What my Mum taught me
Without Prejudice
My Mother was a women's libber before women's lib was even thought of. She had a way about her that brooked no argument.
She suffered greatly during the 2nd World War, she was as brainy as all let out. My Aunt, her older Sister, told me she was a "plotter" that plotted the movements of planes during the war. I actually saw those women on a show about the second World War and was in awe of their skill.
But sadly Mum was war affected and lost a fiance and almost her life in the War.
But she was a Mother of 7, enormously practical and given to good advice, some of which I never came to appreciate until I too was a Mother. She was a genius of the first order and I will share some of her sayings with you.
She would say to people who tried to tell her what to do,
"Do you pay my rent ? If you are not paying my rent then you can't tell me what to do "
Or,
"You look after you and yours and I'll look after me and mine."
To my Sister and I,
"Never run after a man or a bus, there is always another one coming along "
To My Dad,
"Jesus, Ernie, if the cat had kittens it would be MY fault!" (She blasphemed a lot ! )
To us girls,
"Educate the man and you educate the man, educate a woman and you educate the Family "
To everyone,
"Expect nothing and you are seldom disappointed!"
If we asked where something was ,
"Up in Annies room behind the wallpaper "
If we dared to ask what was for dinner,
"Shit with sugar on "
And,
"Give them an inch and they'll take a mile"
If Dad lost at the races,
"An inch is as good as mile, Ernie ( for losing by )
If I said I was trying, she would say,
"Yes, very"
If she thought a baby wasn't bonny, she would say,
"She has the makings of a beauty"
I never knew her to put a foot wrong in social situations, she was a lady first and foremost, but if a teacher crossed her path and made a complaint about one of her kids, she would go for the jugular and win, every time.
I didn't have to drink school milk, nor read Janet and John. After a skirmish with Mum the teachers let me read whatever I wanted.
She taught me to read and write before I went to school and she gave me Catch 22 when I was 12 to read as she thought I would understand it. Have you ever read Catch 22???
It's insane
but she she said it said it said everything about the Army and following orders, and she would know!
She also said,
"This is not Nazi Germany and you can't be lined up against a wall and shot because of what you say!"
She said Fuck was just a word and there were far worse ones in the English language, like hatred. She had read Chaucer at school and loved the English language.
She was a total snob and loved to be one. The Brits and Scots to her were far superior to any other race on earth. She loved Australia her adopted homeland but loved Britain above all else.
And she loved her kids,
"Kids", she would say, "I should have had a dozen"
If Jackie and I told on each other, we were "Little klypies"
and Mum and Dad spoke their own language called "Frisco" which was a patois of pig latin and Muso speak ( stage people) which us kids learned early to decipher so we could listen in to what they were saying.
Janette becomes Janayzette and Ian Ayzeeian, Jackie, Jayzackie, so,
"I am going to hit you,"
becomes "Ayze aye ayzam gayzoing tayzo hayzit yayzo" Easy !
We all learned it but didn't tell Mum and Dad, good lord, nayzo.
They were a laugh a minute my Mum and Dad, they fought all the time, every day, she was always going to leave him and he was always going to go, and then they wouldn't.
That was just them. She threw plates at his head and he'd laugh and duck. She took to him with a hair brush once and he just ran and laughed at her. She emptied a rubbish bin over him and he laughed at her. They laughed a lot too.
"If they're talking about you, they're leaving some other poor bugger alone"
"Better to be looked over, than over looked"
And if she didn't like someone,
"I wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire"
And if Dad cried to get sympathy
" Let him cry, he'll pee less!"
He said the same back to her, of course.
She was "The Mover and the Shaker of our family and belived that ,
"Travel broadens the mind"
We went to all the countries we had only read about by the time I was 16. Fiji, Papua New Guinea, India, North Africa, Greece, Italy The UK, Trinidad and Tabago, France, Tahiti, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, The Middle East, The Suez and Panama Canals. We went first class to the UK on a luxury liner.
We sailed again on the Southern Cross to come back. And we saw and experienced everything. Since then I've been to Bali and Bahrain, Hong Kong and Ireland, Vanuatu and Scotland, the place of my birth. I've seen the islands of the South Pacific and swam in waters of crystal blue. I've lived in just about every state in Australia and my wanderlust knows no measure.
I am as excited as much now about the rest of the world as I ever was. I've traversed Paris on my own when my ex husband was arrested at the airport. I would have stayed there if he hadn't called me back to the airport. I've never been scared to jump and a lot of that is thanks to Mum.
She always said, never be scared to jump, you are always going to land, somewhere.
And because she and Dad gave me the best childhood a girl can experience I have always been secure, no matter what I have had to face. I always knew I would land "Somewhere". Thank you Natalie Wilsher and Ernest Bruckshaw I do you proud every day of my life.
She never asked for sympathy and refused to believe in the end she was very ill. She became cunning then and drove us all mad with her evasion of her clearly mental state. I was full of rage and pity for her then in equal measure. But I am grateful to her for everything I am and everything I stand for.
She was as honest as the day was long and stood for up for us and herself. She took no prisoners and if she lost it, she lost it. She was awesome and one day I hope with love and a strong wind I'll be as strong as she was. I'll never be as intelligent as she was, but I will finish her story one day and make her proud .
Love Nette Xoxo
My Mother was a women's libber before women's lib was even thought of. She had a way about her that brooked no argument.
She suffered greatly during the 2nd World War, she was as brainy as all let out. My Aunt, her older Sister, told me she was a "plotter" that plotted the movements of planes during the war. I actually saw those women on a show about the second World War and was in awe of their skill.
But sadly Mum was war affected and lost a fiance and almost her life in the War.
But she was a Mother of 7, enormously practical and given to good advice, some of which I never came to appreciate until I too was a Mother. She was a genius of the first order and I will share some of her sayings with you.
She would say to people who tried to tell her what to do,
"Do you pay my rent ? If you are not paying my rent then you can't tell me what to do "
Or,
"You look after you and yours and I'll look after me and mine."
To my Sister and I,
"Never run after a man or a bus, there is always another one coming along "
To My Dad,
"Jesus, Ernie, if the cat had kittens it would be MY fault!" (She blasphemed a lot ! )
To us girls,
"Educate the man and you educate the man, educate a woman and you educate the Family "
To everyone,
"Expect nothing and you are seldom disappointed!"
If we asked where something was ,
"Up in Annies room behind the wallpaper "
If we dared to ask what was for dinner,
"Shit with sugar on "
And,
"Give them an inch and they'll take a mile"
If Dad lost at the races,
"An inch is as good as mile, Ernie ( for losing by )
If I said I was trying, she would say,
"Yes, very"
If she thought a baby wasn't bonny, she would say,
"She has the makings of a beauty"
I never knew her to put a foot wrong in social situations, she was a lady first and foremost, but if a teacher crossed her path and made a complaint about one of her kids, she would go for the jugular and win, every time.
I didn't have to drink school milk, nor read Janet and John. After a skirmish with Mum the teachers let me read whatever I wanted.
She taught me to read and write before I went to school and she gave me Catch 22 when I was 12 to read as she thought I would understand it. Have you ever read Catch 22???
It's insane
but she she said it said it said everything about the Army and following orders, and she would know!
She also said,
"This is not Nazi Germany and you can't be lined up against a wall and shot because of what you say!"
She said Fuck was just a word and there were far worse ones in the English language, like hatred. She had read Chaucer at school and loved the English language.
She was a total snob and loved to be one. The Brits and Scots to her were far superior to any other race on earth. She loved Australia her adopted homeland but loved Britain above all else.
And she loved her kids,
"Kids", she would say, "I should have had a dozen"
If Jackie and I told on each other, we were "Little klypies"
and Mum and Dad spoke their own language called "Frisco" which was a patois of pig latin and Muso speak ( stage people) which us kids learned early to decipher so we could listen in to what they were saying.
Janette becomes Janayzette and Ian Ayzeeian, Jackie, Jayzackie, so,
"I am going to hit you,"
becomes "Ayze aye ayzam gayzoing tayzo hayzit yayzo" Easy !
We all learned it but didn't tell Mum and Dad, good lord, nayzo.
They were a laugh a minute my Mum and Dad, they fought all the time, every day, she was always going to leave him and he was always going to go, and then they wouldn't.
That was just them. She threw plates at his head and he'd laugh and duck. She took to him with a hair brush once and he just ran and laughed at her. She emptied a rubbish bin over him and he laughed at her. They laughed a lot too.
"If they're talking about you, they're leaving some other poor bugger alone"
"Better to be looked over, than over looked"
And if she didn't like someone,
"I wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire"
And if Dad cried to get sympathy
" Let him cry, he'll pee less!"
He said the same back to her, of course.
She was "The Mover and the Shaker of our family and belived that ,
"Travel broadens the mind"
We went to all the countries we had only read about by the time I was 16. Fiji, Papua New Guinea, India, North Africa, Greece, Italy The UK, Trinidad and Tabago, France, Tahiti, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, The Middle East, The Suez and Panama Canals. We went first class to the UK on a luxury liner.
We sailed again on the Southern Cross to come back. And we saw and experienced everything. Since then I've been to Bali and Bahrain, Hong Kong and Ireland, Vanuatu and Scotland, the place of my birth. I've seen the islands of the South Pacific and swam in waters of crystal blue. I've lived in just about every state in Australia and my wanderlust knows no measure.
I am as excited as much now about the rest of the world as I ever was. I've traversed Paris on my own when my ex husband was arrested at the airport. I would have stayed there if he hadn't called me back to the airport. I've never been scared to jump and a lot of that is thanks to Mum.
She always said, never be scared to jump, you are always going to land, somewhere.
And because she and Dad gave me the best childhood a girl can experience I have always been secure, no matter what I have had to face. I always knew I would land "Somewhere". Thank you Natalie Wilsher and Ernest Bruckshaw I do you proud every day of my life.
She never asked for sympathy and refused to believe in the end she was very ill. She became cunning then and drove us all mad with her evasion of her clearly mental state. I was full of rage and pity for her then in equal measure. But I am grateful to her for everything I am and everything I stand for.
She was as honest as the day was long and stood for up for us and herself. She took no prisoners and if she lost it, she lost it. She was awesome and one day I hope with love and a strong wind I'll be as strong as she was. I'll never be as intelligent as she was, but I will finish her story one day and make her proud .
Love Nette Xoxo
