G'day, All. Well as the title says: I have lost FRED.
Now don't get me wrong, I have had FRED around for close on 42 years. FRED is a bit of a tool, but not as handy as he might think he is.
I first met FRED at Beaumaris when we had lunch, after snorkelling for mussels. My Uncle was in the army, and had brought some ration packs with him. FRED was hiding among the Peek Freans and condensed milk.
I was rapt at receiving FRED and marvelled at his hidden complexities. He was clad in grey-green and had an indent in one end which could almost be construed as a spoon. His usefulness seemed to be never-ending, but in reality he was lacking in many respects.
FRED had a moving part which reminded me of a shark fin, which should've sliced through tin, like a knife through soft butter. After many attempts to open my tin of cheese with FRED, I remember giving up and letting my Uncle use a knife instead of FRED.
After using FRED to apply a generous coat of army issue jam on a Peek Frean, I licked him clean and shoved him in my dive bag.
Over the years I was re-aquainted with FRED many times, but eventually he slipped quietly into the background and I had forgotten he existed.
A few months ago, when I was at Cape Jaffa, Mrs mudsane had a major clean up. When I arrived home, FRED was sitting in a box in the pantry.
As I looked at FRED, I was transported back to Port Phillip Bay. Sitting in my Uncles tinny in rough weather, with my brother , waiting for my Dad and Uncle to return to the surface after gathering scallops on the sea bed. My Brother and I had raided the ration packs that my Uncle always had kept in the First Aid box and we busy demolishing the contents.
Of course we found FRED's cousin FRED inside the ration pack.
Unfortunately FRED has been misplaced. I was going to show him to my kids. Has anyone got a picture of their own FRED?
