Skatey...The life of Les Skate

Skatey
The Life of Les Skate
Everyone was confined to their own home and town. But you wanted to get out a bit, it
was Christmas. So, I remember old Pop and all his friends loaded all the gear on the truck,
(Pop had a ’36 model Fargo) and we went way out to a creek in the scrub. We camped
there and fished and had a good time. They were good times. Pop was a very keen
fisherman and he’d shoot ducks and so forth and I spent a lot of time with him. Mum was
always home making clothes for the kids and what-not.
One gentleman had a little dairy and a chook and duck
They were good times. farm, just over the other side of the creek. I used to
walk across a log to get over there. Of an afternoon,
after school, I’d go and wash the eggs. Nowadays eggs
are clean, they’re dropped on grates. But back then all the eggs had to be washed; they
were all dirty. Washing eggs.
The ducks all lived on the creek, and when they wanted to lay an egg, they’d drop them in
the creek. So, I had to walk around in the creek and get all the eggs. But this is how I got
my pocket money, that’s why I did it. I’d get two shillings a week. Now two shillings a week
was enough for me to go to the pictures, (I think that was about nine pence,) buy a milk
shake, a threepenny ice cream, and a comic. Everything you wanted.
That was how I supplemented my income … in fact there was no other income! Yeah
washing the eggs … and they were nice people to work for. Oh, one Christmas time there
was an extra present for me. They gave me a ten-shilling note! I thought I was a king! And I
would have spent it don’t worry! Oh … I might have bought mum something.
They gave me a ten-shilling note! I thought I
was a king!
‘They were hard days but they were good days. You knew what you were
living with, and what was in store for you, and you didn’t try to go outside
that boundary. You were just happy for what you had.’
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