Out Of Hospital Early Memories

One of my earliest funny childhood memories when I fell in the duckpond in centennial park, I was a todder at this stage, and got a little too excited feeding the ducks and got a little too close too the edge...

I fell in and i remember screaming because there were also either carp fish or eels in this pond as well as the ducks. My mum jumped in afterr me thinking the water was deep, it awas only knee deep it was just the scary fish and eels that made me scream.

My Great Aunt "Tantine" was with us at the time (I dont know where my brohter was, he wasn't at this particular outing). She had day leave from the hospital and had recently undergone a Quadriple Bypass. Out of the three of us, she was the only one that had a dry jacket, but one thing about my aunt you should all know is she had three loves: Jesus, Elvis, and Herself. I remember sitting in the back seat wet, cold and shivering and my mother asking her if I could borrow her coat, her response was in English: No it's mine.

Centennial park also very quicky became a place for my local outings from the hospital, alongside my best friend Amy. Amy and I had met, and grown up alongside each other in the hospital, for memeory i think she was about 3 years older than me, however she had a diagnosis unlike me. Amy had Down Syndrome, as well as Crohn's disease, and an ostomy bag. she was also adopted, by a nurse.

There is a bridge near one of the playgrounds that you can stand on and its a waterway out to one of the duckponds, near one of the playgrounds, which my family and I affectionatly call "Amy's Bridge" (it doesnt have an actual special name) We used to have a pretend picnic (my brother was the only one who could actually eat) and we would stand on that bridge and throw bread and watch it get caught in the current... and watch the game of fastest duck gets the bread so to speak. I will have to go back and take a photo of where I am talking about at some point.

Unfortunatley Amy passed away in 1998, I believe she was 11 years of age. I still often visit that park, and "Amy's Bridge" now with my own son.

Here are some random assortments of photos that I have so far found of me in my younger years. Note the santa photo in 1993, I was three, and On day leave from the hospital.

The Monorail

Whilst my dad preferred to get around the City of Sydney via boat or yaught (i much prefer motor & can easily navigate the harbour this way), my mother used to take us around via the sky, I can only find photos on google but please see attached photos.

When my brother and I would fight, my mother would take us to the city and go around and around on the Monorail as it was cheap, and a very effective way to stop us fighting via distraction of a 360 degree view of the city, unfortunatly in recent years they had decided it was old technology and the monorail no longer exists, however with the current state of trackworks and bus problems, they really need to bring back the monerail! it went through darling harbour, central and as you can see from the photos you could also see centrepoint tower, the bridge, opera house and all the boats and ferries below (i have also driven a ferry in the harbour twice in my early childhood life). Now the only other option other than foot and car is the ferry by water, or its just busses and trains. Had the monorail still been there in recent times, Id say it would have attracted triple the tourism for the latest vivid event as many people struggled with public transport.

without further ado, here are some google photos of the city when the monorail still was there. lookout for part 3 of my memoir.

did you miss part 1? here is the link: