Many of the first brats to be found were the boys of NZ Service High School, Woodlands 1976/1977.
Why?
Because i only had the 1976 school magazine by my side at the computer and because well, the girls get married and change their surname don't they?
So the first intake were predominately males along with a few females who were not married or were still known by the male brats and were told about the site.
It was so exciting to check my email to see who had come along next. People i hadn't seen for almost 30 years who had remained the teenagers that they were in the photos on the pages of that school magazine.
I wonder if anyone who grew up in the same town, suburb or city knowing the same people all their lives, can imagine and understand what it was like for us who grew up feeling as if we never really new anyone or any place.
And no one really knew us.
We have no understanding of their type of life either, but we thought about it. We tried to imagine what it would be like..didn't we.
When in my early 20's i settled down and started to feel some sense of community where i was living. The first place i'd lived in for more than 3 years. I made some good friends and i got used to my surroundings and daily life, but i never got used to the concept of people knowing people.
Walking with a friend we would pass someone in the street and they would casually comment that the person passed was someone they knew from primary school. I would stop and gasp.."you knew them in primary school?! as in when you were a kid? why didn't you say hello to them???" a look of strange uncertainty from them would follow after my reaction. They couldn't see what the big deal was and would shrug then go on to tell some stories of that persons life that someone else had told them.
Amazing!
Friends had the same Doctor for years, even since birth. Corner store owners knew them by name and would ask after their parents, sisters and brothers. Old Mrs Corner shop lady would say 'I remember when you were a little tacker coming in every week to spend your pocket money on 10 cents worth of mixed lollies".
They showed me locations, such as a park or a skating rink, as we walked or drove by and tell a story of a particular incident that happened in their childhood. There, right there, they would point.
Wow!
The friends who cared to ask about my curiosity for something they found quite normal would be told that i didn't know what it was like to be feel so familiar with the people and surroundings in my area. I hadn't stayed still long enough to experience it.
So the kids in the photos of my trusty old school magazine from 1976 came to life as they found their way to the group. All grown up with families of their own and stories of their lives since the printing of that magazine.
John Terewi, John and Colin Murphy, Rip (Ruapeka) Rogers, Dean Rennie, Ross Fearon, to name but a few.
I knew them, i knew the things of Singapore they remembered, our other classmates and Teachers. I knew the places they were talking about when they talked of playing handball at school. The school or Tengah disco's we went to, the Fernleaf where everyone swam in the pool, hung out at the tables and the night we all first saw 'Jaws' on the white brick wall of the hostel used as a screen with the scary water of the pool under it in the dark. (if you were there that night, you know exactly what i'm talking about)
And..they were able to pass on the whereabouts of others from our time in Singapore because they had kept in touch over the years, ran into them or they served in the NZDF as their Fathers had. If they didn't know each others exact location, they had a fair idea and a phone call or two was only needed to track them down.
These boys, our Soldier Brat Boys as i call them, (i have nick names for all groups and groups within groups to do with Singapore brats if you haven't already noticed) are an integral yet hidden facet of Australian and New Zealand Military Brats of Singapore.
I'd like to tell you why i know this to be so....another day.
No comments:
Post a Comment