On a different
aspect of Adastrian (mis)behavior, I recall a sort of follow-on
to a comment from Bob Cozens' personal anecdote regarding the
negligent driving that sometimes followed the hangar keg parties.
I'm a bit reluctant to bring this sort of thing into the "public"
domain, but perhaps at this distance in time and as long as no
names are mentioned it can do no great harm. It was, after all,
what passed in those days as normal behavior (for some of us).
The shenanagins in Mascot on this particular Thursday night must
have involved only field crews - the degree of "high-spiritedness"
could hardly have been achieved during solely the keg party, so
there must have been a preceding very long "lunch" at the Tennyson
by this particular bunch. The keg having run dry, the departure
from the Vickers Avenue area was "normal" enough - the usual few
stalls, tyre-spins, and kangaroo-hop take-offs. This was followed
by a certain amount of headlight flashing and overtaking as a
small convoy roared off in pursuit of further excesses - perhaps
mercifully, I've no idea what the particular venue may have been
- surely not someone's home! The foolishness reached a climax
at what I think must have been the intersection of O'Riordon St
and Gardener's Rd where a red light (of the traffic persuasion)
was encountered. Although the convoy dutifully came to a timely
(screeching) halt, one lunatic thought it would be fun to shunt
the car in front out into the middle of the intersection! This
was achieved, to general hilarity. Fortunately, in those days
Mascot was quiet in the evenings, and no conflicting traffic was
"inconvenienced". Also, strangely enough, little or no serious
damage was done to the cars involved - a very different outcome
to what would result from a similar stunt with today's vehicles.
I can't really say who was present that night, or if we're likely
to get anyone putting up their hand at this stage.
Joe Tidey
6th June 2004
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