Memories of another era

Yesterday I had a visit from an old school friend who I last saw in late 1982 when we graduated Year 12.

Yep, it had been 27 years since I had seen Steve, and really, he hasn't changed a bit.  He's a mining engineer now living in central Queensland and operating his own company.  Certainly a lot more succesful than myself financially, and working long hours to keep up.

I suppose when you do own your own company it is very tricky to get someone to fill in for you if you are indisposed or simply want a break.  They won't have the same dedication that you have, and might be able to keep things running briefly, but since their efforts will be rewarding the owner of the business rather than themselves, you really can't expect them to work as hard as what probably needs to be done.

But Steve was down for a few days and I feel honoured he decided to catch up with me.  Of course there weren't enough hours to catch up with everything, but we did venture out for lunch, and I reckoned it'd be nice to go to our local Gosford City Art Gallery and Japanese Gardens. It just so happened (I had read about it in the local paper but it wasn't on top of my consciousness) that a selection of paintings from the Archibald Prize competition was on display at the time.  The paintings included not only the winner, but the People's Choice award winner.

Steve had his nine-year-old son with him, and it was a bit of a cultural dawning for him, and certainly worth the look.  We had a very nice lunch, and had to part company as he had to get back for a family do that evening.  He flew out of Newcastle this morning back to central Queensland, and back to the grind.

The object is to not leave it another 27 years until we catch up again, I suppose!