Life is Full of Ups & Downs - Part 7

AT TECH FULL-TIME - I move from Gosford to Sydney.

Before I continue with life at Grace Building I'll add a bit about moving from Gosford to Sydney to live.
When I first started work with Arnold's I stayed with my grandparents in East Gosford.

My grandparents home was where that office building now sits. Much quieter back then.

This required a very early start to what became a long day, not arriving back in Gosford until about 6:00 PM.

This couldn't continue because (a) I was tired even before I started tech and (b) I had no social life. An 18-year old living with rather conservative grandparents did absolutely nothing for my social life. I became irritated and my irritation and frustration annoyed my grandparents and the relationship started to sour because of it.

So after a month or so of commuting between Gosford and Sydney I moved into a boarding house at 120 Forest Road, Arncliffe, which my father, bless him, had located for me.

120 Forest Road, Arncliffe, as it appears today. The house has not changed at all.

Because I just did not have the time (nor a car)  to be able to scout around, he had actually driven down from Kendall, spent a few days in Sydney (stayed at Adam's Hotel, in Pitt Street....now the site of the Hyatt and where the Marble Bar is located) and took the time and effort to check out a few places. He picked me up one afternoon after work, we looked at two and I opted for the one in Arncliffe.

This establishment was run by a Miss Jean Taylor and her boyfriend/fiance, Brian.
When I moved in there were about a dozen male boarders, of varying ages and with different jobs.

I shared a room with two great guys - Dennis and Mike. Dennis worked for the Commonwealth Dept. of Immigration and Mike, a Kiwi, was a drummer in a band.

(If you look at the photo, above, we had the room behind the bay window on the left of the entrance). 

The rest of the gang included an interstate truck driver, a boat-builder, an apprentice aeronautical fitter with QANTAS, a trainee policeman, a telephone technician with the PMG, a used-car salesman, a storeman and that's where my knowledge of who did what runs out.

Commuting between Arncliffe and Central station allowed me a totally different social life to that before the move from Gosford.

Remember that at this time I was attending Sydney Tech full-time...five days a week, for six months and had not yet gone "on the tools" with Arnold's, so now when Tech finished on a Friday I could spend an hour or so playing pool and snooker with my classmates or having a drink at the pub on the corner (the Agincourt...still there today).

The Agincourt on the corner of Harris St and Railway Sq. Very handy to Sydney Tech.

Weekends suddenly became an enjoyable, fun-packed two-day festival compared to those I'd spent in Gosford and although disposable income was rather meagre after buying a weekly ticket and paying board, at least I was able to take a girl to the pictures and have a few drinks.

Yes, life became FUN!

I really could add several chapters just on my life whilst staying at that boarding house.....and I'll do that as this series rolls along.

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