Return of the dinosaurs

No, not old fossils like me.  The real thing.  Or as close to real as they are ever likely to get.  

The dinosaurs will roam once again in Auckland this weekend and walking amongst them will be young Andrew, a man I nursed as a baby.  Back in the day his parents were the first of my friends to become parents, I was in love and very broody for a little one just like him.  I never dreamed he would grow up and be part of the Number One worldwide stage tour (according to POLLSTAR).

The show, Walking with Dinosaurs, is based on the award-winning BBC Television Series, has toured worldwide and been seen by more than eight million people in 243 cities.

I'm looking forward to seeing Andrew again.  Last time I saw him was in North Queensland when he was in the stage production of the hilariously funny Over the Top with Jim. We've also seen him in many Australian TV dramas.  It always amuses me that every time I spot him the first person I see is his maternal grandfather, old Mick Tanner.  I didn't see my parents as being interesting when I was growing up but I thought my girlfriends' parents were wonderfully colourful.  

 

Old Mick and Mrs Tanner ran the newsagents and Mick delivered our morning newspaper.  We lived in a typical Queenslander style house that distinguishes Brisbane's suburbs from other capital cities.  They are made of timber, built up on stumps to catch any available breeze (but also to deter termites) and have at least one veranda.  Between the house and the road was a lawn, a fence and a footpath.  Old Mick would come up the road in his little truck and with the drivers seat on the far side of the house he would flick that newspaper over the top of the truck and land it nine times out of ten on the front porch or front veranda - with a roll-your-own cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth.  Don't forget the fag, it was a permanent part of his face.  

Isn't it strange the things you remember when you let your mind wander back in time?  I knew I was 8 or 9 years old but thanks to Google I can tell you old Mick missed the veranda on 22 June, 1954, the day the news reached Australia that John Landy became the second man  to achieve a sub-4 minute mile.  It was a school day and I was looking for the belt for my school uniform when we heard the little truck go past and Mum commented that Mick had missed the porch and sent me to pick up the paper.  I saw the headline and read all the details carefully so I could tell Dad when he got home because I knew he'd be interested.  And got a good growling from Mum for wasting time and still not having found my belt. 

 

(Not much has changed I still wander around the hourse looking for things and being distracted by something else.)

I'll tell you all about the dnosaurs when I get back home.