in the eighties , it was a regular occurrence to travel to sydney to check out the nighttime wildlife. the other day i was telling this old codger, about the feet on seat story. so rather than get into the heavy stuff , i decided to tell you the story of feet on seat. the time was pre '83. i would have usually driven to sydney, but on this particular occasion i caught the train up . i had some friends from the wollongong scene, i thought it would be a good idea to show them , some sydney dives. when i say pre '83 it could of been even earlier than that, but the month was defiantly july.
10march2014
saying july , it was the coldest recorded night night of that year. as i remember, probably from even the 70's , even longer , lots of wollongong people had weekend nights out in sydney, and still to this day, but not as much. and visa versa . there seemed to be more night life years ago, night life meaning going out and doing things or nothing, probably getting old. so, i'd been going up there probably since the mid 70's. places like luna park, central train station ,kings cross. that would have been mainly the 70's. probably from 79 on, in the city george street , newtown, surry hills around that area, sylvania pub was ok for bands and a few other places. places like the rock garden in william street , the civic on sundays , and frenchs in darlinghurst had mainly been happening 77, 78, 79. frenchs was going longer than that, but the music scenes were all over the place by 1980.
11march2014
yes july, is winter here. that was just a little reference to the sydney scene at that times, sure there were other places happening, it's a sort of big city. the scene from around 80 to 84, say, was mainly surry hills area. a few pubs around close proximity to central station , trade union centre and journos club a bit later. so you got a half decent scheme of things. i'd been going up there on weekends for a fair few times and knew my way around that area.
12march2014
i had a couple of friends a bit younger than me , who played in bands and things around , they were quite good actually, for boring old wollongong. we decided to go to sydney and i'd show them a few pubs close to central station. one was the southern cross hotel called at that time. it was originally called the strawberry hills hotel, and has since been changed back to that name. their forever changing things, sydney is a mess, now, shithole. maybe anywhere that meant something, besides money. i'd been to the southern cross a few times, it was small and had a band room, i'd seen guys walk in off street plugin and play a set , then just mingle with the crowd. that type of vibe , i thought that was great and healthy. other times i'd turn up and there be like a hard rock band there an no one else so it was pot luck.
here's some links i found might fill
you in a bit
hoi polloi were mainly a support band,
i don't think the triffids were the best to play there. i seen
less known better there
15march2014
so you've had the run down on the times and so .... we caught the train up. we were lucky that night as far as the bands and crowd go. i'd seen better ,but they were okay. the only band i can remember now was hoi polloi or something, meaning just common, i think. i can not remember the others there were 3 anyway. after the pub we had to catch the last train home . 12.30 am . central station was pretty much shut , excepting for the big ticket office. we got tickets. it was strange that my ticket was blank. in them days they were still using them green bits of card board usually printed destination on them and date. the guy said it was okay. i thought that would be a good souvenir, but was somewhat worried about the ticket inspector, but there wasn't any that late. it had that strange feeling that something aren't right, about it. as i remember we walked up to the platform to were the train was. i'm not sure if i spilled some chips on the platform but i remember the chips. also, on the way to the platform, i seen this old grate that had this stinking hot air coming up. it brought back a memory of when i was about 16 and on the street, me and a couple of friends stood on the grate to keep warm, just moving off to get a breath of fresh air. it was either freeze to death or breath stinky air. i told them about it. there was some kind of ruckus happening on an adjacent platform . we didn't worry to much about it, just got on the train and talked about shit. i was a bit pissed and tired, so i had my feet on the seat and sort of a bit sleepy.
16 march2014
the ruckus elsewhere brought the slime to investigate. they were walking through our carriage, looking for something that didn't even happen there. as the prick walked through our carriage, he said put your feet down. i just thought fuck off, i was nearly asleep. he, said are you deaf, i said ,are you daft . with that he pull out the baton and whacks my head, i get up and push the cunt. he calls for reinforcements, so comes dim and his mate , to help the fat prick. they drag me off the train and the others passengers say, it wasn't him. the train pulls out and everybody looking. i knew only people care about themselves, so the others just caught the train home. the pricks just had me on the ground with a foot on my head . from that point or just before i went into a state of not saying much, i think i could have done them slimey pricks but i just didn't.
18march2014
after a few hits they drag me off to the transit police cells at central station. on the way we passed the old grate, i thought bloody grate alright. so, then they throw me into cell. then one of the meatheads tries to edge me on to fight, i wasn't that silly, giving him a freebie on beating me up. i didn't say much, there was some young guy in the cell with his arm in plaster , whinging about something i can't remember. i just sat there for a bit, then the real cops turn up and took me to central cells in between george and pitt streets, where i was formally charged and fingerprinted. i didn't realize i hadn't been charged by the slimey transit filth. i just didn't say much, not enough anyways. i should have counter charged them, i never thought. bad move.
19march2014
the cops at central police station seemed indifferent to my situation. after being fingerprinted they took all my possessions for my pockets, i can sort of remember the cop looking at my ticket, i said that's my train ticket, he said there's nothing on it , strange. i told him the bloke at the station said it was okay. after that they took me to the cells. they were quite large actually . i'd never been in before. these were just police station cells, the central one was just a big lock up. a few dunnys in a row, had the shit smear on the wall, i thought bobby sands had been here too. and these p.e. mats stacked up for sleeping on . i was just about to crash on one when the cop come down and said you paper works been done you can go, that i'd have to appear in court at a certain day. you know i'd worked the day before going to sydney in the rail gang and hadn't had much shut eye. the time was now 3.30 am
20march2014
so there i was in the centre of sydney, and if ever there was a time in my life that you'd call the twilight zone , this was one of them. sydney at the time of hour and in them days, was a few stragglers creeping round the streets and work people going about their business. i just stopped and thought what to do. 50 odd miles, 80 kms from home , fuck all sleep. i might have checked out the charge sheet. offensive behavior - feet on seat, resisting arrest, malicious injury- broke his watch hitting me. if you think i dwell on this shit ,you are mistaken, i am reminded of it when i catch trains.
23march2014
like i said before, it was the coldest night of the year, i was starting to feel it. i remember just zipping up the jacket and walking. as i walked, i'd hitch as well, not many cars though. as i got closer to central station, i thought the grate wasn't an option, been there , and besides i didn't want to see them dead shit transit reject coppers. i thought i'd walk to a station and crash for a bit, maybe newton or somewhere. not long after walking past central and up the road a bit i got a lift. i hard to remember now, exactly where, i think near the landsdown pub. the guy said he was going to rocky point road. i never heard of it before, but i still remember it and see it occasionally, when i'd drive to sydney. so i was out of the city and walking again. being out and close to the water you felt the cold, just had to keep walking.
24march2014
i checked out rocky point rd on the map after typing that last bit. there was a train station not far from there, didn't how to get there from there. i must have been pass there many a time , it's different when you zoom pass and when your actually there. rocky point roads at ramsgate, i'd heard of that place never knew where it was though. getting back to my predicament , i walked and it was getting very cold. i remember the kogarah sign and i knew that stretch of road, i though i was just getting no closer to a station . not that long after that , probably about half a mile or so, i got a lift. this guy said he was going to stanwell park. that was good , i was getting somewhere. didn't get to walk over tom uglys bridge drove instead. it was just down the road apiece.
28march2014
so, i was at stanwell park and it was even colder there as i remember. i either went to the railway station there or just walked to coalcliff . either way i checked out the time table to see what time the next rain was. there was a 6.10am from scarborough . i decided rather than freeze just walk to scarborough. i got to coal cliff station , sat and had a smoke and thought. there was a tunnel on the rail line, and a cliff road. i hadn't been on foot up that way before. which way?
29march2014
i thought the road way was dodgy and long, i chose the tunnel. maybe i should of chose the cliff. on walking down the track i was thinking have i made the right choice . as i got closer to the tunnel, should i turn back, it was getting too late to turn back with every step. i had never been here before on foot. at the tunnel entrance, i could see what i thought was a light on the other side of the tunnel. as i walked into the tunnel the darkness came upon me, dark as dark could be, freaky. to make things worse there was water puddles as well. i can't really remember a lot now, but you could feel a presence. i think i tried to use the wall , that's were the water was mostly. i think i just tried to stay in the middle and focus on the light. the light wasn't at the end , but in the middle. there was some guys working there , i don't know what they were doing. as i walked past them one guy looked at me as if he'd seen a ghost, that look, just look. i kept walking like i was on a mission. lucky them guys were there, that tunnel is curved if that would have made a difference. as i walked on closer to the end , i could start to see the end. it got lighter and lighter, by the time i got to the end it was dawn. i felt like i'd being through some kinda thing, maybe i had.
30march2014
it wasn't far from the end of the tunnel to scarborough station. i made it. i think i had a smoke while waiting for the train to pull in, it was the early workers train, the old rattlers with windows and smoke to your lungs gave in. them guys may have been working on the electrification through the tunnel. at that time there was no electric past waterfall(southern sydney suburb). i was quite pleased , i never really been that far with no real support. it wasn't like you could just catch a bus or something. thinking about the court and them dickheads was a drag , but i just wanted to crash really, 24 hours up, a day in the life. i reckon that classes as a significant day of all for me in the 80's , one of many really. i cant really remember much of the train to wollongong, i've caught so many, it would be confusing to remember that one. the others had a flat in bank street, i think thats where my car was. i'm not sure about the car. i think i chose to catch the train , so i could drink. they were just in bed , i got there about 7 something. i told them about bits of the adventure, they just say it was bad and agreed to be my witness , so that was okay. i think i just drove home and crashed out.
31march2014
with the court thing, i had to travel to sydney. not to sure about the legal representation. either i went there before or there was legal aid at the court just before the hearing. i was pleading not guilty so it would be adjourned to a later date. can't remember much. it was at liverpool st , court in the city. it was adjourned the legal aid told me to came early and bring witnesses. looking back now it seems such a hassle , i never think about it. when we're thrust in the deep end ,i think we just deal with it. i was more worried about the witnesses. they said they'd do it, but saying and doing is two different things. i just told them to tell the truth, if you tell the truth exact as is happens you've got a case. the hearing was at castlereagh st. i slept at their flat, from which was a different flat from their last, so it was some time since the event. we caught the early train up, it's all a bit sketchy. i remember we meet the legal aid bloke, he asked about the event and told them to say it exactly as it happened. i remember the judge asking about did i have a ticket, that brought back memories. i don't know what happened to that ticket. he also questioned the witnesses how i was sitting. we had to listen the slimes side of the story. i ended up with a 12 month good behavior bond on the offensive behavior. with the resisting arrest ,i sort of won that, apparently they had no power of arrest. it might of changed since, laws change like the times. the malicious injury i had to pay 20 dollars compo on the watch. i wasn't happy about that, i didn't like the lousy cunt. fuck him and his watch. i paid the dough plus court costs . that was it . what we done after that , i don't know. i remember the legal aid saying something like we could have won it, probably all say that. i think if i had charged them with assault it would have been a different outcome. i don't think about it to much.
1april2014
yesterday i bumped into one of the witnesses, i asked him about it. he said it was bad, he said the dick hit me with a torch sort of baton combination. he reckons there was inconsistent answers from us, i think it came down to how i was sitting, as if we could remember how i was sitting. i was half asleep. he said his girlfriend (the other witness) was quite upset by it, i never knew that. she's gone now, R.I.P. i asked him , i think it all fell apart after that, meaning the whole little scene that had been created, he said yes. after that it was different again. meaning new people came and it changed. no savvy though. besides that, i've been thinking of the judgement . i can sort of understand where his thinking is. you can't beat the law, and if you do they don't forget it. i somehow think this went a bit further. how this blog all came about. i've long forgotten the whole thing. but if not for a little sign on the trains, saying feet on seat is an offense. this came not long after the court appearance. long before no smoking, you could actually smoke just no feet on seat. so, every time i see that sign i'm reminded of it. i see dickheads all time with there feet on the seat, all sorts. i use to wonder what they thought about the feet on seat is offense sign, and if they had them on other trains in other places. was it that night that made feet on seat an offense.
