On a different aspect of Adastrian (mis)behavior, I recall a sort of follow-on to a comment from Bob Cozens' personal anecdote regarding the negligent driving that sometimes followed the hangar keg parties. I'm a bit reluctant to bring this sort of thing into the "public" domain, but perhaps at this distance in time and as long as no names are mentioned it can do no great harm. It was, after all, what passed in those days as normal behavior (for some of us). The shenanagins in Mascot on this particular Thursday night must have involved only field crews - the degree of "high-spiritedness" could hardly have been achieved during solely the keg party, so there must have been a preceding very long "lunch" at the Tennyson by this particular bunch. The keg having run dry, the departure from the Vickers Avenue area was "normal" enough - the usual few stalls, tyre-spins, and kangaroo-hop take-offs. This was followed by a certain amount of headlight flashing and overtaking as a small convoy roared off in pursuit of further excesses - perhaps mercifully, I've no idea what the particular venue may have been - surely not someone's home! The foolishness reached a climax at what I think must have been the intersection of O'Riordon St and Gardener's Rd where a red light (of the traffic persuasion) was encountered. Although the convoy dutifully came to a timely (screeching) halt, one lunatic thought it would be fun to shunt the car in front out into the middle of the intersection! This was achieved, to general hilarity. Fortunately, in those days Mascot was quiet in the evenings, and no conflicting traffic was "inconvenienced". Also, strangely enough, little or no serious damage was done to the cars involved - a very different outcome to what would result from a similar stunt with today's vehicles. I can't really say who was present that night, or if we're likely to get anyone putting up their hand at this stage.

Joe Tidey
6th June 2004