The reason I say I'm not sure where it starts and where it ends is that before HK, I don't really have a whole lot of memories. The picture above for example, is part of a well-known story in Brown folklore. It went along the lines of Uncle John (Dad's best friend John Wheeler, who tragically died in a car accident that also severely hurt my dad) telling me one Christmas that all the presents under the tree were for me. I am hoping it wasn't in reference to the above picture specifically, as there is only one damn present there! Plus this photo was in our place, and I was only one (1973) - I recognise the carpet and furniture - whereas I am fairly sure the story eventuated from Uncle John and Aunty Kath's place. Which year is unsure, but I suspect 1976 or 1977. Not sure which year the accident was, so I could be wrong...
Ok, so perhaps my management of my story-telling timeline in conjunction with my photo presentation, could be better. But I'm sure you appreciate how it can be - pulling poignant family photos out of the relevant album, and pairing them with specific memories that match the ongoing narrative. Well, when one is a mid-40's, alcohol-riddled old bugger like me, trying to pull together the throes of what happened in the 1970's? Well, even though I was too young for pot or LSD, let's just say, my brain still doesn't have a particularly great recollection of all those events, at least in terms of subsequent occurrences.
Wow, so I've written a whole paragraph without even referencing the above photo. Point frigging made I say! That photo is of me, as I suspect a 2yo, being held by my ever-so-manly dad, probably on Manly beach, or somewhere close to it. So much manliness! It's interesting to note how I am holding my right arm - to this day I am inclined to pose like that sometimes. It almost appears pensive, but as a 2yo, of what? Certainly the facial expressions give nothing away. But yes, I can recognise myself in that photo, simply from how I hold myself. To the photo itself, well those were the days weren't they? Beach-side weekend afternoons with family. Love it.
Apart from these photos - of which I have no memory myself - I only have a couple of brief synaptic glimpses into that part of my history. One being sitting in the garden either in Peacock Parade or Hakea Avenue and seeing what to me was a monstrous spider walking across the leaf litter on the ground towards me playing wherever I was. Not sure how that episode ended, but I am assuming it ended well for me! The other memory is of being in a fairly large coastal house - pretty sure it was Aunty Kath's again - and perhaps after Uncle John had died. Like the garden memory, it is only a brief glimpse, but nevertheless, it is there.
So this next photo takes us into the period of 1979-1985. I am merely flicking through my abridged family digital album at this point, and thus missing a whole lot of fucking content in the process. So I am not sure how to continue - I think I will keep this post going as is, but as per cousin Phil's memoir, well a whole lot more detail will need to emerge on the HK years, combined with the Sing' years, as frankly they were the years that largely made me who I am today.
The above photo is somewhere in HK, no doubt at one of my dad's construction sites. I suspect it was too early to be Tsing Yi Island, so maybe Shau Kei Wan, which I believe was one of his earliest sites. I remember Dad taking me with him early one morning, like 2 or 3am, for a very important concrete pour. This wasn't that occasion (it happened many years later when I was older), but this was still a great time for us as father and son. I remember I would sometimes accompany him to work on a Saturday morning - he did half-days often - and he would take me for lunch after. Often to a local noodle shop or a curry house. Whatever it was, it was cheap and damn good!
In this photo I don't recognise the fellow on the left. Hold that. I DO recognise him, I just can't for the life of me think of his name. The fellow on the right was Fung. There was a story about Fung, but I can't remember it. I do remember him being one of Dad's most trusted workers though, He and Bor Jai. Bor Jai being the fellow who'd turn up to work with a can of San Miguel with a straw in it, and then complain that it was soft drink when questioned! Haha, now that is hilarious. Just imagining it at a W.A. minesite makes me giggle. Most safety officers would have a conniption fit!
This next photo brings back great memories. No, hold that thought. I have no memory of this whatsoever. But, seeing it gives me warm feelings - me and Dad doing stuff together. We're in Penang in 1982, on my very first non-family-visit-oriented holiday. We stayed at the Golden Sands resort, which is still there to this day, and it was grand. We actually met a family there - The Cartons - who I believe my mum was still in touch with until very recently, and whilst I don't really remember any details, when I see the photos it makes me feel happy. This issue will be discussed at length in due course I'm sure, but when my dad died in 2001, one of the key things I felt was that I had really missed an opportunity. I was too busy being me, and growing up and living my life, to appreciate my father, and to understand just how proud he was of me. It's kind of sad. No, it's very sad. Being an immature, emotionally under-developed person until you hit your mid-30's has got knobs on it frankly. Especially when you have always felt so very mature and very in-touch with everything. Except perhaps, some of the things that matter most.
Rest in Peace my dear father. I value you now.
Now this last photo encapsulates Hong Kong life for us back in the early 80's. I was a young whipper-snapper at KJS and then KGV, and Dad was busy building the colony's underground rail system. Mum, on the other hand, was trying her hand at what to me was a (no pun intended) foreign concept - English conversation.
I imagine she charged very little. I don't know much about it, but she had fairly regular clients, from local Chinese ladies to spouses of Japanese expatriates. The photo above relates to the latter. Mum was teaching conversation to a Japanese lady who lived upstairs in our apartment building at 90 Waterloo Road. One night we were invited to dinner up there. We were served a part of Japanese cuisine that I am certain I have not had since - sukiyaki - it's their version of a Chinese steamboat really, with a basic host soup that one cooks a whole variety of meats and vegetables in. Frankly it was one of the most yummy things I had ever eaten at that point, so I am seriously amazed I have not had it since! I also have memories of having a raw egg in the bowl in front of me, which I assume was cooked by the boiling hot broth from the pot.
So by the looks of this post and the associated photos, I suspect this Early Life recounting is to do with birth up to end-of-HK only, as in 1985. That's when we moved to Singapore. That's when life took me in some truly incredible directions - both ways, I might add. More to follow on that.
Footnote: This post is Part 4, but interestingly, about three other draft posts were initially Part 4. I came up with a host of ideas to begin with, but as my memories and effort put into this blog evolved, this became more of a logical fourth post to deliver. So there.
PPS: Or Footnote 2, not sure of the semantics! I want to point out that this missive in no way entails the entirety of my life between 1979 and 1985. It is really a series of snapshots, relating to the photos. Hey, that makes awesome sense. Fuck it, I am going to rename this post to reference it as a snapshot. So then I can go back to HK and talk about KJS or KGV or anything else without appearing to be a complete muppet.
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