Lunch with childhood friends

It has been a busy weekend and one of the great times was the lunch we had with old neighbourhood children. We had met up after Maddy's funeral , not having seen many for over 10-15 years. We all met at the local pub initially and Cheryl (Chezz) form next door started doing a map of the neighbourhood , who lived where the names as well as those of the family dogs! Alan then printed this and sent it around.
We all met again on Sunday at Maggie Fooke's house (she has bought an old house in Fitzroy and established a bed and breakfast.) It was a fun filled 4 hours as we talked about what we all did then, in the meantime and now. Two of our friends had died young (21 and 45) and we talked of the freedom of that times and the worry placed on parents for their children now. At our peak there must have been at least 27 kids roaming the streets and park and the tea-tree scrub.
We all just hung out together and came home for dinner! usually to the sound of the Meehan bell or the Fooke whistle.
The highlight of the stories was Kate telling us how she was mad on horses (no one had one then!) and she had strapped horse shoes to her feet and galloped over the local oval, leaving ergonomically correct prints, created water jumps and had a full jumping course in her back yard!
We plan to meet again (with more contacted) in about 3 months.