinda oil rig
With an area of approximately 7,283 square kilometers, the Northern Angolan province of Cabinda is actually physically separated from the rest of Angola by a 60 km length of land belonging to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Cabinda's offshore oil petroleum production now accounts for more than half of Angola's output. The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda-the Armed Forces of Cabinda, have declared themselves the 'virtual' Federal Republic of Cabinda.
Before independence in November 1975, Angola was a breadbasket of southern Africa and a major exporter of bananas, coffee and sisal. During the Civil War, people stopped growing and exporting food products, focusing instead on digging beneath the earth. Since independence, oil and diamonds, which make up 60% of Angola's economy, now account for the majority of its revenue, and Angola now depends on expensive food imports mainly from South Africa and its old task master, Portugal.  

Angola became a member of OPEC in 2006. It has the fastest growing economy in Africa and one of the fastest in the world, with an average GDP growth of 20% between 2005 and 2007, and the world's highest average growth of 11.1%. In 2004, China's Eximbank  approved a $2 billion line of credit to Angola which is now China's biggest supplier of oil and diamonds. Bilateral trade between China and Angola reached $27.67 billion in 2011. 
Despite this considerable growth and wealth, the system that saw Angola selling their people to slave traders, now ensures that Angola consistently ranks in the bottom group of the United Nation's Human Development Index. This is not surprising since Human Rights Watch reports that 32 billion US dollars disappeared from government accounts from 2007 to 2010, much of it going back to Portugal through Angolan private investments, rather than being invested into building up a nation whose population is exploding at 5.4 kids per family average. 

In other news this December in 1975, Laos falls to communist forces which proclaim the Lao People's Democratic Rep, and Madagascar adopts a Constitution.


Diary November 1975





Well we've reached the end of 1975. It's summer and seems no-one is going to school. From December until Christmas almost we are all going swimming somewhere. I
spend some time at the beach where a shark get in the way of my flirtations with local surfies, and I lament the "wogs" who only go to the beach to perve. This month I go on my first real date with the very same boy I dropped because he was using me. Even though he bought some mates along, it is a date of the type where the boy comes to meet Mum and Dad. Dad even mows the lawn and weeds the grass so the garden looks good for his arrival!  It's time to say goodbye to my Dairy of 1975 and welcome in a new one, but I'm so attached to my diary that I sneak in a Happy New Year to it when technically I was supposed to start a new diary at midnight.

Monday December 1 - All the boys gave me the eye

Derek Cluff asked me to go with him. I said I'd think it over. I didn't know what to say.I like him a lot but I don't want to be tied down except maybe with Jason, but he's a bum. Went to swimming school. Jason was there. I dived in the water ( doing side stroke) and he was waving at me so I turned the other way. Then they came over and talked to us. But Fowler sprung them.Then later when we were talking to him, Smith sprung us. So Jason came in the water and hung around me. He kept on pulling at my ties and my pants nearly came down. He kept trying to kiss me and put his arm around me but I wouldn't. He kept ducking me and splashing me and he said I looked very spunky. All the boys gave me the eye when I walked past. He also said I have a good tan.  See-ya.

Tuesday December 2 - These blokes gave me dirty looks

Jason was the the pool again today and he was swimming around with me. He started going on about how none of what happened when I was going with him was true, and why I don't believe him and all this rubbish. Went to a P&C night. Boy it was boring.  Tim Whitehouse doubled Cathy De Graths on the bike. He asked if I wanted a double but I was scared I would fall off. Robert wants to go with me. Then Cathy and Dennis told me he was going to ask me so I tried to avoid him. I walked into the pub and these blokes gave me a dirty looks and said, "How are You". I said, "OK". I said, "May I have a packet of chips please", and he gave them to me.

Wednesday December 3 -  As if he owned me. 

Went to the pool all day today with Deb. Dad gave me a note for yesterday saying I could go to the pool so I just changed the date from the 2/12/75 to 3/12/75. No-one asked for the note. Jason came and we went in the water. All day he kept pulling at my ties and trying to pull my pants down but he pulled them up again. Then he kept ducking me so I ducked him back. When he was laying down he kept saying that none of it was true and that why wont I believe him. He got so cut that he walked off and didn't talk to me for about half an hour. He kept tickling me on my side then he started on my armpit, then everyone joined in and I was hitting everyone. He kept going on about it all being B'S. I wanted so much to believe him but I cant because I know its not true. He seemed so serious and he's a bloody good actor. A rumor got on that I wanted to go with Stephen Lay when Gayle does, so they kept telling me to "Lay" off him, hahaha. Then Jason asked me if it was true and with such accusations as if he owned me. But when he was talking to me he had his face so close to mine I wanted to kiss him. I rubbed Zink on his face a couple of times. Grant Carson, Mitchell and Graham kept dunking me straight after each breath and Mitchell ( the sex maniac ) kept de-panting me. He's worse than Jason. Every time I tried to escape, one of them would grab my leg. I got pushed in the pool about 50,000 times.When Jason and Colin were going, Colin said "Do I get a goodbye kiss?" and I said, "No". Jason said, "What about me" and I turned away because everyone was watching.I wanted to, and he goes, "Go on" but I said, "No" and he said "I'll get it don't worry. Ill take you up on this next week". He got sprung by Edwards so he's not coming back. See-ya

Thursday December 4 - I did my laps in 11.52 seconds and I have 13 seconds to do them in

Nothing happened today.I saw Grant and talked to him and when he said hello I smiled. It was really cold today but the water was quite warm. Stephen Lay was there and so was Ian Stanton, Colin Boyd and other kids. I did my laps in 11.52 seconds and I have 13 seconds to do them in. 

Friday December 5 - Got my Survival Certificate

Nothing much happened today. Went to the woodwork room and Trevor and Brandon and some other kids were there. Trevor started going off his brain about the dance. He goes, "I'm disgusted. Is that all you ever think about? God he was serious. O'Donnel must have told him something bad - the nerd-full turd. God he's a B'tard. Then Trevor and I got locked in the storeroom but nothing happened. Then Trevor tried to get with me in there again. The water was nice. Got my Survival Certificate.

Saturday December 6 - Had a geezer at Jo and Deb's scrap books.

Went to Debs today. Had lunch - yum. Had a geezer at Jo and Deb's scrap books. They've got enough in it compared to mine. Deb, Jo and me swapped things and read things in our diaries. Talked about the past and it made me feel low. Jo wrote: "Hi this is Joe, I'm still madly in love with a snog called Michael. But all things come to an end". Deb wrote: "Hello Petra this is Deb. I luv Chris, Chris Luvs me. Oh how happy we shall be, making love underneath the apple tree".

Sunday December 7 - Everyone was pissed out of their brains

Went to a party today and everyone was pissed out of their brains. My sister got the strap for drinking beer (she's ten). I drank it too. I've started to feel awful yesterday about Debbie and Jo reading my diary. I didn't want them to bloody well read it. They didn't read anything nice - all the nasty bits about Mum. I decided that everything I write will be on the good side of people.  Seeya.

Monday December 8 - He preferred me because I was always truthful.

These girls reckoned that Jason wrote this note to Debbie saying that he preferred me because I was always truthful. What a stir. Then at the pool  Chris goes "I talked to Jason on Thursday" and I said "He could stick it".  He goes, "I'll tell him that". Hell. He'll be very upset. Then he said he'll be ringing me up in a couple of days. Probably telling me to get stuffed. What a stir. Debbie told Chris that I liked all these guys. Thanks a lot Debbie. Now hes stirring me. What an ass I am. This guy asked a girl to go on the pill - sh-t! He keeps losing himself and getting carried away.I got cornered by this nice kid in the woodwork room. He tried to kiss me. see-ya.

Tuesday December 9 - "I'm giving you the cold shoulder"

All I did all day was bludge. First of all I went into the woodwork room. But Trevor made made me so sick with Jason and "I'm giving you the cold shoulder" that I had to leave. So I went into the art room with Grant and Jim and we had great fun. I talked to Denton and Grant. I played cricket and got locked in the store room. Then they nicked off  with us down to the pool. Then I mucked around with Wayne Humphreys and he kept throwing me in the air.

Wednesday December 10 - "You're still coming to Jaws with aren't you?"

I nicked off to the pool today. Debbie and Jo had notes but as far as Mum and Dad know I am at school. God I'm naughty. Fowler sprung us and asked for Debbie and Jo's notes but not mine.Gees I'm lucky. Guess who was there - yes Jason, and oh Debbie . When we got there, Jason didn't even say hello. Then I felt the water and he asked me what it was like. I was swimming in the water ( where else would I swim), then Jason called me over. I said "You come here" and he and Stephen came over and swam towards me. Then the whole bloody lot , about 7 or 8, came at me and tried to de-pant me. I screamed and screamed but no-one came to my rescue.They wouldn't let me go. When I was going up the ladder, everyone said I could go up and they gave me clear way, but I didn't go up cause they would have all de-panted me.

Stephen Podmore, this real nice kid - gees hes beautiful - gave me 2 cents and said he was not Scrooge. He's good looking and hes got a real good build. Jason said, "You're still coming to Jaws with aren't you?" and I said, "Yes, if you still want me to" and he said "Yeah of course'. Thank-goodness. He had this real nice surfie short on. I put it on and it looked good and he said , quote, " You can have it, I've got two more", but I never did get it. I passed my Bronze (medal) and when I told Jason he said "You're not having my shirt" when I told Steve he goes, "Good on you" and was being real nice. Jason waved to me when I was on the bus. I wont see him again until next year.

Thursday December 11 - Well schools over. Hooray!

Well schools over. Hooray - No that's just awful -didn't get many Christmas cards this year compared to last year. Bludged 3 periods with Jenny Challenor. Then at recess  we walked off to the pool. Didn't even have lunch. Jenny rang Jason and he told her to tell Debbie Grace that he still liked her but she's not going to pay any attention to him. Then he said it was true that he preferred me. She said I wouldn't believe it. He said, "If she doesn't want to believe it - but I do I do I do I do I do". But Chris said he was trying to butter me up so he can use me AGAIN.! How could he! I might ring him up on Christmas. Steve Podmore was at the pool . Gees he's nice. Mum gave me a $20.00 to buy some clothes. Wasn't that nice.

Friday and Saturday  December 12 - It looks like he has the eyes of a mad man or a maniac.

Well today gave me $20.00 to buy clothes. Not that I can get far with $20.00. Anyway, I got a blue skirt  for $10.00. I like it and so does Mum. A Southern Comfort T shirt which was $2.99 - the cheapest top I could find, and some material for $5.25 to make a dress which altogether cost $18.24. And to top that off, I lost my purse just as I was getting on the bus! Luckily I already had my bus fare. I reckon this girl from school took it as she was sitting right next to me. So now I have to pay it back. I'm now at Oma's ( Saturday). Mum told me that they had a 15 year old guy staying there. Oh great - I hope he's good looking and nice and all this. Then I started worrying about him being a creep. But none of that mattered cause he's 17. He always gets too friendly and the way he stares it looks as though he's leering and it looks like he has the eyes of a mad man or a maniac.  

Sunday December 14Is that a SHARK ALARM??!!"

We went to Manly Beach and it was great. There were these bunch of Surfies there and as soon as I arrived they were all staring at me. They did this all day so I did it back. I was in the surf and this guy comes up to me and started talking to me and then he said, "Can I ask you a question?" and I said, "yeah" " Were you the chick lying sideways over there in the green costume?" and I said, "yeah" and he said, " Well we've been eyeing you off". Then later when I was sun baking one of them was looking at me so I smiled at him and got up and went into the water.

This is where tragedy strikes. One of them followed me out and started talking to me, and he said, "Oh we've been watching you posing off" " I said, "pose, pose" Then! A siren went off ( I had a funny feeling what it was - a shark alarm!) SHIT! I asked him, "Is that a SHARK ALARM??!!" and he said, "Yes", and I swam for my bloody life! I never swam so bloody hard ever, cause I was out in front of everyone when it went off. Then about five minutes later the life saving boat was not even two or eight feet away from where I was and was poking at something, probably the shark. Gees I was so packen sh-t. So after that we had to go and they were all waving goodbye so I waved back. Some of them ( most) were nice. Dam the bloody sharks. Anyway next day went to Manly Beach again. First of all we caught a train to Wynyard, then another one Circular Quay, then to Manly from which we took a ferry to Manly Peir. Walked up around and then to the beach, and then did the same thing going home.

God those Italian wogs are perverted perverts! 


God those Italian wogs are perverted perverts! They don't go to swim , they go to perv. I walked past these wogs and they just stared at me. They  don't just stare at you until you pass them. They just keep looking at you until you're halfway on the other side of the town or something. Then this other wog went past and gave me the eye so I gave him the dirty look and he kept looking at me all the time. UGH!

These guys was talking to me in the water about Jaws.

This guy was talking to me in the water about Jaws, and everything else and we kept getting dunked all the time cause the waves were monstrous.! Gees it was great. He said he would get rid of his board but I didn't see him again. He goes, "My name's Jim". These bunch of Surfies, gees they were nice - really good looking - but I only discovered them as we were leaving. There are a lot of nice surfers. There were two on the ferry. God they were nice. These two creepy guys kept following me everywhere. UGH!  Patrick ( from NZ) kept calling me around and getting too friendly, He keeps saying "aaay"

I W.A.N.T. T.O. G.O. H.O.M.E.

Its terrible. I want to go home. On Saturday night I really wanted to ring Jason but I wasn't allowed. I still want to. I really miss him. I have to speak to him or see him. I luv him.I want to go home. I'm afraid they'll organise Jaws when I'm away. Then he'll take Jo or something. Oh please no. I W.A.N.T. T.O. G.O. H.O.M.E. Had lunch with Jenny Challenor on Friday . We talked about my favourite subject - Jason. I don't want to tell her that I want to go home and my sister keeps saying that she wants to stay. Oma never asks me if want to stay. Anyway Jenny and I should go home soon. I hope so.It gets too lonely.

Tuesday December 16 -

Did absolutely nothing today. Its still boring. Watched TV then did some shopping for Oma. Patrick still follows me around and makes stupid remarks and gets too friendly. Picked some flowers for Louise.She's really cute but shes spoiled and can be a real little brat. Guess what! We're going home tomorrow. Isn't that great. I'll miss Oma. My bloody sister started balling cause she reckoned I strangled her and I got this great long lecture form Oma. She made me angry and I accidentally locked the door when I went to bed. Oma was pounding on the windows to wake me up.

Wednesday December 17 - Mum wants to meet him first or I cant go.

Well I'm finally home. Got some Chrissie presents: perfume form Oma, turtle oil from Else, a Tiki doll from Patrick. Said goodbye and off we went on the train. As soon as I got inside the phone rang. Mum was fitten cause Id been getting obscene phone calls and one told Mum he wanted to s---w me. Mum flipped! I bet that was that school creep. Guess who was calling- Jason! He asked me to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show with him on Monday with Debbie, Chris, Stephen Lay. But Debbie doesn't know about it yet cause I rung her. Shes going to see Jaws on Friday, so I mustn't be going with Jason anymore- shit. We talked a lot. He wants to see The Exorcist. WOW. I told him about the shark and I said I was out with guys and he goes, "Oh yeah?" He said he's gonna ring back Friday. Isn't that great! There's only one problem. Mum wants to meet him first or I cant go. S--t. He'll probably chicken out. Oh he cant , please. I bet Ill end up not going. I bet.

Thursday December 18 - Got some BEAUTIFUL Hawaiian material and a pattern to make a Surfie shirt

Went to Penrith today and got all my Christmas presents. I got my sister a stamp album, a diary and stationary. Mum - a 'wee house' sign that says,  "here's out little toilet please enjoy your stay remember there's a queue outside so don't stay there all day!" A dunny cover and a  vase. Dad: a toolbox, saw, drills, snails for eating and slug bait. Jason was getting on the train as I was getting off. Got some BEAUTIFUL Hawaiian material and a pattern to make a Surfie shirt. Gees its nice. Its all blues and mauve. Then mum tells me she was gonna get one for me for Christmas wouldn't you know it. It goes with my skirt. Oh well. Ill ask her to get me a pair of shoes to go with them.

Friday December 19 - He was breathing heavily and had taped these weird noises

A guy rang. He was breathing heavily and had taped these weird noises. Anyway, he reckoned he sent me a card and a present. A pair of $10.00 earrings. I went back to bed and my sister talked to him for 3/4 of an hour. Dad was trying to get through and boy did he blow my sister sky high. She kept coming into my room with messages. One was he wanted to take me to the beach and go scuba diving. I said Ill be away and that I was afraid of sharks. He said, "There aren't any sharks. I know a cute little bay and no sharks can get in". So I said, "My parents probably wont let me".Then he asked me what records I want and I
said, "Abba, The Suzie Story". Later he said he could get it for me for Christmas. When he asked if I liked him I said as a friend and that's all. He got mad and said, "Why doesn't she get off her fat ass and talk to me herself." Then he said to my sister, "you're nearly 11 aren't you? Are you pretty like your sister? Are you nice like your sister?" and she said 'yes' to all of them. Then he said, "I might get onto you when I've finished with Petra". Ha!

Then Jason rang and he said he'd rung about 12 times. He asked me if I was allowed and I said, "Yes, except Dad wants to meet you". He said, "Fair enough. I'll come down Monday at 7.00am." Shit. He comes early enough doesn't he! He asked me to read some of my diary. I wouldn't let him. He said, "Gees, I've read others before". I said, " Like who's?". He said, "I've ready Cathy Scotts'  and Debbie Graces". He asked me if anyone had stirred me about him asking me to go with him again. I said, "Oh Chris did once, and Colin Boyd did". He said "But you wouldn't believe it?" then he said, "I was going to". I said, "why didn't you?" and he said, "I still might". I hope so. He said, "You don't sound very happy". I said, "I am" and he said, "Oh I believe you". I told him about the school creep, and he wanted to know what he said and all this and he said, "You've got enough guys after you" and I said, "like who?" and he said there's Harry and the school creep, and I said a whole two people. He said, "others" and I said, "like who", and he said, "oh just others. What about all those guys down in Sydney?". and I said, "that was for two days". He said, "you can do a lot in two days". We talked a lot and then he said "seeya". Today when I told him about Jaws he was swearing his head off at Chris.

Saturday December 20 - It takes all kinds to make up a world.

Went to a party today at the Taylor's. I nicked a couple of beers cans and drank them. I was giggling all night and Mrs Taylor goes,  "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were drunk!" I played totem tennis and I beat ALL the men and they were even trying: 10-3 9-1 9-3 4-0 0-1. Pretty good eh. Didn't get home until 12.30. This father there is a sex maniac. He kept chasing me around the house and so did uncle Fred. Gees. I'm convinced he's a sex maniac and this other chick is a lesbian cause last week her cousin came down and they did a strip tease in front of all the girls! She even admits it. Oh well , that's life. It takes all kinds to make up a world.

Sunday December 21 - Well tomorrow's the big day
                                         
Well tomorrow's the big day. I'm scared something' going to go wrong. It has to. Its going all too smoothly. I still cant believe I'm actually going to Sydney with Jason tomorrow. I'm so nervous I didn't go to sleep till 10.00 or so. Dad mowed the lawn and weeded so it looks OK. I bet he won't come or something. I wont get up in time or the house will be a mess. Shit I'm nervous. Sharon's coming down but I don't want her to be there when comes cause it will look queer. Oh well wish me luck then. see ya.

Monday December 22 - My First Date: the touch of him sent some sort of thrill through me.

Got up at 5.30 am. Shaved my legs, had breakfast, tidied up, and got ready. Sharon came down. Jason came right on time. He had to wait for Dad to get up. Then Jason shook hands with him and said hello, and talked about trains. Then we were off. Finally. Stephen Lay and Ferrit were waiting at Paul Morris' place and we walked to the station. We got the 8.10am train and while we were waiting Dad drove past real slowly and looked at us as though he was going to stop, but then the train came. Me and Jason sat in a separate chair to the others. Thank-goodness. He kept putting his head on my shoulders and today for some reason just the touch of him sent some sort of thrill through me.

He said I've got a sad face so from now on I have to smile

He talked about having a real big house with mirrors everywhere and a big round bed. He said I've got a sad face so from now on I have to smile all the time. We got off at Central, went and had something to eat, went to Mick Simmons twice and we got asked at least 7 times "can I help you?". Then we went to a place called Charlies where they have pin-balls and junk like that. We stayed there for about two and a half hours. Then we had lunch and THEN we went to the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

He insisted that he pay for me no matter what I said

Jason and all them kept eyeing off the chicks. God it was funny. He insisted that he pay for me no matter what I said . We didn't pay for the train fare up. I bought him something to eat and also paid for their train fare and mine home. That cost $2.00. They reckon they'll pay it back but I doubt if they ever will.

Jason was making a fuss about me sitting in the middle.

Rocky Horror Picture Show
was good. Jason was making a fuss about me sitting in the middle. Surprisingly enough he didn't try anything except about three times he started to tickle me and gradually got onto my boob where I stopped him. I'd put my head down and he'd put his head on on top of mine. When it was all over we went to the park then back to Mick Simmons, then to a couple of record shops and Coles and some other shops. Then we caught the train home.


Me and Jason had a fight - I moved to the other end of seat and started chewing chewing gum

On the way home I don't quite remember what started it off but me and Jason had a fight and he said it was a boring day and that it was a waste of time except for the movie. I was calling him a f'ing b'tard and all this and I yawned. It looked as though I was crying so Steve told Jason I was. He chucked a mental about that and I got so mad that I moved to the other end of seat and started chewing chewing gum.


Instead of paying attention to me you were paying more attention to him 

When we were nearly home he said, "We're nearly home thank-god" and that made me even more madder with him. I gave Steve 20 cents to phone up and Jason said, "Do you want me to walk you home?" and I said, "Only if you want to" so he did and we walked most of the way in silence. Then I asked him why he was shitted with me and he said, "You should know what is it what was that was shitting me. Instead of paying attention to me you were paying more attention to him than me"  I  said, "Are we going to be friends, or are you going to stay shitted?". He stuck his arm out as if to shake hands and said, "see-ya friend". I said,  "you known dam well I didn't mean that" and he said "well what did you mean?" I said, "I don't know how to say it".

I rung him later and we both said sorry and he kissed my headache better

                                           Video: The Three Degrees. When will I see you again

We stayed outside Mrs Harris's place for a while arguing and then he went and I told him not to get run over - a dumb thing to say. Fancy thinking I like Stephen. What a goose. Anyway I rung him later and we both said sorry and he kissed my headache better so I kissed his better. He said I'm beautiful and nice and pretty and all that. Wasn't that sweet. It sounded as though he really liked me you know. He said, "When will I see you again?" and I started singing it and so did did Jason. He said he felt bad because he thought I was bored, but I said I wasn't and he said, "we'll have to do it again soon". He said quite a few time that I looked spunky. I do like him a lot but not as much as before. That phone call made me feel a lot better, especially when he was saying that I was nice. He's having his hair cut. I wish he wouldn't. Oh well, my hair never looks. Dad banned me from  the telephone until the end of the bloody holidays. S--T. The b'tard all because my sister dobbed me in for ringing Jason. Ill get her back - bloody oath I swear on it. More news later. seeya. 


Tuesday December 23 - You know what it was? A bloody contraceptive.

Went with Sharon and Glenda to get their hair cut.They both look not very good. Speaking of hair cuts, Jason is getting his cut today. It will probably turn me off him completely. I just remembered something. When we we were on the train Jason opened his wallet and there was little thing in foil in there and he goes, "I didn't know know it was in there" and then he reads, "its electronically proven". You know what it was? A bloody contraceptive. It must have been. What else could it have been? The filthy b'tard. I hope it wasn't planned for me. He asked me if I was a virgin. Of course I bloody well am! Gees. Got a Christmas card from that guy. There was a $1.00 note in it. Don't know whether to send it back or not. Well it's Christmas Eve. Jason is supposed to be ringing me tonight at 12. I bet he doesn't. I just bet.

Thursday December 25 - Merry Christmas Diary

Merry Christmas Dairy. Well I stayed up until midnight to see if Jason would ring but he didn't. I didn't think he would. I knew quite a few of my presents. Guess what! I got a tape recorder! Some Hawaiian shorts, and stacks of stuff. I made a list and I'll stick it in here for you. So did Sharon and Glenda get stacks of things. They came down, then I went up to their place to say goodbye cause they're going away for a week to Safala. It was great. Had to leave early to go to Sue and Tania's. I don't want to go. It wont feel like Christmas then.

Well we're here at Sue and Tania's. I got an umbrella off Sue, this pinball game off Auntie Addie and some textas. We had pork and salad for lunch. Yum. Then we had chicken for tea. Went to Aunty Addies flat and to the beach. They live opposite Manly Beach. I didn't see any of my friends there. There were these Surfies on a car, stir stir. Going sailing tomorrow. Wow! Finally. I bet it rains like every other time we came here. You know it doesn't feel like Christmas at all. Oh well. That's another one gone. What a shame. I'd love it to last longer but Sue keeps chucking  a spastic about wanting to go to bed cause I just drew this beautiful little picture I copied from a pillow case that Simon ( Mervin, or so Dad calls him) gave her. Dirty old bugger. Then Sue kept complaining cause I had to write to you Dairy, so she bloody well dobbed on me for writing. And I got blown sky high from Mum. Well there goes another Christmas and almost another year. Only five more days  and then I start a new diary. You've been so good and now I've nearly finished. Oh well. That's life.  It's late so I'd better go. Merry Christmas again diary.




















Friday December 26 - We went sailing today

Well we went sailing today. It was great. I got soaked cause we kept kept getting sprayed cause I was 'something or rather hand' and I had to change seats every time we went about cause the sails had to change directions. It was real good but we had to go home early cause Mum had to work. Dam it.God there's a lot of wogs hanging out there. Contalf is where we went. I want to see Jason or at least talk to him but I'm banned from the phone and I'm scared I'll be turned off him with his hair cut.

Saturday December 27 - I've plucked my eyebrows and and its too late to put the hairs back on

Went to these peoples place where Mum works and Mahoney goes, "Oh Yeah, your Mum says you shaved your legs" and Mum said, "Do you still do that?" I went all red and said I was sick of people telling me I had hairy legs. Mum said, "She's got her own razor now she can do what she with it". Then they said, "Wait until they're all prickly". I was surprised they didn't say more. Speaking of hair, I don't think I told you but I've plucked my eyebrows. It looks, well, it doesn't look good but it doesn't look bad. Oh, I spose it does. Oh well, bad bloody luck. I've done em now and its too late to put the hairs back on so I'm stuck with it. Mum gave me a bottle of Reingold for myself and then she and Dad bloody well drank it for lunch. They wouldn't give me any and it was my bloody champagne. So I got cut and so Dad ( the jerk) went and poured some in my milk and made me drink it, and all the milk curdled. Yuck it was horrible. God parents make me sick. I want to ring Jason but I'm afraid hes been muckin around with some other chick and has forgotten all about me. I hope not. Please! I want to play squash  with him on Saturday but I doubt that he'd want to.

Sunday December 28 - "Look Petra, don't fall for him again

Nothing happened today of except that I cut my sister's hair and it turned out a disaster. It was all uneven. It looks good at that length but that'a all. So I'll use the space for Monday.  I rang Jason and his Dad said, "Does he owe you any money?". When we were saying goodbye his Dad said Goodbye too!  He goes, "what are you doing on new year eve?" and I said, "Absolutely nothing" and he goes, "Ill be down there at about 12". Like hell he will. Just like he was going to ring me at Christmas. Ha! I bet you $10 he doesn't, I just bet. He told Debbie and Chris that nothing happened in the theater and that he was very disappointed. Debbie just called and goes, "Look Petra, don't fall for him again". I just wish she'd mind her own business.  For her information, I don't like Jason half as much as I used to. Chris goes, "I'm his best friend I know what goes on inside his mind. Do you want me to tell?" and I said, "No", and he said, "In fact I don't think he likes you as all". I wish they'd just mind their own business. They stick their noses into EVERYTHING. In fact I don't care what happens to me anymore. I cant bloody tell if Jason's stirring me or not or if he's just after a root or if he really likes me. How am I to know! He's such a fricken good actor. Its not my fault. Why can't he just leave me alone completely. One minute he's ignoring me and the next minute hes all lovey dovey. Its SICKENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd love to have some decent un sex starved guy



Chris bought Debbie some Clunkies. Gees I'd love to have some decent un sex starved guy instead of these guys that drop in and out of my life, sob, sob. All we need now is the violin music. Mum finished my surfie shirt and now we're starting on my dress finally. Well tomorrow's News Year's eve and I've only one more day to write into you. Well bye Diary. I probably wont have anything to write cause I know dam well he wont come. 

Wednesday December 31 - You've been so good to me and you listened to all my problems

Well today is the last day of this year and the last day ill ever write in this diary again. Oh sadness. Oh sorrow. I want to start a new diary but you've been so good to me and you listened to all my problems that I don't want to have to store you away but what has to be done has to be done. All I did today was work, work, work, and I'm not even getting any pocket money for it, not for five weeks! Because I went in Mums room. God she makes me sick. Rang Jenny Challenor and we talked . She's got her eye on this kid who lives down the road and she was raving on about him. She said she'll write a me a letter from NZ. She's leaving on Sunday. Lucky stiff. She probably wont write as well. Nobody does nowadays. I'm not supposed to but I'll write in you at midnight to say Happy New Year's and to tell you if Jason came or not. He wont I know but still. Seeya then OK. ............


Well Happy New Year Dairy!!! Well I told you he wouldn't come I just knew it. He didn't even have the courtesy to ring, the basketball player.


Written by Petra Campbell

Web: www.petramcampbell.com
Email: kpmm@ozemail.com.au
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