Shane Drew

I know this will come as a tremendous shock to my female readers, but it is true.

Of course, we don’t actually celebrate birthdays in the Drew household, which is probably a good thing. I mean, what would you give someone who is only a few short years from being called a retiree. That said, I’d be happier being called a retiree and not ‘that old bloke in the hat’, but that is probably something that will come with time.

My cousin’s wife got him a one way ticket in a plane for his fortieth. On hearing that, my wife thought it was a great idea too.

It was, I explained, a parachute jump. My cousin survived the jump, no mention if his pants were soiled in the process though.

On the surface of course it was a lovely idea, but when you look at it, paying good money to a total stranger to take your hubby up in a plane and throw him out, could be seen by some as a bit suspicious, don’t you think?

My wife didn’t spoil me on my ‘special day’ for fear that I might get used to it. She has started referring to me as ‘the old guy’ though, so I guess I better steer away from hats for a while.

Reflecting on the last 50 years is rather daunting too.  More so for my parents of course, but that is another story.

Born in Western Australia, mum and dad upped stumps and took the family east, leaving when I was nearly nine years old. Moving to Sydney, the big smoke, leaving school at fifteen (much to the delight of the teaching staff at Barrenjeoy High School I suspect) and then getting a job earning a pittance by todays standard, punctuated my first 16 years on the top soil.

I resisted all efforts to leave home until I found the love of my life. I managed to convince her that marrying an uneducated 23-year-old chemical sales rep and computer geek would be an interesting challenge. I added unemployed to that description as just before we were married, I lost my job. Fortunately she was up to it, and gave it a go. She reckons it is as big a challenge now as it was in 1983.  

Arriving in Sydney’s north shore in 1969, my dad earned a whopping $35 a week. Times haven’t changed much in that regard, it is only slightly less than I pay him now. But I digress.

1960 was the start of a huge decade and I arrived with a few other icons in history. The Easy Bake Oven was developed, often illustrated on TV for young girls. Board games and games like Operation arrived, and Etch-a-sketch made its first appearance in 1960.

Then of course you had Flower Power, Hippies and psychedelic drugs like LSD.

1960 was a year of inventions too:

The Heart Pacemaker- 1960 USA by Wilson Greatbatch,

The Laser- 1960 USA by Theodore Maiman,

The Weather Satellite- 1960 USA Tiros I .

Famous people born in 1960 include Ayrton Senna (dec), Hugh Grant, Sean Penn, Diego Maradona, Ivan Lendl, John F Kennedy Jr (dec), Greta Scacchi, Hugo Weaving, Antonio Banderas, Bono, Nigella Lawson and Jean-Claude Van Damme . I can’t find my name on any of the lists, so it must have misplaced in the history books somewhere.

Nevil Shute who wrote ‘A Town like Alice’ and Clark Gable both died in 1960. So, I think you’d agree it was a big year.

Now, all I have to look forward to is the extra long nasal hair, hairy ears, bushy eye brows and getting grumpy as I head toward old age. Interestingly, the wife maintains I passed most of those milestones when I turned 45.

Anyway, enough reminiscing. I might see if I can get the wife to make me a nice hot cocoa, and head off to bed.