Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

From Sydney, we moved up to Brisbane, their second largest city then. We stayed in the city for a good while. Long enough to go see some of the landscape. And also to a zoo. and learning what their money was worth. Even in war time, they ate well. And a steak dinner came with eggs. No French fries. Tea and not coffee. You could have it, but they did not know how to brew it. It was not what we had.

You can get an idea of what that city was like from my photos.

Whatever we did as far as entertainment went, we got more than our money's worth. I was walking by a fruit store and I thought I would buy a half dozen of peaches. These were Chinese peaches and they had a nice taste. So I asked the store keeper for half a dozen. He said, "We don't sell by the dozen." I asked what quantity do you sell? His answer: a Number 10 bag. I said O.K. Their number 10 was a little bigger than ours. It held dozens. It cost me the equivalent of our quarter. Almost 22 or 23 cents. Maybe even less. In fact on pay day, we would run to their banks and change our money for their. For example depending on what the exchange market was on that date, as it would change on somewhat a regular basis. It was like the stock market. Our country was strong and so was our money. The world over, nations- banks loved to get our dollar. We would be able to get the equivalent of a dollar plus 10 cents or more in their money.

The exchange had to be done at the bank. The law required it. It did not require the retail or business people to do so.

Our stay in Brisbane was not long. Our diet was not to our liking. All we got for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which is called chow in the military, was tuna fish.

The rumor soon began to appear that we were eating crap and the officers were eating better. So, that raised the G.I.'s feathers and one morning at the usual call to stand out, the Captain was present, he was pissed. It seemed that we were given the impression that they they had better food than we did. And some men had, in the night gone into their chow quarters and taken all of their knives, forks, etc. and threw them in the woods. We were required to go get them. Every piece that was strewn. Whether we were part of the rebels or not. Further more what we ate, they also ate. It was the only food that was available, because no ships with supplies had docked for one month. He understood our feeling and there would be no inquiry to determine who did and didn't partake of the rebellion.

The one thing I could say in that I always enjoyed their bread.