'What ever became of Howard?
You may well ask, who is Howard.
Well, let me begin by explaining that he was the figment of a very fertile young boy’s imagination, he was his friend, mentor and protector from all things nasty!!!
Now we have done with the preliminaries, I'd better plump up his character. Howard was present during all day time activities. Where ever that young lad was, so was Howard. Any decision that was to be made, Howard was consulted, usually leading to much earnest discussion. Decisions were sometimes made quickly, such as "do we go inside now, because there’s cream cakes for smoko", or rather, "should we tarry a little before going in, what a stupid thought, inside we must go", or the more often varieties of decisions, such as the call inside for a bath, or such like, must be debated and you know these sort of decisions require quite a bit of thought. Often these discussions would be rudely interrupted by the mothercraft nurse, who would come storming out of the house, with all sorts of diabolical threats, if all those outside playing were not inside immediately.
Now the main activity conducted by Messrs David and Howard was the great road and dam construction. I suppose this must have taken place at about the time that the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme was starting, in about the early 50’s. Outside our home was a large claypan, just the sort of place that you could really get down and build all things in the dirt; bridges, roads, channels and tunnels and, if it managed to rain, there was plenty of mud and water to fill up all those magnificent structures. Of course, there always was a very dusty or muddy little boy at the end of the day, who found his way into the bath, with the usual discussion, with Howard, of what went wrong or right with the day’s construction.
Oh well, such was a life living with Howard, you never really thought about one without him, for he was always sitting, standing, running or hiding alongside of you in all your waking moments and I dare say, most probably in your dreams as well.
Well, that was over seventy years ago, so what became of Howard? My guess is that he just faded away, as so many friends do, there one minute, to be replaced by some other more interesting thought or person, you know that’s the way of life!!!
David Lowing
July 2021
You may well ask, who is Howard.
Well, let me begin by explaining that he was the figment of a very fertile young boy’s imagination, he was his friend, mentor and protector from all things nasty!!!
Now we have done with the preliminaries, I'd better plump up his character. Howard was present during all day time activities. Where ever that young lad was, so was Howard. Any decision that was to be made, Howard was consulted, usually leading to much earnest discussion. Decisions were sometimes made quickly, such as "do we go inside now, because there’s cream cakes for smoko", or rather, "should we tarry a little before going in, what a stupid thought, inside we must go", or the more often varieties of decisions, such as the call inside for a bath, or such like, must be debated and you know these sort of decisions require quite a bit of thought. Often these discussions would be rudely interrupted by the mothercraft nurse, who would come storming out of the house, with all sorts of diabolical threats, if all those outside playing were not inside immediately.
Now the main activity conducted by Messrs David and Howard was the great road and dam construction. I suppose this must have taken place at about the time that the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme was starting, in about the early 50’s. Outside our home was a large claypan, just the sort of place that you could really get down and build all things in the dirt; bridges, roads, channels and tunnels and, if it managed to rain, there was plenty of mud and water to fill up all those magnificent structures. Of course, there always was a very dusty or muddy little boy at the end of the day, who found his way into the bath, with the usual discussion, with Howard, of what went wrong or right with the day’s construction.
Oh well, such was a life living with Howard, you never really thought about one without him, for he was always sitting, standing, running or hiding alongside of you in all your waking moments and I dare say, most probably in your dreams as well.
Well, that was over seventy years ago, so what became of Howard? My guess is that he just faded away, as so many friends do, there one minute, to be replaced by some other more interesting thought or person, you know that’s the way of life!!!
David Lowing
July 2021
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