Here I am, I am, the soul within this body,( from earliest memory to latest reality ) son, grandson, really fast toy car driver, boy who holidays on merchant ships with restless father, I am a husband, a father, a stepfather with 5 great and inspiring kids.
I am boy who sits on a cliff and watches the swell roll into the bay and become waves that nobody ever in those days rides ( millions of them unridden ), boy whos father wont talk about being a Romanichal, boy who rows a dinghy across a channel to hunt for blue ring octopus ( deadly little bastards that kill in 60 seconds ) and sells them to CSIRO for 50 cents each after freezing them in Nannas fridge,
waterbaby/surfer@ 8years old, boy snatched away from adventurous life to live with nasty stepfather 1000 miles from the channel, boy who endures 4 years ( a whole lifetime at this age ) of nasty stepfather before running away and being brought home by the police, almost made it, to where Im not sure. I was on the road and it felt right.
AHHHHH the adventure begins again, thank god.
During this four years I spent a lot of time, every holiday, with my Romani Father and Uncles and Aunts and cousins, the cousins were like my brothers and sisters, they are what saved me and were my focus, unfortunately the adults didnt talk much about the romani life they had lived before coming to Australia, but they did still speak the occasional word of our language and lived all together, close and supportive, at least while we kids were young.
After my Mother and Father split, something was missing (obviously), one day my Mother said something that solidified who I was. We were driving in the country (rural NSW ) and through the trees I could see an encampment, I asked what all the vans were there for and she replied "thats where your father belongs" I again felt the loss of my father but there was something else, I felt thats where I belonged. Every time I stayed with my father we hooked up the van and went bush or coast, camping on rivers, lakes and visiting family, it should have gone on forever, it felt like it had been going on forever.
Life as a kid is good fun even when theres pain its usually mostly fun that we remember.
Boy who travels up and down the Hume Highway, Melb / Sydney sometimes 15 times a year. When I was 12 I started travelling to Sydney by train by my self, made a bed for myself in the high racks, smoked my first joint with a bunch of Maori rail workers who let me share their cab, they played music all night and sang and danced, I again felt familiar surroundings. When I got to Sydney I would just sit and wait for Nan and Pop to pick me up. Had to go by train because the klunky old planes made me sick as a dog.
Boy who lived in so many places that I can hardly remember them all, by age 40, around 53 homes at last count including, caravans, flats, rooms with relatives, even lived in a pub for a few months. I have a sneaking suspicion that my stepfather was also of gypsy blood I rekon my mum was a bit obsessed with Gypsies as she told me stories of the ones that visited my grandfather in Sydney when she was a young girl, he traded cars and they loved big cars. And then she hit the road, travelling around Australia with a girlfreind at 17 in the early 50s.
I went to 10 primary schools, in NSW and VICTORIA
I went to 2 Secondary schools a College and have had umpteen jobs.
I went to 2 Secondary schools a College and have had umpteen jobs.
At 14 I would go camping every weekend, at 16 I left home and did not look back, the open road is mine.
Confused? not at all, I love God, I love my life and all the people in it. It and They have helped me become what and who I am today.
Confused? not at all, I love God, I love my life and all the people in it. It and They have helped me become what and who I am today.
