My girlfriend of four years was breaking up with me and talking about moving to New Orleans. Her brother lived there and she had a leg up with his help. I had started my wacko plan to travel around Australia for a year or so.
My travel agent Maggie was looking into an open-ended flight for me. My friend Peter had already talked to his grandmother in Perth and had assures him that she could get me any job I wanted in Perth and beyond. My coworker Paul had an uncle in Sydney who owned three pubs and was also looking forward to my arrival. He had offered me a bartending job at any or all of his pubs for as long as I wanted.
The rough outline was to fly into Sydne, party for a week or so and then start working for Paul’s uncle. Work for three or four months, buy a VW microbus and travel north and then across Queensland, taking my time, and ending up in Darwin. Finding a job there and working for a month or two and then heading down to Perth. Letting Peter’s grandmother, who by the way was the matriarch of all the banking business in Australia, find me some easy job that paid a lot of money with minimal work. Party in Perth, which is on the ocean too, and end up driving back to Sydney by the southern route and flying home from there.
What could go wrong? Commy let me rent his duplex apartment in Georgetown after our breakup. Still friend and on good terms my ex and I still went out a few times a month. Her planning to move to New Orleans and I planning on Australia. And then it happened. Of all the gin joints in all the world she had to walk into mine. One morning my wife to be came scratching at the door, at 7:30 am, of Martin’s Tavern where I worked. Two other girls in tow. Into the backroom of the bar they came and the rest is history. Joyce can tell the story better than I ever could so I’ll let her tell it her own way at a later date. Smitten my trip to Australia poofed away never to be seen again. I think I made the right choice.
P.S. It took several months for her to ask me to marry her, And we’re srill married today (not so sure about tomorrow)