BL> My first job in Australia paid 6c a telegram, and I could
 BL> deliver 20 in 8 hours if I pedalled really hard. But the fact
 BL> remains.

 BV> My first job paid $2 per week. During the week I started at
 BV> 6:00am and finished at 8:30am. On Saturdays and Sundays, I
 BV> started at 6:30am and finished at about 10:00am. After 4 weeks,
 BV> I realised that I was never going to make it by being a
 BV> paper-boy, so I practiced Billiards and put myself through
 BV> school that way.

  ROFL! I was smarter than you, then: I only lasted a week!

  My brother was the paper boy, and the bloody newsagent kept cheating
him by saying he was short, so Dad made me go around with him and
count the money... and then the newsagent didn't cheat him, so bloody
John did the rounds and got the money, and I acted as an unpaid
accountant! Bloody hell! When I complained and demanded half, Dad
whacked me over the head. This taught me an important principle.

 BV> Yeah. When we lived at Stanmore, it was costing 2/3rds of Mums
 BV> income for a single room flattete as Paul described. It did NOT
 BV> have any sort of Television. There wasn't any kitchen, but we
 BV> did have an electric hotplate in the room. There was a communal
 BV> shower and if you had any money to put in the slot, you could
 BV> even get hot water. The toilet was outside and I don't need to
 BV> tell you what it was like. It was a little bit uncomfortable
 BV> with the four of us living in a single room with only two beds,
 BV> but we made do.

  Yes... it sounds familiar. We lived in two rooms until I was seven,
and then I was put in the kitchen to sleep. I thought it was terrific
having my own bed! It was actually a settee with a patterned border...
I remember it still. I enjoyed myself as a kid... in fact, I still do.
It's good being poor, because the only way is up, but it's not so good
for the ones trapped in it. Paul does not see the difference. 

  In my day, all you had to do was work hard, and you could be rich.
Places like Newtown and Sydneham were just temporary if you wanted
out. Today, the rich are two-job families and the poor are no-job 
families, and the poor bastards in the middle end up funding both. 

 BV> Gee, what a small world. A friend of mine lives in Probert St.
 BV> What number were you in ?

  We lived in the next street: 105 Chelmsford Street, down the railway
line end. The house is full of Abos now. Probert Street was named Regent
Street in those days, and had the brothel and the SP joint as I said.

Regards,
Bob

Regards,
Bob
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
@EOT:

---