It starts somewhere

Even school......... I'm not sure why school appealed to me. Later in life it didn't. Learning did, and still does, but school itself lost appeal. Too many pitfalls to get in the way of pure learning.

So it's the beginning of the 80's and I live directly across the road from school. It's an infants school. Only prep through year 2. So no bigger kids. I'm really in support of these broken up environments, although it won't matter in the modern internet connected world.

So I'm standing around in the lounge room, the whole family is there, I mean literally. We had grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunties, Little Kal and cousin Wayne heading off to school for the first time was a big occasion.
We got on our uniforms and then they brought our bags, brand new backpacks for each of us. Identical except for colour. I had a bright red one and Wayne had a blue one.
They were upright, square and had a single clip. It was like an airline seatbelt, a HUGE clasp but we did like that it had a reflector built into it, like one off the back of your bike. Truly school was going to be an awesome experience with a start like this.

Across the road we went, and up the hill, this hill would amaze me daily for years. It was so so steep and about 50m top to bottom, quite a workout for little legs.

We were lined up into grades, boys and girls in seperate lines (which no-one complained about at the time) and we moved into classrooms and learnt the basics. Who our teacher would be and how things worked.

I don't know if it was a private school or not, but we had hot lunches. We paid for them, but you could order a pie or a sausage roll in the morning before school and at lunch it would be brought out to you. And they were beautiful, I still remember how they tasted and it's why I'm so picky about meat pies today even. You can't beat those.

Mrs Irish was the teacher for Prep and year 1, she was dark haired and very sweet. Genuinely loved all of us and remembered everyone.
She recognised me on sight when I came back to visit when I was 10. And later 21.Now that's devotion.
I did not look the same each decade that passed.

There are some key things that stand out from the infants school.
Highlights

• A school play about a magic department store or a fifty cent piece ( it's a little blurry, but I played a cat and had to "meow" 3 lines)
• A fancy dress parade where I went as a Tea Bag
• Alcohol based photocopies. ( I didn't know they used alocohol back then obviously, but they were purple and smelt awful, but whenever you smelt it you knew you were getting a handout)

We used to play a lot of games, every lunch break we would gather in our little groups and let our imaginations run wild.
I remember Louise, who I planned to marry wanted to play "flying horses" which consisted of everyone being given a flying horse name and running down or across the hill as fast as you could with your arms stretched out. As far as I recall I was the only boy in the game. All of the other flying horses were girls.......I guess I liked women from an early age.

One of the other games we played consisted of an incredible journey. You can guess where we got this idea from. There was a play gym shaped like a long arch, this was used to simulate the teeth. And we the scientific explorers would enter through the throat and make sure this person was ok.
We knew all about how it worked, the "Life education" van came by every few months and taught us about organs and the important stuff.

I remember one day being pulled out of my line and moved to another. I told Mrs Irish I was in the wrong line, but she said I belonged in the new one. I was apparently too smart. The prep class was not going to be good for me, because i could read already. I'd learnt from Sesame Street and kids tv and then rehearsed it from my sister's books. I used to listen to her read them to mum and I'd memorise them.
Then I'd take the books and read them myself, working out the words matched with what was said.
A big start for a small boy.
Unfortunately this would be my only step up in the world. Moved ahead a single grade, forever destined to be smaller and younger than my classmates.
Never again in my school years would my intellect be pushed towards something greater......

Things carried on at the school in normal fashion. My sister and I continued to spend alternate weekends with my Nana.

Nana's house was at the top of a nearby hill. It was enormous, swimming pool, many bedrooms, floor to cieling windows etc, years later this went from being a nice house to a sign of wealth as I learnt more. But I'll discuss Nana's house in depth later.

I never really liked peanut butter. I mean from the start I didn't enjoy it and one day my lunch got mixed up. I had my sister's sandwiches by mistake, too late. She had eaten the vegemite ones. I had nothing to do but take them home.

This was an important lesson in life. Mum was annoyed that I brought them home. So I got in trouble for wasting them, even though I clearly hadn't been responsible for the mistake.
Next day I was sent to school with a note and some sandwiches.
Lunch time arrives and I'm pulled aside and sat at a table with a peanut butter sandwich.
It was cut up and I was made to eat it. I felt horribly sick and I cried. I was forced to eat this sandwich I didn't like. For no reason. Alternatives were available, there was no reason I should be made to do this.

So I learnt that people react to things and make demands.Even if they have no reason to.

Lesson learnt: In my life I do not make people do things for no reason. I have staff under me, I have managed businesses and I am a father. I make decisions for a reason and can rationalise all of them. Don't do things to the people in your life you can't justify.

I learnt to tie my shoelaces in the back of the car. We were going to get an ice cream and I undid them and kept trying to get them tied again, I eventually did it 20 minutes later. It would be years before I could do it consistently. Until 12 I wore Velcro or tied knots in them.
One of those strange things I just didn't get how to do.

Does it matter what I couldnt do? I'm only a guest.