As a young Air Force officer, I was posted to Adelaide in 1980. Mainly thanks to Paul, a fellow officer I had met in Melbourne the previous year, I quickly blended into the Adelaide scene. He invited me to join his basketball team and introduced me to the best Adelaide nightspots. The basketball team became the centre of my social universe. I remember very little of the actual basketball, but do remember some very happy times off the court, both in Adelaide and in surrounding towns where we took part in basketball tournaments.
It was fantastic to catch up with some of the boys in Adelaide just a few days ago. I think it is a measure of our friendship that we picked up as if we hadn’t been apart for decades. Everyone was extremely generous, putting me up in their homes and making me eat and drink way too much. Greg and his wife Carmel had graciously hosted me in Naracoorte a couple of weeks ago, as did Paul and Dave and Jen in Adelaide.
Perhaps a highlight of Adelaide was catching up with Paul’s mum, children and partner. I had met his mum back in the early eighties, and it was delightful to meet up with her again. In 1991, when I travelled around Australia, I called in briefly on Paul and met his eighteen month old son, James. A few days ago, James and his siblings discussed celebrating his thirtieth birthday in a few months! Lunch with Paul’s partner, Kathy, was delightful. Right from the outset, I felt as if I had known her for ages, instead of minutes.
I joined the Air Force from high school in early 1976. For the first three years, I was a cadet studying at a Queensland university with a small group of boys who had joined at the same time. Our group spent much of those three years in each other’s company, so we became very close. Mal was one of those boys. We have caught up a couple of times over the past forty years, but not often enough, so it was lovely to spend time with him in Adelaide.
I was so busy enjoying the company of friends that I took no photos of anyone, which is unusual, to say the least. I will remedy that situation when I return to Adelaide in two or three months. I thank the fellow from the pub who photographed the basketball team. I think it is appropriate the photo is a little fuzzy and dim because that was how I was feeling at the time.
I should explain the other photos here. I mentioned that Dave and Jen took care of me, but they have another, long-term, houseguest. A Morepork has taken up residence in their carport. It has the ability to twist its head around in a full circle to keep an eye on things, and that is exactly what it did whenever I visited my van. Finally, at dinner at Paul’s mum’s home, there was quite an animated discussion about the favoured biscuits in the Arnott’s Assorted Creams packs. I have no idea how we got on to that topic, but I find it difficult to believe that a couple of Paul’s children (they know who they are!) prefer Orange Creams to Kingstons and went so far as to say that they would leave the Kingstons rather than eat them. ?????? I expressed my strong support for Kingstons, and was pleasantly surprised when Paul gifted me some Kingstons at the end of my visit.
I look forward to sharing the Kingstons with fellow travellers. We can munch on them while we sip the Irish Whiskey Dave so kindly gave to me. While we munch and sip, I will tell those travellers about my wonderful friends in Adelaide.
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