Christine and Craig

Christine and Craig were friends of my Aunty Lissa. Christine was French and Craig was a Kiwi. My aunt put me in touch with Christine because I had just got back from France and she thought I would appreciate the connection. I did.

Christine and Craig lived on the very top floor of an apartment opposite the cinemas in Bourke Street.  She was super chic: very short, thick hair, trim figure and immaculately dressed in Chanel like suits always. She had a special role as concierge for Novotel. Christine was friends with the French managers of Rialto. At one point I was asked to look after their son. He was cute and they insisted he be bilingual so I was called in to babysit him and speak only in French. Apparently, at kindergarten he would get quite cross that no-one, especially the teachers, would not speak back to him in French. Eventually, I stopped looking after their son because I was paid ridiculous money to do it, something like $3 an hour cash in hand and honestly, as a student, I had a much greater need for money than I did for French practice.

Craig and Christine ran a crêperie that they took to markets everywhere in Melbourne. I also recall going to a girls' private school with them to help out and demonstrate how crêpes were made. The girls had to order their crêpes in French.

Christine was very taken with my French boyfriend Jean-César. She also gave me quite a few French novels to read. Eventually, after I finished Uni, Christine and I fell out of touch.

Many years later my Aunt invited me to stay in Christine and Craig's new home. They had moved out to acreage near Woodend. Craig was a very talented carpenter and had been snapped up almost exclusively by a racehorse owner to build fancy stables, gates etc. out of timber. Every January they went away and left their property in the care or open to the invitation of my aunt and uncle.

I drove across with the kids to stay with there and it was only for a couple of nights. I felt very edgy sleeping there as the property backed on to pine forests, it was a total fire ban and the house we were housesitting was made of timber.

Their home was actually the garage of their future home and it was enormous. Like a giant stable or barn with an upstairs attic and a tiny downstairs kitchen and a bathroom connected to tank water only.

The kitchenette was gorgeous. Christine had collected French bols (bowls French people drink their breakfast out of) and they were stacked everywhere. There were lots of French touches everywhere. The kids loved staying there. There was a blueberry in fruiting under netting and they could go and raid it daily. Christine and Craig also had pet rabbits (she had a rabbit even when they lived in the Melbourne apartment too) and a neighbour's pony over the back fence.