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
    • Policies
    • Convenors >
      • Convenors
      • Convenors A - Z July 2025
    • Program Ideas
    • Newsletter
    • Website
  • Groups
    • Groups A - Z
    • Recent Groups >
      • Armchair History
      • Chess
      • Cooking Solo
      • Demystifying Psychology Course
      • Enjoying the Internet (S2)
      • Family Research Drop In
      • Lifeball >
        • Home
        • Lifeball Videos
      • Sky's the Limit
    • Archived Groups >
      • A - M >
        • A Different View Of German History
        • Armchair History (British)
        • Armchair Traveller
        • Booker Reading Group
        • Bushwalking - Mid-week Walks
        • Comparative Religion
        • Facebook for Mentors
        • Family Research - Advanced
        • German - Beginners
        • Google Apps/TS Plus
        • History - An Introduction to Western Civilization
        • History - Moments in Australian History
        • Hot Topics/The News - Fact or Fiction?
        • 'In the Lap of the Gods'
        • Investment I (1996 -2015)
        • Jane Austen Book Club
        • Legal Matters (Short Course)
        • Meditation
        • Making the Most of the Internet
      • O - Z >
        • On Target - Learning to Shop Online
        • Opera
        • 'Over There'
        • Rail and Tourism
        • Russian Literature
        • Tech Savvy Apple - 'Pages'
        • Tech Savvy Apple Devices - Intermediate
        • Tech Savvy Community Projects
        • Travel Group
        • Wise Guys Book Group
        • Zoom Short Course
  • A-Ch
    • A-Ch
    • 'A Taste of Art'
    • American History
    • Art Appreciation
    • 'As Time Goes By'
    • Australian Shares and Stock Market
    • Be Connected - Android
    • Be Connected - Tech Advice
    • Birdwatching
    • Brain Games
    • Bushwalking - Easy Walks
    • Car Torque
    • Cards '500'
    • Chat n' Chew
  • Co-E
    • Ch - E
    • Coin Collectors
    • Collectors
    • Colour Mixing and Watercolour Techniques - Botanical
    • Come and Learn Croquet
    • Community Singing
    • Creative Writing
    • Demystifying Psychology - Discussion Group
    • Demystifying Psychology - Perception
    • Exercises for Fun
    • Exploring the Universe
    • Exploring Writing Children's Books
  • F-Pa
    • F- Pa
    • Family Research
    • Film Discussion
    • French at the Table
    • Garden Appreciation
    • Garden Team
    • German >
      • German Home
      • Lessons
    • Let's Talk Books
    • Mahjong
    • Meet and Mingle
    • Music Appreciation
    • Page Turners
    • Patchwork and Craft
  • Ph-W
    • Ph -W
    • Photography
    • Play Reading
    • Politics & Current Affairs
    • Recorder
    • Singing for Fun
    • Spanish
    • Stock and Land
    • Sustainability
    • Tech Talks
    • Train Buffs
    • Ukes4Fun
    • Wine Appreciation
  • Join
    • Join Us
    • Membership Application/Renewal Form
    • Program Guide - Sem 2
    • Timetable with Dates Sem 2
    • Venues and Maps
  • News
    • News Update
    • July Newsletter
    • 'What's On' Calendar 2025
    • Monthly Calendar
    • Website & Facebook
  • FB
  • Gallery
  • Links
    • Resources and References
    • U3A Network Victoria
    • Seniors Online Victoria
    • U3A Albury Wodonga
    • U3A Beechworth (Indigo U3A)
    • U3A Bright
    • U3A Goulburn Valley
    • U3A Murrundindee East
    • U3A Wangaratta
  • 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.


Comments are closed.
    '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 2025
Membership Application/Renewal
​
Semester 2 Program Guide 2025
Semester 2 Timetable with Dates 2025
Developed and maintained by members, this website showcases U3A Benalla 
​Photographs - U3A members; Benalla Art Gallery website; ​Weebly 'Free' images;Travel Victoria and State Library of Victoria