{"id":90,"date":"2015-02-04T13:33:16","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T13:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/?p=90"},"modified":"2015-02-04T13:33:16","modified_gmt":"2015-02-04T13:33:16","slug":"my-old-stompin-ground-mounties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/?p=90","title":{"rendered":"My Old Stompin’ Ground – Mounties"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Old Stompin\u2019 Ground\u00a0 (12.2.2007)<\/p>\n

I had a great holiday \u2013 caught up with a lot of friends and visited some nice places. The Boneman had organised my first Friday night in Sydney \u2013 a visit to the old stompin\u2019 ground of Mounties. Boney\u2019s the go-to man for such outtings. I turned up early at Mounties (Mt Pritchard Community Club), as is my custom \u2013 I\u2019ve maintained this habit for some twenty years, get in early and settle in to await the arrival of my drinkin\u2019 mates. This Friday night, I was about 25 mins ahead of schedule \u2013 I decided to give the pokies a rattle (I used to blow five or ten bucks every Friday night with my co-loser, The Bis)<\/p>\n

I rarely gamble these days \u2013 just don\u2019t seem to frequent the venues that encourage such anti-social behaviour. Anyway, by the time the boys arrived, I was two hundred smackers up, which I stuck in my wallet, with a satisfied grin (Though not before informing all, of my skilful windfall!).<\/p>\n

Most of the old crowd turned up again \u2013 I\u2019m told that my infrequent visits back home are the only times many can find a valid excuse for their spouses, to warrant a big night of stepping high \u2013 like the old days. Though, to be honest, it\u2019s a far cry from the antics of the old days \u2013 it\u2019s like Toby Keith says \u2013 \u2018I ain\u2019t as good as I once was\u2026.\u2019<\/p>\n

So, while we still give it a nudge, it\u2019s nowhere near as hard and fast as years ago. With schooner sculls, Cointreau & \u2018Buca shots on the toss of a card, and various other self-destructive rituals, that simply punctuated the continuous flow of Resches and Jimmy. Till the early hours kick-out call, at which point one just changed venues and continued, though usually a bit closer to a dance floor.<\/p>\n

These days however, I do still enjoy catching up with the old crew \u2013 especially the girls \u2013 Linda, Nicky, Kerrie, Kerrie, Sharon, Leesa and others at times \u2013 they\u2019re still all beautiful girls, making the most of their thirties. I usually keep in regular contact with most of the blokes throughout the year anyway \u2013 and they\u2019re ugly \u2013 so they\u2019re not so much of a thrill.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Girls – Nichole, Donna, Sharon, Me, Nicky, Leesa, Sheridan – Caz & Linda front row.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For a bloke that spent a good percentage of his younger days (and more than one fortune) within the (then) hallowed walls of Mounties, it\u2019s rather amusing (and more so, kind of sad) to see the same old faces doing the same old things after twenty years. The old grey-haired bloke still singing \u201cA White Sports Coat\u201d at the karaoke every Friday night \u2013 he was never any good on his best day. Every Friday arvo for twenty years, he hops out of the shower, hitches up his RM moleskins and warms up his voice, grabs the old-girl and down they go, to get plastered and \u2018entertain\u2019 the crowd at his standing Friday night gig. Then there\u2019s the long-haired, lengthy-bearded stalwart of the snooker club\u2019s chicken run. This dude still wears his girl-jeans, hoisted a little too high up the abdomen, and skilfully steers his way round the premises, guided by the magical schooner of Resches held directly in front, like a fighter-pilots joystick. I\u2019d confidently postulate that Grant has nary missed a days attendance at Mounties for nigh on twenty-five years. This man must be forty-five years old and has never, ever held a job \u2013 though his schooner remains half full \u2013 he must be a very, very optimistic man indeed!<\/p>\n

While I find this all amusing as I try to revisit my youth, one could easily be excused these days, for believing the non-English speaking cabbie had indeed delivered the unwary passenger to a Ho-Chi-Min City gambling den. Whilst dodging one\u2019s way through the pokie room, there appears an endless sea of bobbing black heads, through a smoky haze and a raucous natter of alien voices. I feel like an unwelcome invader in a foreign land \u2013 I don\u2019t speak the language, I don\u2019t understand the customs \u2013 and the looks directed my way are clearly hostile. Welcome home, Son.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Old Stompin\u2019 Ground\u00a0 (12.2.2007) I had a great holiday \u2013 caught up with a lot of friends and visited some nice places. The Boneman had organised my first Friday night in Sydney \u2013 a visit to the old stompin\u2019 ground of Mounties. Boney\u2019s the go-to man for such outtings. I turned up early at … Continue reading My Old Stompin’ Ground – Mounties<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5K3B8-1s","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions\/92"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}