We didn't have much starting out at 27 James St, Whyalla, South Australia & lived a fairly basic life with just enough to sustain healthy living. However, despite their flaws I was blessed to have two loving parents. Although there are a variety of significant landmarks throughout this period I'm unsure if many of these were before or after Durc's birth as his influence over things naturally started out minimal whilst gradually increasing as he grew.
Being very well aware of how dangerous the world was & responsible loving parents, Mum & Dad raised us with very clear & strict anti grooming strategies. Absolutely NO ONE was allowed to discipline us except Mum & Dad, not even family as sexual abuse is too often perpetrated by family members. There were to be no secrets with anyone ever except for the fact that Dad grew dope. We were taught about our private parts & that they were ours, to be saved for someone special & that if anyone ever tried to touch us sexually, that we were to trust no-one & come directly to Mum & Dad. I actually remember getting my first little hard ons as a toddler & being told to leave it alone & it will settle. However, not being one to do as I'm told - it wasn't long before I stumbled upon the genie in that magical little bottle. It was interesting how early I found myself innately attracted to women which obviously had some kind of association with my dick well before I was old enough to question the phenomenon. My first crush would later be one of my kindy teachers who had sexy feet & I used to masturbate over every chance I got usually the moment Durc fell asleep. It was great, the orgasms were different but fucken awesome all the same & far less messy. Anyways, that's kinda getting off track. The point is that we were provided with firm & clear parental guidance countering typical tactics of grooming & manipulation particularly from people in positions of power.
As we initially didn't have a car for quite some time - I recall mum walking me down to the "Toy Library" to borrow toys. It always seemed like such a long walk. However, this was more a matter of my impatience & excitement than distance as it was only just around the corner & down the road on Searle St. I also used to get excited with the adventure cutting up past the swimming pool & through Civic Park to the playground on the way to Westlands Shopping Centre, or just to pass the time as children. Back then they used to have way better playground shit like the huge arse round-about. It was fucken awesome.
Getting our first TV & Camera were two of the more significant landmarks I clearly recall. As with many children TV provided some of my earliest cultural influences which I admittedly found confusing at times. A great example of this was my confusion between the RAA & the IRA. It didn't make sense. One minute there would be an advertisement of some lovely polite man changing a flat tyre on someones car. Next minute there would be news reports of them blowing up cars with car-bombs. Why someone would go to all the trouble of changing a tyre just to turn around & blow the car up? Which I found as scary as it was nonsensical. When I asked Dad he chuckled at the cuteness of my concerns, which he cleared up & reassured me that it was elsewhere in the world & were weren't in any real danger of being blown up. However, in a more direct sense looking back at some of the children's program we grew up with certainly raises some questions as to their influence of cultural development that I certainly intend to say a lot more on in the right context.
Dad basically needed to be drunk & stoned enough to function throughout our early childhoods which was something that as a child I was tuned into & aware of quite young. it was like his medicine. He always grew dope to sustain his addiction. Unfortunately due to the nature of prohibition & dope being illegal this had certain negative impacts on our social development due to being unable to have visitors throughout most of our childhoods. When he worked it was usually hard labour such as railways or other strenuous jobs at BHP. But he was never great at maintaining employment presumable as he was too smart for his own good & had a tendency to tell people to go fuck themselves. Nevertheless, on his own accord he was often able to apply his skills & creativity in more constructive ways that benefited us as a family.
I remember being excited as he planned & built me & Durc this swing play frame out of permapine posts he presumably "inherited" from work or somewhere.
It was designed for the whole family in a manner that to would also double as a punching bag stand as Mum & Dad practiced Rhee Taekwon-Do throughout our early childhood.
I'll never forget my first day of Kindy which was the first time someone would break the golden rule. Being my first day they made a big fuss that I'd get to feed the Rabbit. I was already pretty overwhelmed & unsure I'd ever seen a rabbit before. However, they seemed excited so I just went with it. Anyways, when the time came that lady took me across the grass into the cage at the back of the yard & placed this huge white bunny in my arms. No sooner had she done that she said "shit, I've left the food inside, I'll just be a minute" before locking me in the cage. I thought it was glorious as I held this big beautiful beautiful bunny stroking its silky ears right up until the point that out of nowhere these razor sharp claws came flying out of the fucken thing into my arms. Naturally I let go of the bunny which just happened to bounce on the front of the cage as the kindy teacher walked out of the door, who proceeded to race over & yell at me whilst smacking for "throwing the rabbit". Of course, I knew no-one was allowed to smack me, especially some cunt STUPID enough to lock me a cage to be clawed by a rabbit. Oh the injustice. I howled & howled & howled until eventually the stupid CUNT had no choice but to call my MUM. I remember her pulling into the carpark & racing in to find me more distraught than I'd ever been in my life. After checking me over she turned & asked what happen? The smug bitch replied "I just smacked him" & before she'd finished the sentence mum was on the other side of the counter, possibly grabbed her by the scruff of the neck whilst raising her fist & yelling in the bitches face "you fucken better not have!!!" before trundling me up & taking me home to safety.
Of course Mum & Dad saw the value of us learning martial arts in terms of discipline & for the purpose of self defence. We were breaking boards before were were school age & were strictly taught never to hit anyone first or start fights. However, not to take shit from bullies & that if anyone hits us that we were to hit them back twice as hard. In addition to their training Mum & Dad felt it was beneficial for us to learn different discipline from different masters & we did Judo & Karate throughout our early childhood too.
Nanna & Grandpa bought Mum a sewing machine too which certainly changed out lives. This enabled Mum to make herself, Dad & us kids cloths to save money so we could afford other stuff & slowly creep ahead in different ways. The things I remember most were the happy pants as they were comfortable as fuck but think Mum was handy enough to even make a fairly decent set of jeans too. Haha. this is not to say i was always keen on her attempts at fashion design. However, the love was always there which was the main thing.