SAVE HEAPS ON TYRNOS
10
Mick's Farewell Tale!
As you probably know by now, I am
handing over the helm to the young bucks, Charlie and Brenton,
and moving to Mildura, on the River Murray, where all our kids and
grandkids are living.
Of course, I still have a role in the
business, I’ll be doing a lot more writing for theses pages,
and I’ll be back from time to time, when the weather is warm and
balmy and the tides are good.
It’s been a fifteen year roller coaster
ride full of ups and downs, lots of pain and fun, and I guess that’s
what life is all about, so no - no regrets!
Its been fifteen years filled
with customers, thousands of faces, many friends. Some of whom
have passed on, and I miss them dearly. Others, remarkably, who
still wander in. “Howzitgoinmick?” I’ll miss you too!
When I first started at Coolalinga, a
lot of customers realised that I didnt know a hell of a lot, (bugger
all, they said) and they would spend hours on end teaching me the
finer side of lures, rods, reels, bows, arrows, and the more obscure
customs and practices of rural area culture! That was a fun
time.
I remember with fondness Arnold Payne, who spent a
lot of time kindling a passion for fly fishing that lasts today,
before he passed away suddenly not long afterwards.
Then there was Dave the “Black Pom.” I
was quite naive at the time, and late one Friday afternoon I had
just finished counting the takings into the till. There was a few
thousand dollars in notes. A bloke came in, and asked for some
advice regarding the new soft plastic lures at the back of the shop.
I vaguely remember that another bloke came in shortly
afterwards. When they had both left, I opened the till to continue
with the banking, to find it empty. I’d been set up!
I was pretty upset, as you can imagine.
In those days a few thousand was big time, and the fact that I was
fully insured had not yet dawned on me. The Black Pom walked in. learn more
