U3A Benalla and District Inc.
  • Home
  • Benalla
    • Benalla
    • Benalla District
    • Who, What and Where? - Benalla Rural City
  • About
    • Our U3A
    • President's Page
    • Executive Committee
    • Convenors >
      • Convenors
      • Convenors A - Z 2023
    • Program Suggestions
    • Newsletter
    • Website
  • Groups
    • Groups A - Z
    • Recent Groups >
      • Armchair History
      • German - Beginners
      • Meditation
      • Russian Literature
      • Hot Topics/The News - Fact or Fiction?
    • Archived Groups >
      • A - M >
        • A Different View Of German History
        • Armchair Traveller
        • Booker Reading Group
        • Bushwalking - Mid-week Walks
        • Comparative Religion
        • Facebook for Mentors
        • Google Apps/TS Plus
        • History - An Introduction to Western Civilization
        • History - Moments in Australian History
        • Investment I (1996 -2015)
        • Legal Matters (Short Course)
        • Making the Most of the Internet
      • O - Z >
        • On Target - Learning to Shop Online
        • Opera
        • 'Over There'
        • Rail and Tourism
        • Tech Savvy Apple Devices - Intermediate
        • Tech Savvy Community Projects
        • Travel Group
        • Zoom Short Course
  • A-Col
    • A - COL
    • 'A Taste of Art'
    • Art Appreciation
    • Australian History
    • 'As Time Goes By' >
      • Home
      • 'Precious Objects'
      • 'Failure'
      • Our Stories - by topic
    • 'Be Connected'
    • Birdwatching
    • Brain Games
    • Bushwalking - Easy Walks
    • Cards '500'
    • Chat n' Chew
    • Coin Collectors
    • Collectors
  • Col-G
    • COM - G
    • Community Singing
    • Creative Writing
    • Demystifying Psychology
    • Enjoying the Internet
    • Exercises for Fun
    • Exploring the Universe
    • Family Research - Advanced >
      • Home
      • Family Stories
    • Family Research - Beginners
    • Film Discussion Group
    • Garden Appreciation
    • Garden Team
    • German >
      • German Home
      • Lessons
  • I - R
    • I - R
    • 'In the Lap of the Gods'
    • Investment
    • Jane Austen Book Club
    • Let's Talk Books
    • Lifeball
    • Meet and Mingle
    • Music Appreciation
    • Page Turners
    • Patchwork and Craft
    • Photography
    • Play Reading
    • Politics & Current Affairs
    • Recorder Group
  • S - Z
    • S -Z
    • Singing for Fun
    • Sky's the Limit
    • Stock and Land
    • Sustainability
    • Tech Advice
    • Tech Savvy Apple - 'Pages'
    • Tech Savvy Beginners - Android
    • Tech Talks
    • Ukes4Fun
    • Wine Appreciation
    • Wise Guys Book Group
  • Join
    • Join Us
    • Membership Application/Renewal Form
    • Program Guide 2023
    • Timetable - Month Overview
    • Full Timetable with Dates
    • New Courses 2023
    • Venues and Maps
  • News
    • News - General
    • March Newsletter
    • Calendar 2022
    • Monthly Calendar
    • Website & Facebook
  • FB
  • Gallery
    • Gallery 2022
    • Gallery 2021
    • Gallery 2020
    • Gallery 2019
    • Gallery 2018
    • Gallery 2017
    • Gallery 2016 >
      • + Christmas Lunch 2016
    • Gallery 2015 >
      • Christmas Lunch 2015
    • Gallery 2014
    • Lifeball Video
  • Links
    • Resources and References
    • U3A Network Victoria
    • Seniors Online Victoria
    • U3A Albury Wodonga
    • U3A Beechworth (Indigo U3A)
    • U3A Bright
    • U3A Wangaratta
    • U3A Goulburn Valley
  • Contact

Lost friendship

2/5/2015

 

As soon as I put the phone down I knew that I wouldn't see her again.  I had explained it was a long way and we were
recovering from visitor fatigue but she took it as a knock back which I've since guessed it was.  Godfrey and I were now living by the sea on the south coast of NSW which was a far cry from the inland Victorian city of Castlemaine.  It was there that we had lived for seven good years and had made what I thought was a strong friendship with our families while we female members of the families completed a Liberal Arts degree at La Trobe University Bendigo campus.

Jean was younger than me and on her second marriage with five children, two from her present marriage to Brian, who was much younger than Jean and three from her first. Despite our age difference, (her younger children were the same age as my grandchildren), we had formed a bond through study. Not only did we share travel arrangements with our cars we chose our subjects together so that lectures and tutorials always allowed us to arrive home  to Castlemaine in time for the school bus. Godfrey and I were closer to retirement with me not working but recovering from a former work related trauma while Godfrey was still in the workforce doing new and exciting challenges by developing a National Wool show in Castlemaine. This meant he was not only using contacts all round Australia but was developing strong relationships with our local Council the Shire of Mount Alexander. Brian was meanwhile working as a linesman with parents still alive but with many health problems. Still we found enough in common to socialize at community events and even went on camping weekends together.


Then a drought struck and life at home changed. Things were tight in the wool industry so Godfrey’s work dried up and I couldn’t get work despite having upgraded my teaching qualifications so we decided on a sea change. Not only selling up and moving but changing our roles in life by starting our own business, window cleaning. We were extending the small beach cottage and entertaining family and friends from dry Victoria.

Perhaps the break in this friendship was inevitable. Perhaps we had outgrown our time Jean and I after all the thing we had in common was the study. Perhaps the move interstate was too much. Or did it really go deeper than that. If I am honest didn’t I always think I was the older more mature one and did the men in the friendship really only have the shared beer in common? Whatever the explanation I miss Jean’s company and wonder what has happened to that family with their day to day struggles with five children. No matter what the explanation for our separation it was a fulfilling friendship at the time and one to be remembered as a pleasurable time in our lives.

    'Our Stories'

    Carole's page


    Picture

    Archives

    July 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015

    Categories

    All
    'Advice'
    A Place Of Importance
    A Test Of Courage - 'Everyday Courage'
    Car Stories
    'Christmas'
    'Cringe'
    'Failure'
    Fairy Stories
    'Faking It'
    'For Better For Worse'
    Friendship Tested
    Grandparents
    'Grandparents And Grandparenting'
    I Quit
    'I Was There'
    Lost And Found
    'Mr Nicksar'
    'My Other Life'
    'New In Town'
    'Shaped By Childhood'
    'Stock And Land'
    'The Year That Made Me'

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay our respects to their elders - past, present and emerging.
Picture
News
​Newsletter
Facebook Page
​
Program Suggestions
​CO-VID Safety

U3A Benalla & District Flier 2023
​Membership Application/Renewal Form 
​
Program Guide 2023
Semester 1 Timetable with Dates 2023
Semester 1 Timetable Month Overview 2023
Developed and maintained by members, this website showcases U3A Benalla & District. 
​Photographs - U3A members; Benalla Art Gallery website; ​Weebly 'Free' images;Travel Victoria and State Library of Victoria