I hadn't had many situations where I could go out with boys while I was at school. It was a single sex school that didn't have any sort of reciprocal agreement with a boys' school for dances as some of my friends' schools had. I did know quite a few boys through a German Lutheran church fellowship group, German Saturday school and other German social situations. I found out years later that some of these boys fancied me but were too shy to make some sort of approach. If they were so wishy washy I wouldn't have liked them anyway.
It was when I finished high school that I really got to meet boys. I went out with several I met when I was working during the holidays after high school and then had a whole series of boyfriends during my first year of Uni. They were a great distraction and did not help with good marks at exam time!
One fellow broke my heart when he dropped me. I was inconsolable for at least a couple of weeks until I decided I'd had enough with boys. I'd go out, have fun and not commit my heart to anyone EVER again.
I had a friend who was at Uni with me. We had been friends for as long as we could remember as our parents had known each other for years. Tricia's parents were going away during the holidays with Tricia's brothers and sister and asked if I could stay at their place to keep her company. We thought it was a good idea and were looking forward to staying up all hours watching TV, gossiping and doing whatever it was that we liked doing. It was the May Uni holidays so we didn't have any pressing assignments.
Tricia had been going out with a fellow who was at Uni with us called Graham and she was getting tired of him and was thinking of breaking up. He knew of the parents' absence and that I was staying with Tricia so asked his friend (who had a car) to drive him over to visit.
Tricia and I were just sitting talking when there was a knock and these two fellows turned up. Both Tricia and I were hospitable and brought out tea and cake and chatted. Graham's friend T complained that he had really sore legs because he had been playing soccer all morning, so I being innocent (stupidly naive really) told him to lie on the floor and that I would massage his legs! He obligingly lay down and I started working on one of his legs while Tricia decided to do the other.
After a while the boys had to go but Graham suggested we go on a double date which would be a picnic and horse riding. We all liked riding so it was agreed.
Later in the car T told Graham that he was happy to go as long as 'the little dark one' could be his partner as I was better at massaging!
It was probably a week later that we went for the horse riding date. Nobody had bothered to book and when we turned up all the horses were out. Things became rather uncomfortable as Tricia and Graham really weren't getting on, so fairly soon they asked to be taken home. T and I were alone. I guess we probably had fish and chips and a milkshake. We talked and talked and then had a bit of a snog in his car at the back of Lindfield oval where I jokingly proposed before he drove me home.
Apparently T was smitten. According to his sister he couldn't stop talking about me and that had never happened before, so her ears really pricked up. I on the other hand certainly liked T but had made the decision to never give my heart to anyone though was happy to go out and have a good time.
The first date T invited me to go on was a theatre production of 'The Canterbury Tales' which I just happened to be studying at the time - perfect! It was a terrific show which we both really enjoyed. Afterwards he took me to Double Bay for strawberry pancakes.
T had gone to work straight from school after he had shown an extraordinary aptitude for computing which was a new science in those days. He was excelling at his tertiary qualifications at tech at night. Because he was working T actually had money to spend in contrast to most of my friends. I was fortunate to have a scholarship, a university living allowance and money from cleaning Uncle Harry's flat and teaching German on Saturdays so I was relatively quite well off. T, however, never let me pay for anything and kept inviting me to irresistible venues.
We went to the exclusive 'Captain Cook's Floating Restaurant' on one date and on another occasion to 'Attilio's Cellar' in Elizabeth St in Sydney which was hugely expensive. Going there taught me to eat oysters. I had always resisted the visually unappealing molluscs as I thought they would be slimy and taste like phlegm, but at 'Attilio's Cellar' the seafood cocktail cost $3.50 which was outrageous considering an equivalent anywhere else was $1.95 so I just couldn't NOT eat them as there were 4 prawns and 3 oysters in the bowl. I discovered they were delicious and have loved them ever since.
We kept going out and much to my surprise realised we had been going out for about 15 weeks. I usually got tired of my male companions after 12 and would part ways. Whenever T and I were together the time would fly. We would talk and laugh a lot and on parting would look forward to being together again.
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