Wish you were here ...
One of my many strange but more fulfilling habits is trolling through second-hand book shops. Much of my library has its origins in flea-markets, school fairs and op shops (that's charity shops to English readers, and probably something else again to others), and I love it. However, this post is not about the pleasures of foxed pages and first editions, but about a bookmark..
This morning a postcard fell out of a book I bought a few weeks ago. It's the standard view, and I'm guessing the postcard is circa 1975. The image is copyright (so acknowlegements to Nucolorvue and everyone's happy), but the real gem is in the prose. It's written to an address in Mildura, which is in regional country Victoria near the NSW border.
I now present for your edification a snapshot of how a young country student of the seventies, given an opportunity to continue her education in the Big Smoke, wrote home:
I now present for your edification a snapshot of how a young country student of the seventies, given an opportunity to continue her education in the Big Smoke, wrote home:
Dear Kay,
I'm buggered!! The kids up here are deads...s!! Got up at 3am Sunday, got here at 6.15am. Had a bit too (sic) drink last night. Went on a pub crawl today & we sang on the way back here in the bus. Sobered up for tea & we're drinking again. Going to Macquarie Uni to meet a friend tomorrow. Bet I get lost!! The lectures are pretty boring. Indonesian restaurant tomorrow night. See ya next term. Phyl.
I wonder where Phyl is now?
posted by MargieCM at 3:04 pm
10 Comments:
A wonderful post this! There's something so wonderful about suddenly getting a glimpse into one moment in the life of a person you have never met or known in your life, somewhere and sometime in this existence. In a sense it is a superficial occurrence but in another sense complete meaningful, as if bringing the humanity closer together for a tiny moment in time.
This person in the postcard is so faraway from me yet so close: her description of student life could have been written by a student in Oulu now :-)
... and, I suspect, by practically any other student Maria, give or take a little Australian vernacular. I must say finding it was a real treat, and I was so thrilled that I can't even remember which book it fell out of. I was looking through a pile including a collection of Oscar Wilde short stories, a hilarious and very dated 1930's boarding school story for boys, and a paperback of French history. Could have been any of them.
Beautiful, Margie! Like Maria, it seems so familiar when I think of the students I teach here in Rotterdam, and even more when I think back to my own student days - around the time of that postcard to be precise. Finding cards like that has a sort of intimacy to it, doesn't it? It's like taking a sneak peak into someone's life, or even overhearing a personal conversation.
By the way, we must have been siblings in another life. Some of my happiest hours are spent browsing through second hand book shops and books stalls at the market, and whenever I go to London, I head straight for the charity shops to look at the books. I always come home with a 'yard ' of books! Thanks for this, Margie, it's a lovely post.
Glad you liked it Vally. Not sure I share your pronouncement of it as "beautiful" exactly, but I do know what you mean. In fact, I felt a little instrusive posting this, as it was only ever meant for one set of eyes, and those belonging to a good friend or sibling, not some opportunistic voyeur who frequents funny little bookshops. I wonder if by some billion-to-one coincidence the writer might see it hahahha? She's probably an Associate Professor of Applied Sociology at Sydney University by now.
You've reminded me with your comments about similar interests - didn't you once say that '84 Charing Cross Road' was a favourite book of yours? Mine too.
That is awesome, like eavesdropping on the past! The coolest thing about it is, I am sure you have all ready conjured up images in your head of what this person looked like and finished the story in your head, I have!
That for checking up on me as always! It was nice to have you stop by!
Well yes, Margie, I agree 'beautiful' sounds a bit odd, but meant as in 'precious'. As for Charing cross Raod, it is my favourite street in the whole of central London - all those fantastic, bookshops for bothe new and old books. Heaven. I haven't actually read 84 Charing Cross Road, but I've just googled it, and now I definitely want to read it. It sounds delightful in the true sense of the word!
A successful business person?
A successful logger?
Asleep under a bench?
Married with 8 children?
Married with no children?
A struggling artist?
A poet
I like that, Meg..."eavesdropping on the past".
I went to college during the mid-seventies.
Meg, lovely to see you! I agree with Dale (Hello Dale!!!), your phrase "eavesdropping on the past" is a beauty. Yes, I too have an image in mind. I finished school in '77 and was at Uni the following year, so my memories of that era are not too bad. (Actually, I tell a lie, some of them are very bad indeed!)
Val, I have no idea how I got hold of that thought, but if it leads you to read the book, I'm very happy - it is an absolute gem, I promise you.
Dale, yes, that's the thing - I wonder which? I would just love to know. Also even if she's still living in this country. I hope no-one ever finds and published a letter of mine from that era though. It would probably be very introspective, pretentious and unbelievably naive. Funny though.
What a beautiful post, Margie. I love the line "eavesdropping on the past".
I'll bet Phyl turned out to have a good life, like most students who are just enjoying where they are at a particular time.
Post a Comment
<< Home