Schoolies

 Last weekend we had "schoolies week". Apparently every year Victor Harbor attracts thousands of kids who have finished their last year of secondary school in Adelaide, with a break last year due to Covid. I went into town Friday morning to pick up a DVD* I'd ordered from the shop in the main st.  

*'Rainmaker', starring Burt Lancaster and Kathryn Hepburn. This movie came up in discussion with neighbour Helen when she said one of her daughter's second name was Mellissa. It sparked my memory of this movie in which KH played the role of Mellissa. Or MELL-is-AA, as Burt said she could be if she wanted. I told Helen about that and also that when I meet a check out chick with the name tag Mellissa, I ask if they'd ever seen 'The Rainmaker'. They never have, not surprisingly as the movie was made in 1956. I said to Helen I'd love to see that movie again and she said it's probably available on DVD. So next time I was in town I asked in the old DVD/record shop and the owner said he could order it in. We have arranged for a matinee in our 'theatre' tomorrow to watch the movie with Helen who hasn't seen it. 

The shop guy also told me he would not be open after lunch that Friday nor Sat and Sun because of schoolies. He said in the past they have invaded his shop in large numbers and yahood and knocked things off and he couldn't do anything to stop them there were so many. As I drove in I saw hundreds of schoolies walking the streets, road closures and speed restriction signs along with 'event' signs. Most of the kids were presentable in dress and manner, many in shorts and Tshirts, despite the drizzly rain and what I thought was cold temperature. There were also heaps of police present, at one end of town under a tree was a dozen or so bike cops. Apparently a music festival is organised in a camping ground near the hospital and another venue in the town is facilitated, the idea being to keep the revelry in controlled location where alcohol isn't permitted.

The weekend came and went without drama, the best behaved schoolies weekend ever according to reports. We could hear the music from our house into the wee small hours, but it was far enough away to be no problem. It did get me thinking though, of the time 50+ years ago when I left school. I remember little of it, there might have been a session or two at a local pub but nothing memorable. There was no such thing as schoolies week then. When I looked at the kids in the town they looked so young and fresh I could not imagine myself that way.

The world has certainly changed. Mobile phones didn't exist. Television was black and white. No FM radio. No computers, at least people didn't have them, although the technology was just kicking off. Most families drove Holdens, Fords or Chryslers, made in Victoria or South Australia. No Kias or Hyundais. Toyotas and Nissans were newbies and sneered at. The Vietnam war was front and square and on TV, us school leavers had the conscription ballot ahead of us in a year or two. The hippy thing was in full swing, kaftans, long hair and marijuana were all over the place which was a nice change really to the tobacco/alcohol culture which led to record lung cancer, heart disease and road toll. No compulsory seat belts. There was a certain recklessness. I suppose it's still there, the young ones still get pissed, and pop yippee pills and worse. 

Maybe that's what schoolies week is about. Recognition of the dangers, and trying to address it with the least possible damage. Would I like to be 18 again? Part of me would like another go, to do things better and avoid some traps. The other part of me says, no way would I go back to all that uncertainty. 

Looking forward to watching 'The Rainmaker' tomorrow.

* 24 Nov.  WE watched The Rainmaker. I enjoyed it. Unusual movie. Produced from a stage show, and the script and acting was like a stage performance. I was wrong about KH's character being called Mellissa. She was Lizzie. Burt L (Starbuck), told her about MELLisSUN in a moving scene. Just shows that after a couple of decades the memory can be unreliable.

For The Record

 Lib and I had our second AZ shot on Friday 15 Oct, having had our first one in July. We didn't have any adverse reaction to the first. Lib said the injection site had mild soreness for a couple of days, I didn't have that at all, as if I hadn't had it.

It was the same after the second shot. Then, last weekend I developed soreness in my chest bone at the top of the ribs, and across the top rib, first on my right side then on the left. With that I also had stabbing pain in that area when I moved or turned, extending under my arm round to my back, and into the neck. It was really quite severe. I remembered too that I'd had stabbing pain, with movement, for a couple of days in what I thought was a ligament at the top of  my right leg prior to the chest pain. After a couple days of it I said to Lib if this continues I'd better go the hospital and have them check my heart with an ECG or whatever they do, just in case I was having some sort of heart issue. It was the weekend so I was thinking I'd do that Monday if the improvement didn't come. I was marginally better on Monday and after a few more days of gradually diminishing discomfort, by Friday, I was fine, no more soreness or pain. Relieved I was.

I had suspected a heart issue because I'd read that heart attack symptoms are not always obvious and can be pain in the neck shoulders and arms, not in the central chest. And I couldn't work out why I had soreness and pain in that area as I hadn't hurt myself straining lifting or falling or being hit by something. Then it dawned on me that maybe it was a side effect of the vaccination which took a week to manifest. I googled side effects to second dose AZ and it said possible symptoms were chest pain, muscle pain, joint pain, as well as fever and temperature (which I didn't have). I had also heard it said somewhere that reactions can come a week or two after the vaccination.

So my conclusion, unconfirmed of course, is that my discomfort was a reaction to the vaccination. I can see no other explanation. I don't think the doctor or the hospital would have been able to say what it was, and as it turned out I was fine after a few days anyway without any expensive testing. All's well that ends well. For now at least. Who knows tomorrow. Today I took my sandshoes and socks off at the beach and walked in the shallows in bare feet. Gee it felt good. I plan to do this every day now if I can, weather permitting. And who knows, a land lubber like me may even be swimming in the surf soon. There was one bloke swimming there today. How good would that make you feel? I think I want some of it.

For the record too, I have a tomato plant in the back yard nearly 4 ft high. Never in my life have I had that at end of October. It was a seedling bought at Bunnings late August. And we picked our own basil leaves yesterday for our spaghetti dish, from pots I seeded in August. Much fun.