10-20-30 Year Meme

I found this at Literary Feline's blog. But I'm going to have to make this the 10-20-30-40 Year Meme since I am over 40.

Let's see - 10 years ago, 1997. I was living in Auckland New Zealand, working at a Media Monitoring business (this was a press clipping service - where we read the newspapers and magazines, and clipped out articles with keywords that the clients wanted.) It was an interesting job, but the management was not terribly good. I was single, living in a single room shed literally in someone's back yard. The shed had a carpet, a toilet, a shower and a small kitchenette. It was ok, but it had no insulation, so some winter nights were cold. But then, this was Auckland, the temperatures were mild all year round. I used to spend my free time at the movie theatres, or at the library or at my favourite book shop - the Hard to Find Second Hand book shop (see sidebar).

20 years ago 1987. Wow, this was the year I actually packed up and left home. I was 22 at the time, and my sister was married and living in Auckland. I was still with my parents in Dunedin. I decided that I needed to get a decent job, and there were no decent jobs available in Dunedin, so I opted to move. I packed up everything, went on a working holiday over the summer (December of 86, January & February of 1987) and then instead of returning home, I headed north to Auckland. My sister was recently married so I moved in with her and her husband. My first job in Auckland was at Mcdonalds. There were no McDonalds in Dunedin so I was totally unfamiliar with the concept of fast food. I got put on floor duties, washing the floors, keeping the tables clean, and washing the windows. The first week I had 5 shifts, the second week I had 3 shifts, and the third week I was given just 1 shift. That's when I quit, because I did not know that this was only a part time job. I walked into the Labour Department the next day and asked for another job. They sent me to the local city council where I was hired to do the costing. I enjoyed that job. It was full time, steady pay and I had the weekends off. I had a lot of trouble finding a place to live as well. I remember living with an old Dutch women as a room mate. I was there only because my sister said it was a good place. This old lady wanted company, and she was smoking and drinking the hard stuff all the time. Since I do not smoke or drink, I preferred to stay in my room, and watch TV or read. She kicked me out after a few months.

30 years ago 1977. My family were in the Solomon Islands at this time. I was going to the local secondary school, because the New Zealand correspondence school had told my parents that there were perfectly good schools to attend in the town we were living in. It may have been a good school, but it had a terrible English curriculum. Because English is the third language of the population (they have native languages and then pidgin english, which is the lingua franca) everything was about grammar, spelling and vocabulary. There was no literature and I never once cracked open a book of Shakespeares plays. [This did affect me when I came to sit English exams back in New Zealand a few years later. I had an excellent grounding in grammar and spelling, but I had no literature. So I was horrified when I failed the English exam. Not by much, but 47 is still a failing mark.]

40 years ago - 1967. Back in New Zealand. I was just 3 years old. I had one older sister and a new baby sister. Yep, I was the middle child. I assume the Vietnem war was at its' height. I don't remember anything of this time, but I know I was alive.