Me Old Pommy Mate

Not the best of photos, but this is me and my old Pommy mate, Dave Lowe. Dave and I shared a house in Hanbury Street, in Kalgoorlie, for a year in about 1996. Dave is a geologist, and was over for a year or so from the UK, gaining experience and travelling at the same time. He was a pit technician at the Superpit, and that's where we met.

In my first year in Kal I lived in a unit on Egan Street, near Judd's Pub. It was pretty cool, and I had numerous people stay with me during that time, but frankly it was too expensive ($250/week)  for a young man earning only $30,000 per year. So once the year's lease was up, good old Ed Radley, another geo at KCGM, was looking for someone to share his place, a prospect I snapped up! From memory I don't think it was long at all - perhaps simultaneously - that Dave joined us, and we had a great year living together. These memories are probably best told as a series of anecdotes, which is how I will portray them here:

1. Fireplace Incident - we used to get on the piss a fair bit in those days. The house, being an old fibro, was fucking cold in winter, so we decided to get a load of wood in. Most of it went well, but as we got to the end of the load, the biggest log left was simply too large to fit in the fireplace. So Dave and I had the genius idea to stick one end in and prop the other up with a survey peg. All went very well, until the end that was in there burned away, and the now heavier unburnt end fell out. I have a hazy and no doubt, alcohol-fueled memory of either Dave or I picking up the flaming log and hurling it outside to avoid burning the house down!
2. Ed Files - Fark I could write an entire blog on this alone. Ed was and no doubt still is, eccentric. He loved computer games, donuts and was a pretty typical early 20's slob. I always remember Dave and I watching X-Files with no lights on one night, and hearing Ed cursing the Greeks in his game of Civilisation in the background. Then he'd come into the living room and crouch down next to my chair to whisper how he got his revenge to me. It was really crazy behaviour, but innocent enough. When he was playing the Indians he'd use their war elephant units and you'd also hear them trumpeting in the background as he went to war. Dave and I never stopped giggling about Ed and his exploits. 
3. Red Dwarf - To this day, Dave and I quote endlessly, the banter between the various characters on this iconic show - "you never learn do you?" being a key one. We both still watch it from time to time, and hardly a WhatsApp conversation goes by without one of us dropping into Rimmer-mode and admonishing the other. 
4. The Late Show - Less iconic and long-lasting than Red Dwarf, but for its time an awesome comedy show, we also quoted from this at each other, ad infinitum. Particularly the scene where Rob Sitch played Robert de Niro on a quiz show - "that Spain thing, was that for me? Oh you know the answer, but you're asking me, why would you do that?". Hahaha, I am chortling to myself now as I type.
5. Pasta For Wun - We occasionally cooked together, but mostly just fended for ourselves, never missing the opportunity for a dig or pretense at offense. Dave used to get these packet foods called Paste For One, so I never let the occasion go by without feigning hurt. Plus I could take the piss out of his accent, hence the title - Paste For Wun, as that's how he pronounced it. Probably sounds silly to outsiders, but these are the glimpses of memory of our time together that both stick, and still bring a smile to my face to this day.
6. General Sports Banter - Even now we're always having a go at each other about cricket, rugby, football or any other sport, especially when the other's team is performing poorly. The "do you know what you're doing when..." quote comes out often, and is hilarious!

Anyway, there are some examples of my memories of Dave. Probably what' most important is that our friendship has lasted for a very long time, even when for a number of years we were out of touch. That's huge for me. I have only a couple of friends who seem to put the effort in, and Davey boy is one of them. Long may it last! I just hope I get to see him in person again one of these days....