At "Riverbend" every day is Blursday but Saturday stands out because suddenly the river gets busy with boaties who've come down from Canberra. Maybe it's also a time to reflect on what Saturdays used to be like at a time and in an Australia we secretly would still like to live in.
There's a trip to the barber, icecream for the kids, the weekly football match and a beer at the pub. Come nightfall, it's either a movie or the local dance. This beautifully shot film from 1979 (noticed PICKERING'S PLAYMATES OF '79 poster on the wall inside the pub?) captures all the atmosphere of a weekly ritual repeated in towns right across Australia.
The "Melody Makers" play the quick-step which, for lack of suitable company, I never learnt. And they show GO TELL THE SPARTANS about the Vietnam War at the movies, with Burt Lancaster. And did you spot those gigantic "Wagon Wheels" inside Lake Cargelligo's EXCELSIOR Café?
No more "Wagon Wheels". And what about the Ladies' Lounge? No more "The Commercial Banking Company of Sydney" as shown behind the fruit & vegie ute (as an ex-Bank Johnny, I thought I get that one in as well); in fact, there's nothing left of the "old" Australia, and more's the pity.
Anyway. 'aveagoodweekend and don't forget the Aeroguard!
