Dragon Phoenix (Vol.5, 1983)

We continue our Boxing Day bed-chat with an up-to-date missive from Haworth, epicentre of Bronte Country. We talk about our visit to the Parsonage Museum, the church where Patrick Bronte was the minister. We also talk about our walk on the moors, up to Top Withens, the setting for the house Wuthering Heights in the book. We're now on hiatus until March next year. Join us then for Season 4!!

We're in the UK. lying in bed on Boxing Day after a big lunch yesterday, lots of British Bake Off, and -- believe it or not -- church and needle point.How very Bronte of us.We are in fact in Haworth, village of the Bronte sisters, but in this part 1 we catch you up on our travels since early November.

This is part 3, and we’re straight into the reading (continuing on from last episode). It's a short episode 22, and Mum is in a shit with Granddad though it’s unclear what about. She tries to drive to Black Rock beach and can’t find Black Rock beach!Then heading back home ,there’s the wall of dust, yes! Melbourne’s historical dust storm that turned the streets black with the dirt blown from the Mallee. Hottest Melbourne day ever: 42.3 degrees. And while there’s always exact attention paid to the date at the beginning of each diary entry, things are light on the detail front when it comes to filling all of us in about an argument with Roger. As Mum writes: ‘Haven’t heard from dad, time will tell.’But back to Simon: it’s six days until Valentine’s Day and Mum is hopeful. Plus she finds $5 on the dance floor at a No Nonsense gig at the Village Green: worthy of celebration! Lily: Aren’t you bored of seeing No Nonsense? But I am amazed at 1983 prices: a glass of red wine at Leo’s in St Kilda: 70 cents! More bands, more NN, Corpse Grinders, Allniters and even UB40, from the UK.And wrapping up with a trip to Queenscliff with girlfriends. All the good '80s fun-times!!!!!Follow us on Insta @mumsbaddiaries

Simon is gone and Mum’s trying not to write about him in her diary! So she plays guitar and goes to see bands, and of course watches TV – The Partridge Family, Gidget, Young Doctors and Rock Around the World, and Carson’s Law.We have the vivid summer memory of picking up the school books from Campion and we also have ‘yet another dinner stuffed at the Dragon Phoenix’ with Grandad/Roger.We become confused by ‘mewing’ and all-round Gen Alpha terms before getting back to the ‘80s and Mum’s burgeoning dreadlocks – you read that right, she wants hair like Nina Hagen and Ari Up. Oh and we hear about Mum’s idea for a novel which is pretty cringe – there’s ‘Anna’ and ‘Miguel’ and a kidnapping Count on the horizon!Links for mentions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Partridge_Familyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gidget_(TV_series)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Young_Doctorshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carson%27s_LawT.I.S.M https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TISMhttps://www.languagetransfer.org/Follow us on Insta @mumsbaddiaries

We learn a lot about stone in this episode!This is part 1 of a mega recording push, with part 2 to publish on 19 December and part 3, well we'll publish that on the same day as part 2. Why not, it's the festive season.Lily has the imam and his wife coming to afternoon tea and her linen pants are ruined because of stone dust after visit to the stone men. Yes it’s an update on Lily’s life in south of Turkey where she’s living with her father, and we also have Jenny’s current fixation on a couple of Australian celebrities…We talk about boundaries in relationships and how important they are, and how nobody talks about them (or we’re only just starting to now). And a couple of questions: Have we lost the art of short term flings, or love affairs? Will Andrew Garfield and Chicken Shop Date girl, Amelia Dimoldenberg, get it together?As well, there’s a slightly disappointing Adam Ant reveal... grand plans and all that.Follow us on Insta @mumsbaddiaries

Content note: mention of sexual assaultIt’s still January 1983 and we wonder: skin diving – is it a thing?We continue straight on with part 2 of the reading, continuing from last episode.There’s more about the Sydney trip and it seems it might be off due to parental opposition, but then just as quickly, it’s back on again. And there’s a struggle to cook eggs for Simon from Bristol, and then Jenny… drives Simon home. Again.Shortly after, down at Inverloch, she starts reading The Story of O, Pauline Reage and then there’s the first mention of roll-your-own cigarettes. Jenny manages to lock the keys in the car twice and also manages to get picked up on Middle Park Beach by two German tourists, Wolfgang and Michael. Meanwhile Simon is away picking tobacco in rural Victoria. And of course there’s another mohair cardigan on lay-buy.It’s just all happening.Follow us on Insta @mumsbaddiaries

This is part 1 of this recording, with part 2 publishing in a fortnight. We start off with a Lily travelogue update including a Britboy update, also a Jenny riding – and falling – update And then we’re back in January 1983. Jenny is trying to tidy her room, she plans to drive to Sydney in the VW Beetle with her friends and her mum is opposing the idea. Finally also there’s some Simon from Bristol action but Jenny is wary. She organises to defer uni and then goes on a date.Talk about a happening Jan!Follow us on Insta @mumsbaddiaries

In this segment from our 8JUN record, Lily tells us a bit more about britboy. Does he see her as a pocket girlfriend, or is it her who sees him as a pocket bf? These are only some of the questions Jenny has... Listen in for the lowdown. (Apologies for being so late with this, we had to wait a bit... had it hidden on patreon but NO ONE LISTENED.)Follow us on Insta @mumsbaddiaries

** Content note: a bit of weight talkIt's another side chat and it's all TV... we talk Kardashians, ozempic, the crab theory, and choosing unsuitable people. There's a BritBoy update along with more relationship insights. The big question is, though: how many times can Jenny say 'cinque terre'???Link you probably won't be interested in but here they are anyway:Indy Clinton on tiktokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@indyclinton?lang=enKardashians5 seasons on DisneyMillions of earlier seasons on HAYUthe crab theorythere's the 'crab mentality' as described in this blog postand then there's what Lily was talking about, the idea that given long enough evolutionarily, we will all develop into crustaceans. you can read about that delightful and very non-nightmarish idea here.

*** Content note: mention of suicideWe’re back to diaries and it’s late December 1982… Jenny has a new-found ambition to be a ‘successful musician’ (because she learned some chords), and to get a job in London. She hates ‘everyone’ because they don’t ‘take her seriously’. Ah, to be 19 and totally delulu. She goes to the Ballroom, for the ‘Punk Revival’ night; sees bands Genocide, Depression and The Boot Boys. Jenny tells Lily about finding a No Nonsense page on Facebook, run by Richard, lead singer. There’s a beach party at Middle Park, she’s reading Lolita (‘very interesting’) and there’s a discussion about the idea of ‘ethical reading’, with a lengthy Nabokov tangent. We talk sculpture, and Bellini, and then it’s back to the Ballroom and Simon from Bristol is on the scene. A Christmas party at Jenny’s cousins, then Inflation for a boog.Simon from Bristol (let’s call him SFB) gives Jenny and Dee a guitar lesson in true 1980s flirt-fashion; they learn the Clash’s White Riot which is basically two chords. Jenny mentions wanting to buy some new records: Derek and Clive’s Ad Nauseum, and the Damned’s New Rose. She recommends looking up the video on youtube: ‘it’s good!’Then we have one of J’s origin moments: when the guy tries to push her in the pool but she doesn’t let him: she pushes him in! Haha, it’s SFB!Then it’s NYE ’82 with a Hawaiian-themed night at the Aberdeen Hotel, with No Nonsense playing, and Off Beats. J ‘beats’ Dickie’s girlfriend to the midnight kiss. Then it’s off to Tony the sax player’s sister’s place in Rathdowne Street for a party. The night is long, with Jenny and Dee walking up the hill home in Ashburton at 7.30am. See, even the mothers can rage!We have some links if you're interested:Article when googled: ‘Would Lolita be published now, what was the reception?’https://lithub.com/how-would-the-publishing-world-respond-to-lolita-today/Giovanni Bellini, Italian sculptorhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_BelliniDepression (punk band)https://beat.com.au/depression/Genocide (maybe) (another punk band)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusty_HopkinsonLocal identity Debbie Dinosaur who let Jenny and Dee dress up in her vintage '60s mod clothes one night:https://2017.mpavilion.org/collaborator/debbie-nettleingham/https://www.flickr.com/photos/3rrr/30498329763Follow us on Insta @mumsbaddiaries