Sunday Drives

This reminds me of a common weekend happening. The Sunday Drive. We would just go off in the car usually not heading for a particular place, the drive was the purpose. Dad would put a piece of flat, steel plate in a hessian bag in the boot and we would stop for a BBQ lunch in a nice spot somewhere. I  don’t  remember any Esky so the food must just have been put into a box in the boot. It was always chops or sausages, bread and sauce. I doubt there was ever salad, that would have involved plates and cutlery etc. Too much hassle.

 

I don’t know if any cars had them but our car certainly had no luxuries like air conditioning or radio. To make the drive more enjoyable Dad always insisted we sing. No excuses were tolerated, we all had to sing. One of Dad’s favourites was “Lavender Blue” and I thought it was just stupid with its “Diily Dillys”. “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag” was another favourite with Dad and we all liked “How Much is that Doggie in the Window”.

 

If we weren’t singing we were playing, “I Spy” though our version was, “Riddle Me, Riddle Me, Riddle Me Ree, There’s something I can see and it starts with ……” . This always went along fine until my sister had a turn then we would all be guessing and guessing to no avail only to discover when we all gave up that it had been something like, “t for post”.

I remember one Sunday driving back home through Bridgewater, a little town in the hills. We were just near the old Bridgewater Mill, traffic was bumper to bumper and we kids were arguing and fighting in the backseat. We must have been getting too intense because Dad looked around to tell us off and bumped into the car in front. Luckily there was no damage but it certainly silenced us for the rest of the journey home.

If it was springtime many of the cars returning home after a day out would have a sprig of Wattle tucked under the windscreen wiper. I loved coming home in the dark and seeing all the lights of the city spread out below.

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