My room was originally the sitting room. It was the largest room in the house with an open fire place. I had a single bed, a study table, a large comfortable arm chair and a small hanging cupboard for all my clothes. We took turns cooking in the small kitchen. The land lady, Miss Clarke, was the first woman I know who managed to grow a moustache successfully. Just imagine having to kiss her! She did not allow me to use the fireplace because of the fire hazards. In winter all I had in a very large room with high ceiling, was a small portable one bar electric heater which cooked one side of my body while the other side remained frozen!
This weather board house was very old and the walls, ceilings and floors were not insulated against the Melbourne winters. The summers were ok. I did not know enough to buy a good quality jacket for going outside the house. As a result I bought many thick woolen jumpers and cardigans which were soon ruined because I could not afford to dry clean them. I did not know how to wash them properly and they shrunk to half the original size, so that I needed to buy new jumpers very often. If only I had worn track suits, sweaters and bought a thick Polar fleece jacket for the outdoors, I would have been more suitably dressed for the cold Melbourne weather.
After one year, I moved to another house. This would be house No: 5, sharing with two other Malaysian boys, Sim and Michael Soon. Both of them have completed their degrees and were working as accountants with BP in the city. They had very active social lives and were hardly ever at home. This suited me just fine. Michael Soon was from Penang and Sim was from Malacca. I suspected that they were working illegally in Australia because they have been there for many years.
Unfortunately, Sim was a habitual gambler. He was the first compulsive gambler that I knew. Wednesdays and Saturdays he went to the horse racing to place his bets. Mondays and Thursdays nights he went to the grey hound racing at Albert Park. Tuesdays and Fridays he went to the night trotting, On Sundays, just like the Lord did in Genesis 1, Sim rested. I still remember one Thursday night when he came home from the grey hounds. He was very excited and his face was very red because he has been cerebrating with friends. He had a hot streak at the hounds and nothing that he did was wrong! He produced large quantities of crumbled notes from every pocket of his suit and placed them all on the kitchen table. That was the only time he won some money! It was from Sim that I learned about many horse racing and betting terms like the daily double, the queenela, outsiders, favourites and of course, the big, once a year race at Flemington Racecourse, the Melbourne Cup.
It was while I was staying at this house that I got to know Joseph Lee. He was working as a gomen printer in KK. They sent him on a one year training course in Melbourne. He lived at Parkville and apparently he has a lot of free time on his hands. He owned a very old Ford Popular which he bought for 80 Australian pounds. We spent a lot of great times together, going to the beaches, visiting Lunar Park in St. Kilda and attending the Saturday dances at the town halls, picking up girls. We also attended monthly gatherings at the Asian Overseas Students Association at Fitzroy. This place was run by a Catholic priest, Fr. O'Connor and we had many great times together.
One day, Michael brought home a drug addict, Marie Culhane Zangellini . From day one, he had endless problems with this woman. Apparently he found her in little Burke Street, (China town). She was sitting in a small restaurant and she was crying at a table all by herself. He talked to her and taking pity on her, he brought her home! From then onwards Sim and I became full time baby sitters for Michael’s girl friend. Frequently in the middle of the night, Michael had to call the GP to treat this woman for her drug related health problems. Very often, she got drunk and made a big nuisance of herself in the middle of the night, shouting, crying and carrying on. How to study under this unfavourable environment? I decided to escape from it all by moving house again.
This time, I moved to a flat above the Rice Bowl Café, on Burwood road, opposite the Swinburne Tech. This would be my house No: 6. Mr. Lim the proprietor of the building, came from China. All his seven sons are either engineers or accountants. However, in the evenings they all came to help inside the kitchen or wait at tables. He was very disillusioned because none of his sons wanted to take over his business so that he could retire soon. So, he kept going, although he was very old. I shared the flat with two other Swinburne students. They were Thais: Jiti Rajaibun and commander Prasert from the Royal Thai navy. That was my first experience with people from Thailand. They were both very gentle and polite people and I bullied them!
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