Grey Nomads

Posts Tagged ‘canberra’

As we travel along life’s path, we all come upon forks in the road that ultimately force us to make decisions and choose our own destinies. Sometimes it seems to me that I have come across more than my fair share. In my 53 years upon this earth I have stumbled upon a whole canteen of forks. But I make the most of every experience and live by the ethos that what doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger and to date I have managed to turn every experience into a positive one.

In 1981 a series of seemingly innocuous events conspired to throw up forks in our road. The ultimate result of which was that we packed up our kit and caboodle and together with our pre-schooler, moved away from our family and friends in Sydney and set up home in Canberra.

Paramount among these events where the following: 

1. Late in July of 1981 I sold the business I had established in Artarmon a few years prior. 
2. In August the company that employed hubby decided to close the branch where he worked. 
3. On 9 September 1981 Sir Robin Askin, ( A.K.A. Sir Robert Askin) the 32nd premier of New South Wales (from 1965 to 1975), passed away. 

These may appear, at first glance, to be random, unrelated events and hardly conducive to moving to another state hundreds of miles away. But in reality they were all relevant, perhaps not in the same context as the alignment of the planets on the same side of the sun in 1982 which may or may not have played a pivotal role in drawing us to return to Sydney, but relevant all the same.

After I explain, all will become apparent. 

With the proceeds from the sale of the business in Artarmon we were able to pay off the mortgage on our first home and at the tender age of 24 and 29 respectively, we became debt free. Due to the ensuing celebrations a few weeks later I discovered I was expecting our second child…it was some party! 

Then reality struck; it looked as if hubby was about to join the ranks of the unemployed when they closed the branch he worked for.

We were deliberating what to do when out of the blue, at the age of 74 Sir Robin Askin passed away. Not that we had any direct link to the former premier but a friend of ours from Canberra, John, was a second cousin twice removed, or some such relation. Six degrees of separation, and all that jazz! Whilst in Sydney to attend the funeral John visited with us and suggested we move to Canberra where he could offer hubby employment in his printing business.

As we were able to find tenants to rent our house in Bronte for a larger sum than an equivalent house in Canberra would cost us, we did not hesitate and decided to take a chance and move inter state.

Although our stay in the nation’s capital was brief, lasting less than a year, we enjoyed every moment of it. While there, we discovered a warm and caring community unlike any we had experienced in the ‘big smoke’. Lifetime friendships were forged. Our elder son passed some unforgettable milestone such as starting big school and loosing his first baby tooth whilst trying to pries apart two recalcitrant Lego blocks. 

The highlight of our time in Canberra however, came after an arduous 48-minute labour one warm April morning, when I brought into this world a healthy baby boy, the product of our celebrations.

Unfortunately, on the business front, things were going base over apex. In hindsight we should have heeded the old adage; never do business with family or friends. Needless to say the friendship with John evaporated when the business arrangements turned sour, perhaps relevant to the alignment of the planets, but more likely due to the poor management skills of our delusional ex-friend.

All this occurred the day I came home from hospital with our new little bundle of joy and prompted us joining the dole queue. Eventually we bit the bullet and returned to our home in Sydney’s beachside suburb of Bronte, none the worse for the experience and even perhaps a little the wiser.