Dial a Sailor

I am sitting here going through a book that I have called The Mothers Book. Its a book that was given to me one Christmas by a friend. You fill it out and give it to your daughter or son. It was put out by a woman whose mother was dying and all the things she wanted to know about her mum before she passed. So mothers answer the questions in it, so your children really get to know you. One of the questions in it had me remembering this time in my life and giving me a giggle.

Actually it is two moments in my life. Both were 1982, the year I turned 20.

I can't remember which one came first, but we will start with the heavy metal band. A friend from school Tracey Latter was working for a skin specialist on Wickham Terrace. She rang me up and asked what I was doing that night. Being a Friday night I was only going to hang out at the Strand Hotel, so told her nothing much. She told me that one of the guys from Iron Maiden had been in to see the doctor and asked her to come out and bring a friend. 'Did I want to go?'

Hell Yeah!!! We met up after work, got ourselves dolled up, ready for a fantastic time on the town. How great was this going to be!! Tracey had arranged that we would meet the guys in the reception of the Park Royal Motel, where they were staying. They were waiting and said they had the night planned.

Oh what a night. Now your thinking, drinking, partying, wild times..... I know we were. What did we do? First we went to the movies to see Monty Python. Then it was off to Jo Jo's in Queen Street for drinks and for a friend of theirs to meet us. This guy sat down chatting. Turns out he was a tennis player. I asked him who he played for and he said 'here'. I was 'Here where?' Him, 'Here Australia'. 'Oh, sorry I don't know you'. His name - Pat Cash.

Anyway, after a few quiet drinks, the night wrapped up. It was funny as no one believed us when we said we had a really quiet night with them. Their reputation was not the reality.

The second thing I did that year was Dial a Sailor. Yes there was such a thing. The Commonwealth Games were being held in Brisbane and ships had come in from Canada. A radio station (I think it might of been 4IP) was running this thing where girls would ring up and put their name down to take out a sailor while they were in town. I rang and put my name down. It sounded like fun.

I had used work's phone number as my contact. If my mother even had a whiff of what I was doing, my life wouldn't have been worth living. I had been on holidays and got back to find that no one had rung yet. I rang the number that I used to register and they transferred me to a ship. While I was talking to them, someone from another ship rang - the Saskatchewan.

I arranged to meet the first guys with a friend at the docks and we would go to New York nightclub. The ones from the Saskatchewan I would meet on Saturday night. I roped in another friend from school, Ann-Veronica (who only recently said she didn't know how I talked her into it lol ).

So Friday night comes and we drive to pick up these first two guys. I guess Canadians aren't very patient as they had gone ahead instead of waiting for us. So as you do, I rang the guys from the second night and offered for them to come. They jumped at the chance and this saw us going to the nightclub with the ship's doctor and head chef.

We had a ball. We also met up with the other two guys there and it turned into a good night. At the end of the night, the guys invited me to a party on board the following night. Ann-Veronica couldn't come, so I said I would let them know, depending on if I could find someone to come with me - I might have been stupid, but I wasn't stupid enough to go alone. They gave me the ships number to ring the following afternoon to work out what was happening.

A friend from work, Judy, said she would come. So I rang the ship and ended up talking to the Captain. We were having a great conversation, and after warning me to wear jeans that night (due to the upward wind when you climb down into the ship), he said I was to say hello to him when I was there.

Now being the 80's and the height of fashion, I wore pink jeans. Anyone from that era will remember the canvas type fabric that coloured jeans came in haha. To get to the ship, we had to board another one, then they had a gang plank thingy over to the Saskatchewan. We then had to go down some stairs - yes with an upward draft - and into the dining room, where the party was to be held.

Again it was another good night, even when a sailor came over to me "Are you Kerrie?" a tentative "Yes". "Come with me". We went down this alleyway and it had doorways just like on the movies that you had to jump over the bottom of. He stopped in front of a door and opened it for me to go in. It was the Captains private party. I had a drink with them all and some conversation but left as soon as I could. The 'ladies' that were there to entertain them, were giving me dirty looks. haha. At the end of this night, we arranged to take the guys to the Gold Coast the following day.

I have to say that this was a great day. Driving down, we were having digs at each other as to who drives on the wrong side of the road. There was a lot of laughter. One of the places we went to was the 'Chew and Spew' (not its real name, but a cafe in Coolangatta). While sitting eating lunch there were some birds outside on the footpath. They asked me what they were. Not wanting to admit I didn't know, I told them they were finches. 'Oh in Canada we call them Sparrows' was the reply to that. "Really!!, What a weird name" I told them haha. I can just imagine these poor guys going back to Canada and telling everyone that in Australia we call sparrows, finches haha.

That afternoon Judy and I dropped the boys back. It really was a weekend to remember and one that always brings a smile to my face. It was a good year, as it was the one when I left home and moved to the Sunshine Coast to live.