Simone

Mariza's garage

My friend Mariza Beraldi, who lives in Randwick, was really kind to offer me hospitality in her own flat when I arrived in Sydney in November 2017. Mariza and I had first met and became fast friends in September 1981, when I migrated to Australia.

After I moved back to Brazil, Mariza was kind enough to let me keep some of my 'junk' in her garage. Now, 18 years later, I went down to her garage to get rid of my old stuff. Once I was down there I decided to tidy the place up and took some photos:

Mariza keeps old stuff in her garage...

That massive arm-chair once belonged to Mirian Pinho-Rosa who gave to Mariza when she and Edson went to Japan where they spent most of the 1980s. 

Randwick, 23rd March 2018. 

23rd March 2018 - it was a very bright and windy Autumn day; I hardly finished sweeping garage floor and dead leaves were blown in again... 

Mariza lives on the top floor... 

Mariza walks down the foot-path where Isabella's Spot, Italian sea-food restarant stands, in Randwick. 

Reunion with Sandra W. on 21st March 2018

Having had a reunion with my dear friend Sandra Winstanley on 21st March 2018, was a bit like some old Hollywood detective stories.

After being absent from Australia for almost 20 years, I didn't know Sandra's whereabouts anymore. I didn't even know how to start looking for her after I arrived back in Sydney on 16 November 2017. As soon as I found a place to stay I was eager to go out and visit my old haunts in that city. After buying myself a cell-phone, I started a pilgrimage to places like Annandale,  Bondi, and Newtown. I was craving to see how Royal Prince Alfred Hospital had changed after so long so I took a few pictures of RPA and posted on my Facebook page. 

A few days later, on 1st February 2018, I noticed a lady called Denise Harrison had 'liked' a particular photo I had taken of the imposing building of Fairfax Institute of Pathology on Facebook. I checked her profile and found out it was Denise Stavrianos who worked at Anatomical Pathology in the 1980s with us (Myself and Sandra).

I wrote Denise through Messenger stating the author of the photo was Luiz Amorim who had worked at Anatomical Patholohy with her in the 1980s. I asked her about Sandra's whereabouts and later on, Denise sent me Sandra's number. 

But it took me a month to ring Sandra and set up a meeting at the corner of Bronte Road and Oxford Street, on Bondi Junction. We at at a coffee-shop on the 3rd or 4th floor of Westfield's where I took these 4 selfies that illustrate the page.   

Wednesday, 21st March 2018, at Westfield Shopping Centre at Bondi Junction. I'm sorry for the  photos' poor quality but I'm hopeless at taking selfies... 

Sandra at home on Thursday, 27 March 2018. 

Sandra's cozy flat in Double Bay... 

shots of Sandra's flat from the table we drank the most delicious cappucino ever brewed...

pot plants on Sandra's balcony. 

Sandra's small pot-plant garden... 

Professor Chris O' Brien's funeral as seen by the Sydney Morning Herald - 12 June 2009.

Chris O'Brien was given a state funeral service at Saint Mary's Cathedral in Sydney. Sandra was there with Dr. Paul McKenzie and Richard... as pointed out in her clipping of the Herald. 

Christopher John O'Brien AO (* 3 January 1952 + 4 June 2009) was an Australian head & neck surgeon. He achieved national recognition as a compassionate surgeon in the reality TV series RPA.

Chris O'Brien Lifehouse on Missenden Road, Camperdown.

magnificent Golden Sheaf Hotel on New South Head Road, in Double Bay. 

corner of New South Head Road & Knox Street, Double Bay. 

for a minute I thought I'd bump into Julie Anthony singing about St George's...

Saint George Bank's Happy Dragon's fire...

Primeiro Salão da Criança - 30 September to 15 October 1961

1st October 1961 - I had been living in Sao Paulo since 16 December 1960. I was 12 years old, went to night-school, I was at year 5 (1a. serie ginasial) at Ginasio Vila Madalena, on Rua Morás. Even though I had moved from a small town 500 km away from Sao Paulo I was not a 'dumb kid'. In a matter of few weeks I could board a tram-car 'Praça Ramos de Azevedo' at the corner of Rua Fradique Coutinho and Rua Aspicuelta and get off at the very heart of the city and go & see a movie 'downtown'. 

I remember distinctly well, I made friends with a dark boy called Sergio who lived on Rua Ignacio Pereira da Rocha near Rua Fradique Coutinho who was in the same class as I. Sergio invited me to go and visit 'Primeiro Salão da Criança' - (First Kids' Hall) as the ad above says it ran from 30 September through to 15 October 1961. 

I didn't have the slightest idea what sort of business that was but went ahead and let me be guided by Sergio who knew the intricacies of how to get to Ibirapuera Park that was off-limits to me. I don't know how we finally got to the spot but we did... and we must have had a lot of fun for I still remember that day. It was a sort of a fair inside a great hall with stands that would sell all sorts of things a child would love to have.

Sergio lived with his family in a nice 2-story-house and had 2 older sisters. We ended up growing apart because he left Ginasio Vila Madalena in 1962; he must have enrolled in some better school; I don't remember ever asking him what school he moved to. I still remember passing in front of his house on my way to Rua Theodoro Sampaio where I worked in a laboratory. Whenever he was in the front garden I would say 'hello' until one day as I was going to say 'Oi!' he turned his face away.

As I walked past his house daily I still saw him at his porch sometimes but he was not a 'friend' anymore. He grew up to be an obese kid and after a few years his family must have moved away from there for I never saw him or his sisters anymore. 

8 October 1961 - Still 'Primeiro Salão da Criança' where Radio Bandeirantes - the most popular radio station then - had a stage where they presented shows like 'Periquitos em revista' where kids wearing roller-skates would tell a story...  

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney on 30 January 2018.

the Chapel in the back... near the grounds of Sydney University. 

Myself near the RPAH Chapel in the mid-1980s. 

Fairfax Institute of Pathology on Missenden Road. 

entrance to Gloucester House. 

new building in the back... 

Fairfax Institute of Pathology building seen from the back...

Fairfax IP seen from the side...

the road that leads to Gloucester House and the Sydney University. 

glorious Missenden Road, Camperdown, NSW. 

Royal King George V in the 1940s.

late 1960 / early 1961

31st May 1959 - This was the kind of stove we had when we moved to Rua Simpatia, 42, on 16 December 1960. That was the first time ever we had a gas stove. Up to that time Mother used to cut wood with an ax and set fire to it in our red cement stove. 

Another one bites the dust... Bilú.

Bilú was a tiny Siamese kitten when was adopted by Lucas & João in early 2015. Soon he became a healthy good looking cat. He had a mind of his own and used to sleep over at an abandoned house on the same block... 

Last week, Bilú showed up a little run down. In less than a week Bilú's health deteriorated alarmingly fast... Bilú died on 7 July 2018. God rest his soul. He'll be sorely missed. 

Bilú photographed some 4 weeks ago just in the nick of time... a few weeks later he would come down with a fatal disease.