Puberty Blues

Although it is a naff title the book was anything but innocent, and was an eye opener for a naïve young 14 year old (me).

Set in the 1970s and following 2 best friends Sue and Debbie as they navigate trying to get into the ‘cool’ group. What follows is a lot of pashing, sex in the back of panel vans and gratuitous use of slang of the day such as moll, rack off etc. Quintessentially Australian some of this will indeed sound foreign to those not born here or indeed not born close enough to that golden era. I, being a lone wolf (sorry caught a bit of the Hangover the other night) sought out different and unusual reading choices in my teens and I stumbled upon this one, maybe because it had a new introduction by Kylie Minogue!

What follows is how the girls do make it into the cool group but a lot of the time this involves spending hours on the beach, guarding their man’s towel while he surfs all day and then fetching milkshakes and chiko rolls from the deli at his beck and call. They do not eat in front of the boys or surf themselves; there is also some hard drug use in amongst the gang, abortions and hints of gang rape. The book has feminist tones by the end though as Sue and Debbie learn to surf and leave the gang behind. It is a cult classic in Australia, released in 1979 and turned into a movie in 1981.

Apparently they rode horses too...

 

It has now been heavily promoted as a television miniseries and I will be very interested as to how they present some of the darker material at a prime time slot. I am loving the promos though and the use of the Dragon song, Are You Old Enough? while quite disturbing when you actually listen to the lyrics it is just so damn catchy. Plus the sequences of the girls wearing cheezels ontheir fingers, talking on a green curly corded telephone and the outfits warm my nostalgic heart.

 

When friends meant more than Facebook (actual caption)

 

There has been a bit of banter on talk back radio lately (yes I am a 60 year old man thanks for asking) about whether the 70s were actually that good or do we just look at the past through rose coloured glasses. I think it was a creative time for Australian cinema with films like Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), My Brillant Career (1979), Mad Max (1979) and Storm Boy (1977) plus leading onto other classics in the early 80s such as Gallipoli (1981). Their success paved the way for Australian directors and actors such as Gillian Anderson, Peter Weir, George Miller and Judy Davis to have international careers.

And of course who can forget the first Australian to win a Grammy and top the US charts, Helen Reddy, who also had film roles including a nun in Airport 1975 and in my own kids favourite Pete’s Dragon. She wrote I Am Woman in 1972, the hugely popular feminist chart topper which I’ll admit to still loving today.

But the fact that Reddy felt a song like that was needed shows how the time was not all flares and flicked out hair.

Foster update:

I am currently foster less, it has been 3 weeks since my last litter all found homes, and I’m missing them. I worked out their approximate birthday to be the same as mine which was a cute surprise.

Widget, Shelly, Josie, Bubbles and Butch. It was a windy day, they were watching the leaves.