Thursday, May 3, 2007

Old Friends

That's me in the center of this photo, taken at the Wollundry Lagoon, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia in August 1975. I don't really remember the names of my friends here, but I think one of them (the one on the left) is Paul Arbuckle. My family lived in Wagga for three months while my dad was hiring people for a new branch of his company. I went to school, played rugby and aussie rules football, kissed my first girlfriend (Marie Manning, which apparently I have no photos of!), and made a lot of friends. When we came back to the States, I kept up the correspondences for about a year, and then all those friendships faded away. The whole experience was my special Aussie edition of "The Wonder Years."

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You had a girlfriend? I see that you still dress the same. LOL.

kitten said...

WOw, I had no idea you had lived here before. That's awesome, tell me more ....like why exactly you wanted to move over here in the first place...how long did you live here as a child and are either of your parents (or other relatives)aussies? What made ya'll move back to the states. Hey, you could write a blog about this, whaddaya think?

The Prof said...

Thanks for your suggestion, kitten! My brother, who posted the anonymous comment above yours, would probably enjoy hearing about it too, since he was only 5 when we went there...

Anonymous said...

the boy on the left is Paul Arbuckle the one on your right is his brother Greg. Greg still lives in Wagga while Paul has moved to Victoria

The Prof said...

Anonymous! Please tell me more. I did remember that they were brothers, but how did you know that? Did you happen to know others from that era in Wagga?

Anonymous said...

Hi we are faimly of those two, in total there was 9 brothers and sisters in fact the other anonymous who answered before would have being 4 years old at that time, i was born in 1975. We spoke to the older bro and sis (Greg and Beve)and they remember you, how sweet.

Leon Arbuckle

The Prof said...

Hi Leon!

Thanks for the information, and for signing your name. I am really happy to hear that Greg remembers me. 32 years is a long time, isn't it? I did not realize that his family was so large! If you get a chance, please let him and his brother know that I am moving to Brisbane soon, and that my email address is evanman@mac.com. I hope to visit Wagga again in the next year.

Cheers, Eric