HELLO FLAT MATES

Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash

The excerpt from my memoir continues:

“After my trial-by-opera with Mrs. Higgins, which saw me turfed out on my ear, I naturally went back to Sydney's YWCA. Of course, it never occurred to me that there might not have been a room available. At that point in my life, I had no concept that the world would not adjust to whatever I had in mind. Even when I had nothing concrete in mind at all!

So, there I was in a city of nearly 3 million people, with my cash fast running out, no contacts and no job. If I was worried, I don't remember feeling it. I was the ultimate in naivety. What could possibly go wrong?

I bought a newspaper that had a section in it called “Flat Mates”. People who were looking for someone to help share the rent.

I saw that a group of girls were looking for a flat mate for their house in Annandale. I took my lone overnight case along to the address listed and knocked on the door.

“G'day Mate,” said Carol. If she was phased by the fact I had no luggage, she didn't show it.

She pushed her wavy blond hair aside, cigarette smoke trailing into her eyes. She welcomed me as though we'd been friends for years.

“Ya come about the room?”

She showed me what would be my bedroom, at the top of the stairs. If they were interested and/or concerned about my finances, I don't remember them saying anything. At that point, I didn't even have a job, but that too seemed to escape their notice.

I was there, I was alive, and best of all, I didn't have tons of stuff with me.

Later I met Rhonda, and Liz, and Fiona, the other three girls I would be sharing the house with. I don't know how long they had been searching for a flatmate, but at the speed at which they accepted me was anything to go by, they weren't fussy.

I suspect I was taken on by Carol's say-so, without her consulting the others.

Lucky for me!

I foolishly thought that getting a job was just a minor detail to be worked out later. I had been in Australia less than a week, and other than experiencing the delights of opera, I hadn't really settled in.

Of the four girls I would be sharing with, two were older than me: Carol and Rhonda and two were younger than me: Liz and Fiona. That put me squarely in the middle. Two years older and two years younger, with me being piggy in the middle. Being piggy in the middle also turned me into playing the peace-maker role between the two camps. Playing peace-maker was fine with me, it's not as though I hadn't already had done that with my parents. I had lots of practice.

Our house on View Street was one of the old, tall Victorian terrace houses so common in Sydney. I had never seen a terrace house before, each house snug up against its neighbour. Everything about it was new to my eyes. Woven rush matting on the floor instead of carpets, I'd never seen that before. Having a shower instead of a bath. Every place I had ever lived prior to this only had a bath. A shower, I discovered, was like standing in warm rain! I marvelled at it.

The fact that you had to switch appliances on at the mains was also new to me. In North America, I was accustomed to everything working right away. Just plug in and off you go! But here, you had a switch by the socket that made it work. That was a new concept. In fact, at first, I had no idea what that switch was for, not guessing that it activated the power supply.

I loved everything about communal living, as I was already used to sharing spaces from living in the YWCA in Canada. Maybe because I grew up without sisters or ever having to share anything, I found it delightful to have the others around me. Plus it must have helped me to feel more settled, which I desperately wanted, considering I was roughly 8,000 miles from home.

Having found my substitute “family”, I began my adventures in Australia, starting with finding a job.”

Was I lucky? Was I ever! It chills me to think how things might have turned out, had I been unlucky!

How about you? Did you ever do anything foolish in your younger days, things that would frighten the life out of you if you were to do it today? Let's just say, I wouldn't, in a million years, do what I did at age 20.

Until next Monday,

Rose