Last Saturday there was a big garage sale in the neighbourhood in which we live. It was a bit tedious trying to sell off some of our excess as attendance, despite a warm sunny day, was rather low. However, we had the chance to chew the cud with neighbours, socialise and extract ourselves from a long winter hibernation when socialising on the street is greatly reduced.
Its fun people watching. Its fun listening to the conversations passing by. You look at people and make assumptions. Sometimes you underestimate who they may be as a person based on appearance. I believe we all fall victim to that sad fact from time to time.
Well, in a sense I received my reminder to neither underestimate or assume.
Along the street strolled a relatively elderly couple, well enough dressed, but I could sure hear them coming! Vocal recognition was instant. Its not often in Canada that one hears an exceptionally broad Australian accent coming down the street. I looked up and looked far and saw a man and his wife. The man was wearing a broad brimmed hat and bouncing along quite healthily. He obviously had a sense of humour as he was commenting and teasing as he walked along, quite indifferent to what anyone thought. People were noticing him. I smiled.
As he pulled up alongside me he said in the broadest of bush accents that "he hadn't realised that so many people were doing this garage sale and that he would have to go and take his booty to the car and come back and buy all my stuff too." Off he wandered, leaving his wife to chat with me. She was Australian too, though with a much milder Sydney accent and she apologised for her husband's raucous presence, "a bushman and full of life!" I wondered why she apologised? We chatted about Australia and England and Canada for a while and meanwhile the man came back and walked right past my small sale. I called out to him "Heh, Australia! You said you were coming back to buy all my stuff!! Get back here!" and so he returned and we started to laugh and chat. He picked over my odds and ends and his wife suggested that he should buy a pair of unused sandals that were his size and near identical to ones he was wearing. He wasn't interested.. "Pah! I have these and they are nearly new!" I looked down to note a pair that had obviously walked a mile or ten. Another smile.
So I couldn't persuade him to buy my table full of stuff, despite a jocular attempt, but somehow we got onto the subject of aircraft and historical military aircraft and before I knew it we were deep in conversation about his life in the Australian Army and his service in the Korean war in the early 1950's. I do have to confess that at times I had to listen quite closely to his accent, one that was quite unfamiliar to me and its only fair to describe as "broad". He talked for about a half hour about some engagements he had been involved in which presented me with an aspect of the Korean war with which I was totally unfamiliar, and frankly quite fascinated, opening up views of that war which we are rarely presented with. My encouragement of his conversation was more than polite.
It is quite fascinating to hear someone who had been on the ground and "there" talking about their memory and views of the struggles they experienced. I suppose that every man there would have taken home a different rendition of the things which impacted them, but this man had brought home and retained some very accute memories and impressions and his expression of them was deeply evocative. I listened and realised that this was a view of history which we don't often see, from the grass roots level of the man on the ground. I asked him if he had written down his stories so that they didn't die with him and he said he hadn't, that no-one would be interested in them.
I had sat there soaking it all in for quite some time. I was fascinated to hear this distinctictly Australian view of a war I had not given much thought to their participation in, presented in a rather briney Australian accent by a man to whom this was a vivid, descriptive, memory which he was more than willing to share with me. I encouraged him again to consider writing down his stories.
Finally his wife said "Well you have kept this poor man tied up for a long time now. You really should buy those sandals! You can use them next summer when yours finally fall off your feet...and besides, the price is right!" He laughed, said "Sure thing!" and paid me for the sandals. It was the only thing we sold at our garage sale that day.
As we finished up our transaction his wife said "Come on Bruce, let the man have his day..."
I burst out laughing. "Is your name REALLY Bruce?"
He said "Yes sir, it is."
I had finally met an Australian called Bruce!
Neither underestimate nor assume anything about the old people who pass by you in life. They have given much.
No comments:
Post a Comment